Chapter 16 - The Mistress at Bay
Victoria stood in the dim light, shivering in mud-splattered designer clothes, her face smeared with mascara and dirt. In her trembling hands, she held a snub-nosed revolver.
"Don't move, Clara," she sobbed hysterically, her voice echoing off the damp concrete walls. "Don't you take another step!"
I stopped, my boots sinking into the wet gravel. I tightened my grip on Leo, every maternal instinct screaming inside me. But looking into Victoria's frantic, bloodshot eyes, I didn't see an assassin. I saw a cornered rat.
"Put the gun down, Victoria," I said coldly, keeping my voice level and commanding. "Julian’s men attacked the convoy to kill Brandon. Did you really think you were going to escape them down here?"
Victoria began to weep, her shoulders shaking violently. "Brandon was supposed to meet me in Mexico! He promised me forty million dollars! But the men who intercepted the prison bus... they were wearing black masks! They tried to execute Brandon right in front of my eyes! I followed their extraction van here... I slipped through the perimeter fence when the power went out!"
"Julian used both of you," I replied, taking a deliberate step forward. "Brandon was his pawn to drain my grandfather’s estate, and you were Brandon’s distraction. The moment you became useless, Julian put targets on your backs. Do you hear the gunfire upstairs? If Julian finds you down here, you won't survive five seconds."
"I have nothing left!" she screamed, her finger trembling on the trigger. "Brandon is half-dead in an intensive care ward under armed guard! The FBI seized my penthouse, my jewelry, my accounts! Everyone hates me! You took everything from me!"
"You gave everything away the moment you decided to sleep with a married man and rob a newborn child of his inheritance!" I shot back, my voice ringing with righteous fury. "I didn't destroy your life, Victoria. Your own greed did!"
Victoria's weapon wavered. She stared at the small bundle wrapped in my coat, catching a glimpse of Leo's tiny face.
A loud thud rattled the emergency hatch above our heads. Heavy combat boots echoed on the iron grating behind us. Julian’s strike team had breached the lower corridors.
"They're coming," I said calmly. "You have two choices. You can pull that trigger, and Julian’s killers will put a bullet through your skull ten seconds later. Or you drop the gun, hand me the flash drive you took from Brandon’s safe deposit box, and run to the coast guard docks with me."
May you like
Victoria looked between the descending shadows and me. With a shuddering gasp, she dropped the revolver. It clattered against the stone floor.
She reached into her soaked leather jacket and pulled out a gold, encrypted hard drive. "Brandon gave it to me this morning before he was loaded onto the van. He said it was his insurance policy against Julian Vance."