BRIAN

I was reading through the cases that were dropped in the same areas that Carter Yates went to school. Each one that was dropped coincided with Carter leaving the area. Looking the families up, all had an influx of funds around that same time frame. Hunter went deep to find out everything he could for George, who planned to ruin Carter. Michael wondered why we cared about the father, when it was the son and Gary we were after. 

“Because Julian being involved didn’t make sense at first. Julian didn’t need this side business, he was already successful without it. So why get involved in this when it could ruin him? We think it was a bid to keep his father in line and out of trouble. Julian runs the family company, but his grandfather was old fashioned, so Carter was given a position in the company. Carter is really just a photo on the wall, while Julian makes all the decisions. The grandfather instilled in Julian to stay clean, and gave him one other responsibility, which seems to include controlling his father’s public image as well.” Daphne tells him.

“How did they hide him this long?” Michael asks.

“By using what worked in the past, paying off the problems.” George tells him.

“None of them refused, which is hard for me to understand. If someone did that to our children I’d have buried them.” Mel tells them.

“Yes, but you need to understand the time period. The people were up against a family with an impeccable reputation, and the likelihood of anyone being willing to help them against that family was slim. The fallout from taking on Carter Sr would have ruined them.” Ted tells her.

“So he got away with everything, and the families moved on?” Hunter asks.

“What else could they have done? No one would have listened or believed it. It’s why Julian keeps his life private. He saw what the family had to do to hide the monster in the family.” Justin tells them.

After going through the information Daphne got from Julian’s laptop no one was surprised nothing pointed to Julian as the scum of the earth he was. I watched as Ted was absorbed in the papers he was going through line by line. I sat with Ted and started on the pile he still had left to do.

“It’s a lesson in creative accounting.” Ted mutters.

“What are we looking for?” I ask.

“Anything where the dates and the balances aren’t consistent with the intake of the actual company.” Ted tells me.

“I was hoping he had both sets of books in his laptop, but he was smart enough to only have the sanitized copy on his laptop.” Daphne tells us.

“I need to go look through the boxes we put in your storage area.” Justin tells me.

“Why?” I ask.

“The reason I saw Gary at Julian’s office that day was because the accounting system was compromised. I backed up all the files before I did anything else. I never needed them, since I didn’t have to erase the files. I threw all the discs in one of the boxes.” Justin tells me.

“You kept it?” Ted asks.

“I planned to give it back, but wanted to be able to fix it from home if the problem happened again. It didn’t, and I never destroyed the discs.” Justin tells us, walking out of the room.

I got up and followed him.  Ben was coming in the door but turned to go with us, smiling at Michael before running after us.

“We’ll be right back.” Justin tells Ben.

“I think it’s better to have both Brian and I with you. Ames is being a pain in the ass, and I don’t like that the FBI tried to drive you out of town.” Ben tells him.

JUSTIN

“So they were FBI?” Brian asks him.

“Carl got confirmation that they were who they said they were. They’re still trying to find a way to explain taking him to Virginia.” Ben tells us.

“Probably hoped if they showed Justin their toys, he’d want to stay.” Brian says, rolling his eyes.

“Kidnapping me wasn’t the way to go. Plus, if they had left it alone, Gary would have likely asked me to show him what I did for Julian.” I tell them.

“Right now Sapp is more worried about the searches going on at his club. Stockwell ordered all his properties searched, they found heroin and unregistered guns in his car when he got in the accident.” Ben tells us.

We got to the loft and Brian grabbed my hand, showing me he was still shaken about letting me go without him. Brian opened up his storage area, and came over to help me look for where I put the discs. Ben pulled out the teddy bear when I handed him a box to look through. 

“We should give that to Gus, it’s not like I really need to keep it.” I tell Brian.

“Only if you really want to give it to him. If it’s important to you than keep it.” He tells me.

“It was left with me when I was abandoned at the hospital. I’d rather create a new memory by giving it to Gus.” I tell him.

Brian found the discs and help put everything back where it was. He pocketed the teddy bear before we got out of the storage area. We were heading back outside when Julian got out of a car, staring at me and Ben.

“I need to talk to you.” Julian tells me, glaring at Ben and Brian. “Alone.” He commands when Brian and Ben step forward and won’t let him near me.

“I don’t work for you anymore, and I don’t appreciate you having Ames try to force me to see you.” I tell him.

“I fired Ames this morning when I found out he was taking outside assignments. So I have no idea why you think I sent Ames to get you.” Julian tells me.

“We have nothing to talk about. I quit.” I tell him.

“I want an explanation. Until recently, you never complained about the job I’ve bent over backwards to give you, including meeting all the conditions you wanted. What changed other than…” He says, looking at Brian and shaking his head. “You’re throwing away your career, for what?” Julian asks.

Brian and Ben weren’t happy when I walked over to Julian, but I also knew Julian wouldn’t stop until he really heard me.

“I’ll take back my resignation if you tell me the truth. Why did you hire me?” I ask.

“You’re the best at what you do.” He tells me.

“I know I am, and you liked that I didn’t have any need to know why you wanted me to do what I did for you. You want an explanation for me quitting, here it is- I can no longer give you sheep to slaughter without questioning if their crime was worse than what your plans for them are. You hired me because I could give you power over other people. I decided to cut out the middle man.” I tell him, walking back to Brian.

“I’m a bad enemy Justin.” Julian warned.

“So am I.” I tell him, glaring at him.

Julian wasn’t looking at me but at Brian as he got his keys out of his pocket. Until that point Julian didn’t look worried, but seeing Brian somehow worried him. I looked at Brian who wasn’t even paying any attention to Julian as he stuffed my teddy bear in the car before getting in.

“Where to now?” Brian asks me as he gets in the car.

“I need Ben to call my kidnappers and tell them I want the location of the house.” I tell Ben.

“What makes you think they know?” Brian asks me.

“Because that’s where Sapperstein planned to take me, and Mark didn’t seem to need directions. Carl needs to keep Stockwell and Saperstein busy elsewhere, Ben.” I tell them.

“There has to be someone watching that house.” Ben tells me.

“Then tell all the people that have me on their wish list that I’ll only listen if they make my arrival easy.” I tell Ben.

“Our arrival.” Brian tells me.

“Call Daphne and Blake so they can meet us.” I tell Brian, knowing he wouldn’t let me go alone.

Ben had us drop him off at the FBI headquarters, which gave me time to make sure Brian would be okay, because I had a feeling we might be finding more than just the information at that house.

Brian looked at me as if he could read my mind. “Just tell me what’s worrying you.” 

“If he has any of the kids there, it’s likely they’re going to be traumatized by what happened to them.” I tell him.

“I know that, but why would you think that would be a problem for me?” He asks.

“I don’t know that it will. It’s just they’ve had things done to them against their will and I know you’ve dealt with that kind of thing.” I tell him.

“I also had people who helped me deal with the problems that come from that, and I will help anyone we find the way they helped me. It doesn’t define me anymore. You, Gus, and my family do, by being there.” Brian tells me.