Ghost turned the laptop screen toward Richard’s face, showing him a cascading wall of code and brightly highlighted financial data.

“Your encrypted Cayman Island accounts,” Ghost rumbled, his voice low and menacing. “The detailed transaction history of your money laundering operation with Arthur Vance. And, most damning of all, the archived text messages and wire transfer receipts showing your illegal bribes to the very police chief currently lying face-down and bleeding on your expensive Persian rug.”

Richard gasped, a wet, choking sound. His arrogance was not just crushed; it was completely, utterly annihilated. He was a cornered animal, stripped of his wealth, his power, and every single one of his illusions.

“What do you want from me?” Richard whimpered, his voice a pathetic, broken whisper.

“I want a confession,” I said coldly. “A full, detailed, on-camera confession. I want you to look into this camera and state, for the record, that you and your mother, Eleanor Hale, did knowingly and with malicious intent, physically assault my daughter, Lily Hale, with a golf club this morning.”