Chapter 55
He had lost count of those whom he had ordered eliminated through the years. The first few years, when he was building his business, he had handled all of it himself.
The dirty work.
It had resulted in an excellent private income.
Eventually the wealth from that income had been too much for him to hide, and with a bit of bribery to the ones in Wichita Falls who had actually cared about that kind of thing, he had passed it off as strategic investments with his wife’s inheritance.
Everyone knew she had come from some means—he would never forget the jokes at his expense about him marrying up back then.
He had exaggerated the size of those means, to cover his own activities until he hadn’t needed to any longer.
The taunting had angered him, of course.
He was the provider in the family, and when his wife’s family money had taken a downturn in the housing crisis so many years ago, that had cemented his role as the earner.
She had learned quickly not to question where the money to support her lifestyle had come from.
And eventually, it had formed a beautiful life for them both. And their son.
Until his wife’s death.
After that, there was no hiding anything.
His strategic moves with life insurance policies and his wife’s remaining inheritance that had passed to their son—he had used his own particular skills and network to triple the two million she had left behind.
And he had doubled that again in the last decade.
His son hadn’t even needed to work. Especially a blue-collar role like what his father had started out with.
He should have retired from the TSP years ago, kept his son far away from it, but he had liked the connections it had provided.
And he had enjoyed having a force of his own to command.
Off the books. He had built his own little nest of employees within the TSP statewide.
It had taken him over two decades to accomplish. He hadn’t been ready to give that up, even for more recognition within the hierarchy at the TSP.
He rather liked not being in the limelight, honestly. It allowed for far more freedom.
He had worked low level TSP positions as a favor to friends in Wichita Falls. Those friends were obsessed with what happened in the Finley Creek region. He understood why. Millions of dollars were at stake, after all. And a legacy.
Now his own legacy was tainted. For his son.
And definitely for Riely. He needed to fix that, clean it up.
He was not getting any younger, as the saying went.
He was sixty-seven. His own son had been born when he was twenty-five.
He had planned on retiring at sixty-seven, but with what had happened with his son—maybe now it was time to consider it.
He had enough connections to take his organization off the TSP now.
And he had enough connections within the TSP to operate without detection.
He had had contingency plans in place for years, for this very kind of thing.
There were just a few more names on his list that had to be eliminated now. To ensure no one knew where to look. Because he wasn’t a fool—there were always paper trails. No matter how someone tried to hide them.
Someone…could always find something.
So he had always done what he had to do to keep his secrets.
He would do so again.
Until there was no threat left.
He looked up at Bo when his step-nephew came in. “Is it finished?”
Bo just nodded. “No one is digging now.”
Bo understood the mission. And he was blindly loyal to those who were loyal to him. He had learned that about the young man long, long ago. It made Bo very, very useful to have around.