Chapter 6 - The Threat
Mason insisted the consultant was hired to protect the club from Luke.
“He stole documents.”
“He took evidence,” Lena replied.
“He was trying to destroy Iron Ridge.”
“No.”
“You were selling it.”
The club members moved closer—not toward Mason, but toward the ledger.
For years, he had told them loyalty meant protecting the patch.
Now they understood he had used the patch to protect himself.
Walt examined the consultant’s invoice.
It did not describe violence or detention.
It described surveillance, vehicle tracking and controlled misinformation.
Mason had paid professionals to make it appear Luke fled Texas after stealing from the club.
A fuel receipt placed Luke’s motorcycle near the Oklahoma border.
A fabricated message claimed he wanted to disappear.
Mason showed those records to the members and told Lena her brother was ashamed to face her.
For six weeks, she had wondered whether Luke abandoned her.
That cruelty hurt more than the false memorial.
Mason had not only hidden the truth.
He made a grieving sister question the person she loved most.
Lena looked at him.
“You told me he chose not to come home.”
Mason said nothing.
“You watched me apologize for believing in him.”
His eyes shifted away.
The radio crackled.
“Lena, he needed me gone before the vote.”
Walt looked toward the land-sale agreement.
“What vote?”
The cooperative charter required an automatic member review whenever a sale offer exceeded ten million dollars.
Mason had scheduled that review for midnight.
But he planned to present Luke as a thief and declare his family shares suspended.
Without Luke’s twenty-two percent, Mason could control the outcome.
Then the old garage printer activated.
A single voting ballot emerged.
May you like
It carried Luke’s authenticated digital signature.
He had voted against the sale.
