Chapter 25 - THE TRAP
Marlo decided to do something dangerous.
She leaked false information.
A fake document claiming the original Callaway ledger would be auctioned privately.
The news spread.
Victor reacted within hours.
Three shell companies began moving money.
Marlo watched.
Then she smiled.
“We found him.”
But there was a problem.
Victor wasn't moving toward the fake auction.
He was moving toward Sable.
Marlo realized too late.
The leak had been designed to make Victor panic.
Instead, it made him angry.
Sable disappeared that evening.
No struggle.
No ransom.
Just one note.
YOU WANTED THE TRUTH. NOW COME GET HER.
Marlo's hands shook.
Weston grabbed his coat.
“No.”
Marlo looked at him.
“You're not going alone.”
“We're not going anywhere without the police.”
Marlo shook her head.
“He'll kill her if he sees police.”
Detective Reed looked at them.
“Then we make him believe we're not coming.”
They created a plan.
Marlo would go.
But she would wear a hidden microphone.
Police would follow from a distance.
The location was an abandoned hotel.
Victor waited in the ballroom.
Sable was tied to a chair.
Marlo walked inside.
“You wanted me.”
Victor smiled.
“You look exactly like your mother.”
“You killed Adrian.”
Victor's expression didn't change.
“No.”
“My father did.”
“And you protected him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he protected me.”
Victor revealed the final secret.
Sable's father hadn't been murdered for business.
He had been murdered because he discovered that Richard Hale had secretly built an illegal financial network.
But there was one person who knew the truth.
Elliott.
Victor had spent decades trying to find Elliott's original evidence.
Marlo understood.
“You never wanted the company.”
Victor smiled.
“I wanted the evidence.”
Marlo glanced at Sable.
“Where is it?”
Victor pointed toward her.
“Your mother knows.”
Sable looked terrified.
Marlo realized the trap.
Victor didn't know where the evidence was.
He needed Sable to reveal it.
Marlo smiled.
“You've spent thirty years looking for something that doesn't exist.”
Victor's expression changed.
She continued:
“Elliott destroyed it.”
Victor stepped forward.
“No.”
“He destroyed every copy.”
Victor's hand tightened.
Marlo knew she had found the weakness.
May you like
He wasn't afraid of losing money.
He was afraid of losing the truth.
