Chapter 7
Leo woke screaming three nights later.
Jackson reached his room before security.
The boy sat upright in bed.
“Bat.”
Jackson switched on the lamp.
“No bat.”
“He broke it.”
“I know.”
“Glass.”
“I know.”
Leo looked toward the nightstand.
His emergency-call device sat there.
He had refused to touch it since the game room.
Jackson picked it up.
“Want this somewhere else?”
Leo nodded.
Jackson put it on the dresser.
Then Leo whispered:
“It didn’t work.”
Jackson’s chest tightened.
“It works now.”
“No.”
“It does.”
Leo shook his head.
“It didn’t.”
The difference mattered.
Jackson sat beside him.
“You pressed it and nobody came.”
Leo nodded.
“That was not because you did anything wrong.”
“Dad said press.”
“I did.”
“You didn’t come.”
Jackson swallowed.
“No.”
It was the first accusation Leo had made.
And Jackson deserved to hear it.
“Someone changed the system so I didn’t know you were calling.”
Leo stared at him.
“Uncle Chad?”
Jackson could have said yes.
He didn’t.
“We’re finding out.”
Leo lay back down.
Jackson stayed until he slept.
The following morning Jackson called Owen.
“I want every emergency button tested in front of the person who uses it.”
“Already scheduled.”
“Not technicians.”
Owen understood.
Leo himself would eventually press his button and watch security respond.
Trust needed demonstration.
Not assurances.
The investigation produced another break that afternoon.
Forensic accountants traced Chad’s personal finances.
Nothing spectacular.
No secret mansion.
No offshore fortune.
But six months earlier Chad had signed an option agreement through a small company he controlled.
The option gave him the right to purchase a minority stake in the Bellandi North Club if the club were sold internally rather than folded into Jackson’s refinancing structure.
The price was favorable.
Very favorable.
If Jackson’s institutional refinancing closed, the North Club would be merged into another entity and Chad’s option would become worthless.
If the refinancing failed and the family returned to internal funding, Chad could potentially acquire a lucrative piece of the club.
Claire placed the agreement in front of Jackson.
“He had a personal financial interest in the deal failing.”
“How much?”
“Depending on valuation, several million dollars over time.”
Jackson leaned back.
“Why wasn’t this disclosed?”
“It should have been.”
“Who approved the option?”
“Two family directors.”
Jackson knew both.
Older relatives.
Both opposed institutional financing.
Neither claimed knowledge of Chad’s conduct involving Leo or the game room.
Maybe they were telling the truth.
The motive was becoming clear.
Chad wanted the refinancing stopped.
But Jackson still did not understand why he needed an illegal gambling ledger in the estate.
If Chad wanted to sabotage the deal, there were easier ways.
Then Claire’s phone rang.
She listened for thirty seconds.
“Send it.”
“What?”
She looked at Jackson.
“The lender’s compliance office received an anonymous email yesterday.”
Jackson went still.
“What did it say?”
May you like
Claire’s face hardened.
“That Jackson Bellandi is hiding an illegal high-stakes gambling operation in his private estate game room.”
