Chapter 12 - The People Who Helped Him Run
Federal agents froze Robert’s accounts.
It did not matter.
He had prepared cash, passports, and shell companies years earlier.
Martin Crowe disappeared the same night.
Claire believed they were together.
The party recording became the key.
It could prove my assault, show Robert’s cover-up, and identify anyone helping him escape.
Daniel examined Hale Development’s access logs.
The vault opened using Robert’s code at 3:12 a.m.
A second code was entered six minutes later.
It belonged to board member Thomas Reed.
Mason’s father.
Thomas claimed his credentials had been stolen.
Security footage showed otherwise.
He entered the building wearing a baseball cap and left carrying two black cases.
Federal agents arrested him at his home.
He refused to speak until Claire threatened to expose his son’s role publicly.
Then he broke.
Robert had blackmailed him for six years.
The recording showed Thomas arriving at the party after Mason carried me upstairs.
Thomas saw me unconscious.
Instead of calling police, he ordered staff to remove other guests and called Robert.
Together, they moved me to the private clinic.
Thomas gave Robert two million dollars to keep the video hidden.
“What did Robert want the video for now?” Daniel asked.
“Insurance,” Thomas said. “He planned to bargain with the senator.”
The senator was William Grant, now campaigning for governor.
At sixteen, I had thought he was simply one of my father’s important friends.
The video showed Grant downstairs while guests whispered about what Mason had done.
He told security not to call an ambulance because police attention would ruin everyone.
Grant’s campaign staff had access to private aircraft and political donors.
He may have helped Robert flee.
Federal agents searched his office.
Grant denied everything.
Then a burner phone was found inside Thomas Reed’s car.
It contained a message from Martin Crowe.
Plane ready. Grant wants the original before extraction.
Robert was trading the recording for escape.
The exchange location was a private airstrip near Aspen.
Agents prepared a sting.
I insisted on going.
Claire argued.
“You are the target.”
“That’s why he might show himself.”
Daniel finally agreed to keep me inside an armored vehicle near the runway.
At midnight, a black SUV arrived.
Martin stepped out carrying one case.
Grant’s chief of staff approached with another man.
Robert was not there.
The exchange began.
Agents moved in.
Martin ran.
Daniel tackled him near the hangar.
The case opened.
Inside were cash, passports, and Grandpa’s blue ledger.
But no party recording.
Martin laughed from the ground.
“Robert never trusted me.”
“Where is he?” I demanded.
“He wanted you to think he was leaving.”
My phone rang.
Robert’s name appeared.
I answered.
His voice was calm.
“Come home, Olivia.”
“Which home?”
“The lake house.”
My heart stopped.
Ruth was staying there under police protection while repairs were completed.
Robert continued.
“I have someone who wants to say goodbye.”
May you like
Then Ruth screamed in the background.
👉 Robert had never planned to flee Colorado; he had used the airstrip as a distraction while returning to the lake house for the woman who protected Olivia.
