[CONTENT TEMPLATE HERE]
Chapter 677:
The GPS screen glowed softly in the dim light. She could turn it off. She could disable the alert, prove her independence, maintain the fortress walls that had kept her safe for so long.
Her finger hovered over the power button.
Instead, her eyes found the blue button. A lifeline.
Her phone buzzed. Easton: βSee you soon p>
June stared at the message. Then, despite herself, she smiled.
She put the car in gear and drove toward Tribeca, toward a man who was waiting, toward a future she had not planned and could not control.
π«aππΎπ΄π π°ππ’Ρπ΅π²π³π πΥΈ
The GPS tracked every mile, a silent promise in the dark.
The call came at 10:47 AM, while June was reviewing Phase II toxicity reports with her research team.
Eastonβs name appeared on the screen. His voice, when she answered, was differentβtighter, more controlled, the lawyerβs precision sharpened to a bladeβs edge.
βAre you alone p>
June glanced at her team. Three PhDs, two post-docs, all watching her with the wary respect of people who knew they were in the presence of something rare.
βGive me a minute,β she said, and walked to her office, closing the door behind her. βIβm alone p>
βSwiss bank records.β Eastonβs words came rapid-fire, stripped of preamble. βWeβve been chasing them for months. The Beasleysβ offshore accountsβthe ones they used to launder the trust fund money, to pay off Dr. Finch, to finance Alyciaβs entire operation p>
June felt her pulse quicken. βYou found them p>
βNot found. Obtained.β A pause, heavy with implication. βA contact in Geneva. Someone who owed me a favor from a case five years ago. The records are comprehensiveβwire transfers, shell companies, correspondence with the Beasleysβ attorney going back three years p>
June sank into her chair. Her hands were trembling. She pressed them flat against the desk to stop the motion.
βAnd p>
βAnd I submitted them to the U.S. Attorneyβs Office for the Southern District of New York at 8:00 AM this morning.β Eastonβs voice dropped, became almost gentle. βJune. They opened a formal investigation. Federal prosecutors. Financial crimes unit. The works p>
June closed her eyes. For a moment she could not breathe. The weight of four yearsβof betrayal and loss and the slow, grinding work of revengeβseemed to lift, just fractionally, just enough to let her remember what hope felt like.
βTheyβre going to arrest them,β she whispered.
βTheyβre going to destroy them.β Eastonβs certainty was absolute, unshakable. βThe evidence is ironclad. Wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy to commit medical fraud. Weβre looking at twenty years minimum. And thatβs before we add the state charges p>
June opened her eyes. The office around herβthe certificates on the walls, the photographs of her team, the window with its view of a city that had tried to break herβcame back into focus.
βThank you,β she said. The words were inadequate. She knew they were inadequate. But they were all she had.
βDonβt thank me yet.β Eastonβs voice shifted, became something softer, more intimate. βThank me when itβs done. When theyβre in custody and youβre free toββ He stopped. βWhen youβre free p>
June held the phone tighter. βEaston p>
βYes p>