Part 30
Before Victor could even reach into his pocket, his phone began to ring violently.
Then his associate's phone rang. Then the other guard's device began to buzz uncontrollably.
Victor answered it, his hand shaking slightly for the first time.
"What?" he barked into the receiver.
The voice on the other end was frantic, loud enough for me to hear through the quiet room.
"Sir, it’s over! The FBI just raided the Vanguard headquarters! They have a federal warrant for your arrest! Your offshore accounts have been frozen by international authorities! It’s on the news everywhere!"
Victor dropped the phone, the device clattering against the hardwood floor.
He stared at me, his eyes wide with a mixture of disbelief and pure, murderous rage.
"You miserable b*tch!" he screamed, lunging toward me, his hands reaching for my throat.
"Kill her! Kill her now!" he ordered his men.
But his guards didn't move.
They looked at each other, then looked out the large glass window behind me.
The dark coastal night was suddenly flooded with a blinding array of red and blue lights.
Dozens of tactical police vehicles were tearing up the gravel driveway, their sirens finally wailing through the storm.
A loud megaphone echoed from the front yard: "Federal Agents! Step out with your hands up!"
I stood up from my chair, stepping away from the desk, looking down at the man who had thought he was a god.
"I rigged the entire house with hidden cameras, Victor," I said, pointing to a tiny blinking blue light hidden in the bookshelf.
"Your illegal entry, your extortion, and your threats against my daughter were live-streamed to a secure federal server."
"Even if your corrupt friends wanted to save you, they can't. The entire world just watched you confess."
The front door was kicked open with a thunderous crash, and a dozen armed federal agents flooded the room, their weapons raised.
"Get down on the ground! Now!" they shouted.
Victor Sterling, the untouchable billionaire, was forced onto his knees, his face pressed against the cold floor as the metal handcuffs clicked around his wrists.
As they dragged him past me, he looked at me with a face full of defeated horror.
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"Who are you?" he choked out.
"I'm the mother who protects her child," I whispered as the door closed behind him.
