Page 28 of Sly Like a Fox (Romance Expected Dating Service #3)
Three days after our meeting at the coffee shop, my secure phone buzzes with a call from Maria.
Her tone is brisk and all business. “We’re moving now.
The grand jury handed down indictments this morning.
Federal agents are coordinating with local police for simultaneous arrests of Anklor and his primary co-conspirators. ”
My stomach clenches with excitement. “Where are they taking him?”
“First to the federal courthouse downtown for processing and an initial appearance. Charges include racketeering, money laundering, and conspiracy. There are about fifteen counts in total.”
The moment I’ve been working toward for three years is finally happening. Garret Anklor is about to face the consequences of destroying my family and countless others over his criminal career.
Before he gets arrested, I want him to understand exactly how his downfall was orchestrated and why his destruction wasn’t random misfortune but calculated revenge executed by the son of a man he murdered through greed and callousness.
I access my secure computer and draft a final email to Anklor, using an encrypted account that can’t be traced back to my current location.
The message is personal, detailed, and designed to ensure he understands that his destruction was inevitable from the moment he decided to destroy honest businesses for profit.
Mr. Anklor,
By the time you read this, federal agents will be almost at your door to arrest you on charges of racketeering, money laundering, conspiracy, and numerous other crimes.
You probably don’t remember James Nelson, the owner of Nelson’s Family Construction, who refused to participate in your bid-rigging schemes.
You destroyed his business through false reports to regulatory agencies, manufactured delays on municipal contracts, and systematic character assassination that made it impossible for him to secure new work.
He died of a myocardial infarction three months after filing for bankruptcy, watching everything he’d built over thirty years disappear because he wouldn’t compromise his principles.
His wife, Victoria Nelson, died eighteen months later from the stress and financial pressure of losing everything they’d worked for together.
James and Victoria Nelson were my parents.
For three years, I have systematically infiltrated your organization, documented your crimes, and gathered the evidence that will ensure your conviction. The man you knew as Fenton Nielsen, technology consultant, never existed. The conversation we had was recorded and preserved for prosecutors.
While in your office, I accessed your files via a backdoor I’d sent you weeks before.
While we were chatting, and you were calculating whether I could keep your dirty secrets, I was downloading files with plans to expose them all and destroy you.
I hope you appreciate the irony that you sat idly by, unaware, while I was finding the means to end you.
Your network is finished. Your associates are being arrested as you read this.
The judges and officials you corrupted are facing their own prosecutions based on evidence you provided during our recorded conversations.
Everything you built through violence and intimidation is being dismantled by the rule of law you thought yourself above.
My parents can finally rest in peace, knowing their killer will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Justice has been served.
—Finn Nelson
Using the remote access I still have to Anklor’s computer systems, I time the email to arrive just minutes before the authorities knock on his door. Then I activate his security cameras, giving myself a front-row seat to his final moments of freedom.
The email appears on his screen at 2:47 p.m. I watch through his security feed as he opens it, his expression shifting from casual interest to shock to mounting rage as he processes what he’s reading. His face goes white as he realizes I was actually the son of a man he destroyed years ago.
He stands abruptly from his desk, knocking over his coffee cup as he reads the email again, apparently unable to believe what he’s seeing. The arrogance and confidence that have characterized his entire persona crumbles as he realizes the scope of his exposure.
Then he hears the sirens outside. I can’t hear them, but it’s obvious he can by his panicked stance.
I watch him rush to his panoramic windows, looking down at the street where federal agents and local police are surrounding his building.
The realization that the email’s timing wasn’t coincidental, confirming his own security system is being used to observe his downfall, makes his hands shake with rage.
He returns to his computer, frantically trying to delete files and destroy evidence, but my remote access prevents him from completing any meaningful data destruction. Every attempt to cover his tracks fails as his own systems work against him.
At 2:52 p.m., Maria and her partner, Ryan Murphy, knock on his penthouse door with arrest warrants.
I alternate to the living room security cameras to capture every moment of his arrest, savoring the reading of charges, the application of handcuffs, and the walk of shame through his expensive penthouse while federal agents begin cataloging evidence.
Caroline is in the background and looks awfully relieved for a woman whose husband was just arrested. I even see a small smile on her lips.
The man who destroyed my family through greed and callousness is finally facing consequences for his actions. Seeing his shock and rage upon reading my message and then watching him realize the sirens outside are for him provides me with the closure I’ve sought for years.
“It’s done,” I tell Jenna as federal agents escort Anklor out of his building in handcuffs. “He knows exactly who destroyed him and why.”
She moves to stand beside me, watching the news coverage that’s already beginning to report on the massive corruption investigation. “How do you think he’ll react?”
“Probably with threats, intimidation, and attempts to plea bargain his way out of life imprisonment, but it won’t matter. We have too much evidence, and it’s too widely distributed for him to suppress.”
She frowns. “What about his associates? People like Porter Kane have personal loyalty to Anklor rather than just financial interest. What do you think they’ll do?”
The question raises concerns I’ve been trying not to think about.
While Anklor himself is neutralized, his head of security and other violent associates remain free until they can be located and arrested.
These people have nothing left to lose and might seek revenge against those responsible for destroying their organization.
“We’ll need to be watchful for the next few weeks while law enforcement rounds up the remaining members of his network, but the primary threat is eliminated.” I speak confidently, though I have some minor doubts.
As we watch news coverage of the arrests, I enjoy a peace I haven’t known for almost four years.
The obsession that’s consumed my life since my parents’ deaths has finally reached its conclusion.
Garret Anklor will spend the rest of his life in prison, his criminal network is being dismantled, and my family’s memory has been vindicated.
I’ve also found something more valuable than revenge. Looking at Jenna beside me, watching the end of my mission with satisfaction and relief, it’s clear love and partnership matter more than justice or vengeance.
The news reports continue throughout the afternoon as additional arrests are made and the scope of the corruption investigation becomes clear.
Judge Vance is taken into custody at her home.
City Councilman Terella is arrested at his office.
Business leaders throughout the city find federal agents at their doors with warrants and evidence of their participation in Anklor’s schemes.
“This is bigger than I expected,” Jenna says as we watch the thirteenth arrest of the day. “You’ve dismantled an entire power structure.”
I smile. “We’ve dismantled it. None of this would have been possible without your help.”
She nods. “That’s true. You needed a fox shifter for something like this. So…what happens now?” Her playful grin belies the seriousness in her eyes, revealing she’s worrying about the future.
I want to set her mind at ease. “I guess we need to figure out who we are when we’re not planning elaborate cons against criminal masterminds.”
She comes closer, putting her arm around my waist. “I’d like to build a real life together instead of just surviving from one scheme to the next.”
The future stretches ahead of us, uncertain but full of possibilities that don’t involve deception, danger, or the constant pursuit of seeking justice for the dead. We can finally live for ourselves instead of the past.
First, we need to survive whatever retaliation Anklor’s remaining associates might attempt once they realize their empire has been destroyed by two people who dared to infiltrate their inner circle.
I push aside that thought to focus on the celebration with Jenna, needing to indulge in this moment of victory.
Two nights later, that thought comes back to haunt me when my building’s security system alerts me to movement in the parking garage. The camera feed shows a large figure moving through the shadows with destructive purpose, heading toward the elevator that leads to my floor.
It’s Porter Kane, and he doesn’t look like he’s here to surrender peacefully.
“Jenna,” I say, rousing her from where she’s sleeping in my arms on the couch, having zonked out during the movie. “We have company.” I sound surprisingly calm considering a bear shifter the size of a locomotive and just as powerful is rushing right toward us on a collision course.