Maceo glances at the toast, takes a bite, and returns to the billing records while Grayson moves around the table to sit beside Luca.
Thane arrives a few minutes later with an encrypted tablet tucked beneath his arm. He closes the office door, waits for Maceo to secure the room, and places the tablet in the center of the table.
“The court authorized release of the sections named in Luca’s affidavit,” he says. “The rest of the file remains sealed. My team has already matched the sponsor prefix and routing codes to the current shell accounts.”
Luca’s hand finds mine beneath the table. I turn my palm upward and let his fingers slide between mine.
“How many locations?” Luther asks.
“Three physical sites tied to active transfers within the last six months.” Thane opens a financial map showing lines between shell companies, property managers, and payment accounts. “The sponsor code in Luca’s file gave us the meaning of the prefix moving through the accounts. We can connect those payments to the entities operating each location.”
Maceo closes the settlement letter. “Do you have enough for warrants?”
“For the locations and the operators directly attached to them, yes. We’re preparing the applications now.”
“And Alastair?” I ask.
Thane’s attention shifts to the printed demand beside my hand. “We can arrest him for conspiracy and extortion now. The financial trail, the settlement timing, and Victor’s communications support that. The problem is proving how much of the placement operation he personally understood and directed.”
He opens a second file containing the foundation’s governance records. Alastair’s name appears repeatedly, but always at the top of carefully layered structures. Committees, delegated officers, outside administrators, and subsidiaries stand between him and every operational decision.
“His attorneys will argue that the foundation attached his name to charitable programs managed by other people,” Thane says. “They’ll say Victor, Dorian, and the site operators kept the details away from him.”
“Even with his signatures?” I ask.
“Signatures prove authorization. They don’t necessarily prove he understood the internal terminology or knew what the placement codes meant. We need evidence that he understood the system and continued defending it after being confronted with what it did.”
Luca’s fingers tighten around mine, but his expression doesn’t change.
Maceo reaches across the table and turns Luca’s notes facedown before the pages can become another thing for him to stare at. His fingers remain over Luca’s wrist for a moment.
“You don’t need to memorize anything,” he says. “I’ll have every document ready when you ask for it.”
Luca turns his hand beneath Maceo’s and links their fingers briefly. “I know.”
I look back at the settlement demand. Alastair has created the opening himself. He expects us to answer through attorneys, negotiate through layers, and treat his distance from the demand as protection.
“We agree to discuss the terms,” I say. “I’ll tell their attorneys I won’t consider any arrangement involving Luca or Ember House unless Alastair explains the foundation’s role himself.”
Thane watches me for several seconds. “He may bring counsel.”
“He should.” I slide the demand toward the center of the table. “I want every explanation given with his attorney sitting beside him.”
Maceo studies the demand, already testing the structure of the plan. “We control the room, the documents, and the order of disclosure. Thane’s team records from outside, and nobody touches the settlement papers until counsel confirms they’re being discussed rather than executed.”
“That’s workable,” Thane says. “But Alastair may leave as soon as he sees the direction of the questioning.”
“Then we don’t show him the direction too early.” I tap the section demanding my resignation. “He believes this is a corporate surrender. We let him explain why my position, Luca’s complaint, and Ember House governance belong in the same agreement.”
Luther’s jaw remains tight as he looks at Luca, but when he speaks, he limits himself to the boundaries of the meeting.
“If he addresses me, I send him back to Blake. If he tries to use scent or designation pressure, the meeting ends.”
Luca reaches across the table and briefly covers Luther’s hand. “Agreed.”
Luther turns his palm beneath Luca’s and squeezes once before letting him go.
We assign the rest of the roles before Thane leaves.
