Chapter 13 - THE TRUTH ABOUT THE TRUCK
The breakthrough came from an expense report.
Not an ancient inscription.
Not a dramatic confession.
An ordinary business expense report.
One of Victor’s shell companies had paid a transportation contractor three days before Elias Hastings’s accident.
The invoice described the payment as an emergency logistics service.
But the contractor had no record of transporting any goods.
Investigators traced the payment through bank records.
Then they located the driver.
His name was Raymond Pike.
He had been paid to follow Elias after the meeting at Aurelian.
According to his eventual statement, the original instruction was to frighten the professor into surrendering his remaining research.
Pike admitted deliberately striking Elias’s car.
He claimed he had not intended the devastating injuries that followed.
That distinction did not change what he had done.
The investigation established financial links to Victor Sloane and uncovered communications consistent with the scheme.
Victor continued denying involvement.
His lawyers blamed unauthorized contractors.
But the documents, payment records, and witness testimony gave prosecutors grounds to pursue the case.
When Skylar heard that Pike had been arrested, she sat beside her father and cried.
Not because justice repaired his spinal injury.
It did not.
Not because the medical debt disappeared.
It had not.
She cried because for three years, people had treated her father’s suspicions as the confused accusations of a desperate man.
Now the evidence supported what he had tried to tell them.
Elias held his daughter’s hand.
“You did it.”
Skylar shook her head.
“We did.”
Later that evening, Dominic arrived at the rehabilitation facility.
He brought no flowers.
No expensive gifts.
Only a folder.
Inside were the results of an independent review of Aurelian’s transactions.
Hayes Technologies had agreed to provide records to investigators, cooperate with claims concerning questionable acquisitions, and fund an independently governed provenance review.
The company would not attempt to claim ownership of objects that could not be supported by legitimate documentation.
Dominic also informed Elias that his legal team would cooperate with the civil claims arising from the use of the forged authentication documents.
Elias examined the folder.
Then looked at him.
“Do you expect me to thank you?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Dominic accepted that.
Skylar watched the exchange.
Three years earlier, her father had been treated as disposable because he stood between wealthy men and profitable transactions.
Now one of the wealthiest men in America was sitting across from him, answering questions instead of issuing commands.
It was not redemption.
Not yet.
But it was a beginning.
Then Elias looked toward his daughter.
“There is something I want you to understand.”
Skylar smiled sadly.
“What now, Dad?”
“I don’t want you spending the rest of your life fighting my battles.”
Her expression changed.
“I want you to finish your research.”
“I will.”
“No.”
He squeezed her hand.
“I want you to finish it because you love the ancient world. Not because you think proving me right is the only thing your talent is good for.”
Skylar’s eyes filled.
She had never realized how much of her identity had become organized around the accident.
The bills.
The anger.
The injustice.
Her father was asking her to imagine a future beyond all of it.
Then Henrik called.
The University of Pennsylvania had formally invited Skylar to discuss resuming her doctorate.
Her original research records had been preserved.
And an independent academic fellowship had become available through a competitive selection process.
For the first time in three years, Skylar had a path back to the life she had lost.
But when she told Dominic, his expression was unexpectedly complicated.
He congratulated her.
Then quietly said:
“I suppose that means you’ll be leaving New York.”
May you like
Skylar stared at him.
For the first time, the billionaire who once believed he could buy anything looked genuinely afraid of losing something money could not purchase.
