Chapter 5 - The Resurrection
Monday morning arrived. The First Carolina Depository was a monument to old money, filled with marble floors, vaulted ceilings, and hushed voices. I sat in the back of Jonathan’s tinted Maybach parked across the street, wearing a tailored navy pantsuit that had been altered overnight to accommodate my cast. A silk scarf covered the stitches on my forehead. My heart was beating so hard I was afraid it would crack my bruised ribs. Vance’s voice crackled over the radio, confirming that my parents, Whitney, the notary, and the bank manager were all inside the VIP conference room.
Jonathan looked at me from the seat beside me and asked if I was ready. I thought about Noah safely asleep back at the estate, the truck headlights in my rearview mirror, and my father’s cruel voice on the phone. “Let’s go,” I replied. We walked through the heavy glass doors of the bank, flanked by Jonathan's security men. When the bank manager’s assistant tried to stop us in the VIP hallway, Jonathan smoothly stated that he owned the building, leaving the assistant frozen as we pushed open the heavy oak double doors of the conference room.
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The scene inside was perfectly staged. My father sat at the head of the mahogany table, looking smug in a custom suit, while my mother dripped in diamonds and Whitney mindlessly scrolled on her phone. The bank manager was sliding a thick stack of papers across the table, prompting my father to sign for the transfer of the estate into the minor’s trust. Just as he raised his pen, Jonathan's voice echoed in the room: “I wouldn’t sign that, Richard. Federal bank fraud carries a mandatory minimum sentence.”
My father’s head snapped up, his face draining of color. The pen dropped from his hand, clattering against the table. My mother let out a strangled gasp, and Whitney dropped her phone. “Claire?” my father whispered, as if he were looking at a ghost. I walked slowly into the room, leaning slightly on Jonathan’s arm. “Hello, Dad,” I said, my voice cold and steady. “I hear you threw quite the party on Saturday.”
