My Political Business Partner Cornered Me Outside Court While 7 Months Pregnant — He Didn't Realize His Security Chief Was Working For Me
Less than forty-eight hours after Marcus Hollister’s dramatic arrest on the Capitol steps, a sense of uneasy calm had settled. Diane O’Connor was already working to secure the evidence, confident in the wiretaps and Finch’s confession.
I was back in the safe house, reviewing strategy with Gavin. My body felt heavier now, the stress of the past months catching up to my advanced pregnancy.
Then, my encrypted phone buzzed. It was Diane. Her voice, usually so steady, was tight with barely suppressed fury.
“Sarah,” she began, without preamble. “We have a problem. A major one.”
My stomach dropped. I braced myself.
“This morning,” Diane explained, each word clipped, “the county prosecutor’s office underwent an ‘unannounced overnight server system update.'”
The phrase itself sounded suspicious. My mind immediately flashed to Marcus’s whisper on the steps.
“During this ‘update’,” she continued, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “the main physical case files for the Hollister investigation disappeared from the secure vault.”
A cold dread spread through me. Physical files. This wasn’t just a digital glitch.
“And the digital audio recordings,” Diane added, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl. “Arthur’s wiretaps, Finch’s testimony, Marcus’s confession in your office. All of it. Wiped from the servers.”
My breath caught in my throat. This was no accident. This was Marcus making good on his promise.
“How?” I whispered, though I already knew the answer.
“Someone on the inside, Sarah,” Diane confirmed, her voice laced with frustration. “Someone with high-level access. They used the ‘system update’ as cover.”
Marcus’s network. His powerful friends. The Assistant State Attorney General. His words echoed in my mind.
“This confirms it,” Gavin stated, his face grim. He had been listening intently. “His political influence runs deep. He wasn’t bluffing.”
The hard-won evidence, the months of careful planning, the risks Arthur and Gavin had taken – all of it, gone. Just like that.
“What about Finch’s official statement?” I asked, a desperate hope clinging to my voice.
“It’s on paper, yes,” Diane admitted. “But without the corroborating audio, without the physical evidence of the shell corporations and the falsified deeds, it becomes a ‘he-said, he-said’ scenario. His defense team will tear it apart.”
The phone line went silent, heavy with the weight of the setback. Marcus Hollister, even in handcuffs, still had the power to bend the rules of justice. The fight was far from over. It had only just begun its more insidious phase.
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