Part 22
The realization that Thomas was free didn't break me; it made me lethal.
"You pathetic piece of trash," I said, my voice dropping to a terrifyingly calm whisper.
"You think Alistair saved you out of the goodness of his heart? You're a meat shield to him."
"He's using you to get his billions back, and the moment he does, he will discard you like the garbage you are."
On the other end of the line, Thomas's breath hitched. I had touched his deepest insecurity.
He always knew he was just a puppet, a low-level grifter playing in a billionaire's sandbox.
"Shut up!" Thomas shouted, his bravado cracking. "You don't dictate the terms anymore, Victoria!"
"I'm in a secure location. You have two hours to transfer the entire voting control of Vale International to a shell corporation I specify."
"If the transfer isn't confirmed by the Swiss bank, I drop the twins into the Atlantic Ocean."
"Let me speak to them," I demanded, my heart pounding against my ribs, though my voice remained steady as steel.
There was a brief pause, and then I heard a faint, tiny cry in the background—the distinct sound of my daughter Lily.
The sound tore through my soul, but it also gave me something invaluable: data.
In the background of the call, beneath Lily's cry, I heard a rhythmic, mechanical thumping sound.
It wasn't an airplane. It wasn't a car. It was the distinct, low-frequency thrum of a marine diesel engine, combined with the echoing sound of water hitting metal.
They weren't on land. They were on a ship.
"Two hours, Victoria," Thomas snarled, slamming the phone down before I could say another word.
I turned to Marcus, who was already analyzing the call data on his tablet.
"Did you trace it?" I asked, my eyes burning with a dark fire.
"The signal was routed through seven different VPNs," Marcus said, looking up with a grim expression.
"But I didn't need the signal. I analyzed the acoustic background noise from your speakerphone."
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"That engine frequency belongs to a specific class of superyacht—the Sterling Marauder."
"And according to the global marine registry, it just departed from a private dock in Southampton twenty minutes ago."
