Chapter 3 - The Uncle's Secret
The Honda Civic bounced heavily as Marcus drove down the winding gravel road leading away from Oakridge Lane. The sun was dipping below the tree line, casting long, bruised shadows across the windshield. Leo stared out the window, refusing to speak, his arms still folded across his blue t-shirt.
"Stop looking at me like that," Marcus finally said, keeping his eyes on the road. "I'm trying to protect you."
"By running away?" Leo snapped. "Mom is sitting in a cold cell right now while you talk about protecting me? What did you mean back at the station? What past?"
Marcus sighed, gripping the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. "Your mother wasn't always an accountant in a quiet suburb, Leo. Before you were born... she lived in Chicago. She worked for a venture capital firm that collapsed under mysterious circumstances. Millions vanished."
Leo turned sharply in his seat. "She never told me that."
"Because she was cleared, or so she thought," Marcus replied, taking a sharp turn onto Elm Street. "The FBI investigated her back then, but they couldn't pin it on her partner, let alone her. But the federal prosecutor who led that old case? He’s the new district attorney in our county. The timing of this arrest isn't random, Leo. Someone is digging up old ghosts."
"Then we have to prove she's innocent now!" Leo insisted. "The video I made... people are listening. Millions of people."
"Social media isn't a courtroom, Leo. It's a wildfire," Marcus warned as he pulled into the driveway of their small suburban house. The front lawn was already crowded with three news vans, their satellite dishes pointed skyward. Microphones thrust forward the moment the car door opened.
Marcus threw his arm across the passenger seat to block Leo from getting out. "Stay down. Don't look at them."
Leo ignored him. He pushed the door open, flashing cameras blinding him instantly as a reporter shoved a microphone right into his face.
"Leo! Did your mother confess to the embezzlement?"
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Leo looked straight into the news camera, his hazel eyes flashing with sudden, cold clarity. "My mother is being framed by the man who prosecuted her ten years ago!"
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