Chapter 13 - The Unfinished Thread
Back at the penthouse that evening, the secure monitor on my private study desk flashed red.
Victor stepped through the heavy oak door without knocking, his face grim.
“We picked up Gregory Vance twenty minutes ago outside a hotel in Midtown,” Victor reported, placing a heavy manila folder on my mahogany desk. “He wasn't acting on behalf of Marcus Sterling. He was acting on behalf of Julian.”
I leaned back in my leather chair, my eyes narrowing. “Julian is supposed to be in Europe under permanent exile.”
“He was,” Victor agreed, opening the folder to reveal a series of printed surveillance photographs and bank transfer logs. “Turns out, Julian managed to stash a secondary reserve fund in a decentralized cryptocurrency wallet before we froze their primary corporate accounts. He didn't flee the continent. He went underground in Montreal, and he’s been hiring independent contractors to finish what his family started.”
My heart hammered a violent, dangerous rhythm against my ribs.
“Contractors for what?” I asked, my voice dropping into a chilling whisper.
“Not financial retaliation, Boss,” Victor said quietly, sliding a final photograph across the desk. “Elimination. Julian blames you for the total destruction of his life, and he knows he can't hurt you directly. So his target is Clara.”
The room around me seemed to tilt on its axis. All the meticulous security, all the ironclad isolation, all the brutal efficiency of my underworld empire—and yet, a stray thread of the Sterling rot had slipped through the net.
“Where is Julian right now?” I asked.
“We traced his burner phone to a private airstrip upstate,” Victor replied, his hand resting on his sidearm. “His flight out of the country leaves in four hours. But before he boards, he’s planning a final move.”
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I stood up slowly, every muscle in my body coiling like a struck spring. The illusion that I could shield my wife simply by cutting off her abusers was shattered. Monsters don't stop hunting just because you burn their den; you have to hunt them down until there are none left.
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