Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO RANThe recording changed the investigation overnight.
Federal warrants were issued for David Sterling and Raymond Pike.
News outlets exploded with the story.
Sterling Development shares collapsed.
Banks froze accounts.
Government agencies suspended contracts.
Employees began talking.
Once fear cracked, truth poured through.
Former assistants.
Accountants.
Drivers.
Contractors.
People who had spent years telling themselves they had seen nothing suddenly remembered everything.
Victor watched coverage from his office.
Rebecca entered.
“They found Pike.”
“Where?”
“O’Hare.”
“Trying to leave?”
“Private terminal. Ticket to Zurich.”
“Sterling?”
“Nothing.”
Victor turned from the window.
“Then he's still dangerous.”
Raymond Pike initially denied everything.
Then prosecutors played Thomas’s recording.
His attorney requested a recess after forty-seven seconds.
By evening, Pike was discussing cooperation.
Elena watched the news from Victor’s guest house.
She had become the unwilling public face of the scandal.
Reporters camped near the gates.
Some called her brave.
Others repeated rumors leaked by Sterling’s allies.
Disgruntled employee.
Unstable widow.
Thief.
Opportunist.
One tabloid claimed she had seduced Victor to manipulate him into destroying a competitor.
Elena threw the article onto the table.
“I knew this would happen.”
Victor picked it up.
“You read comments?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because apparently I enjoy suffering.”
He deleted the article from her tablet.
“Problem solved.”
She almost smiled.
“People think I’m using you.”
“People think the moon landing was staged.”
“That's your defense?”
“My defense is that strangers are frequently stupid.”
Her smile appeared briefly.
Then disappeared.
“What happens when this is over?”
Victor knew what she meant.
Not the case.
Them.
Lucy had grown attached to him.
Elena had too.
And Victor had discovered something uncomfortable.
His giant home felt empty whenever they weren't there.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
“At least that’s honest.”
Victor looked toward the backyard.
Lucy rode her repaired pink bicycle in circles while two security officers pretended not to be terrified she would crash.
“I want her to have a normal life again,” Elena said.
“So do I.”
“She can't grow up surrounded by guards.”
“No.”
“And I don't want to be somebody you rescued.”
Victor looked at her.
“You aren't.”
“It feels like it sometimes.”
“Then change it.”
“How?”
“Work.”
She blinked.
“At Romano Global?”
“If you want.”
“What would I do?”
“Build the compliance department I apparently should've built years ago.”
Elena stared.
“You’re offering me a job?”
“I’m asking whether you want one.”
“Because you feel guilty?”
“No.”
“Because you feel sorry for me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you found an eleven-million-dollar fraud while raising a child and grieving your husband.”
Victor leaned back.
“I suspect you’re competent.”
Elena laughed.
“That's the least romantic compliment anyone has ever given me.”
Victor froze.
Romantic.
The word hung between them.
She realized what she'd said.
Neither spoke.
Then Lucy crashed into a hedge.
The moment vanished.
Three days later, investigators traced Sterling to a motel in Indiana.
By the time they arrived, he had disappeared again.
But he left something behind.
A photograph.
Lucy.
Taken recently.
Outside Victor’s guest house.
Written on the back:
TRADE THE RECORDING FOR THE CHILD’S SAFETY.
Victor saw red.
He doubled security.
Elena wanted Lucy removed from Chicago.
Victor refused to choose until they knew Sterling’s location.
Then Lucy vanished.
For ninety seconds.
Only ninety.
She had gone through the pantry into a courtyard to retrieve her bicycle bell.
But those ninety seconds nearly destroyed Victor.
When she reappeared, he grabbed her shoulders.
“You never leave without telling someone.”
Lucy recoiled.
Victor immediately released her.
“I’m sorry.”
She stared.
“You yelled.”
“I know.”
“My daddy yelled sometimes.”
Victor’s face fell.
“Did that scare you?”
She nodded.
He knelt.
“I was scared too.”
“Of me?”
“No.”
“Then why yell?”
Victor searched for words.
“Because sometimes adults turn fear into anger.”
Lucy thought about that.
“That's dumb.”
“Yes.”
She hugged him.
“I won't disappear.”
Victor closed his eyes.
“You better not.”
From the doorway, Elena watched them.
Something in her expression changed.
That night she found Victor sitting alone in the kitchen.
“You love her.”
He looked up.
He could have denied it.
Instead:
“Yes.”
Elena sat opposite him.
“She loves you too.”
Victor looked away.
“I'm not replacing Thomas.”
“I know.”
“I’d never try.”
“I know that too.”
Silence.
Then Elena reached across the table and placed her hand over his.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For seeing her.”
Victor squeezed her fingers.
“She’s difficult to miss.”
The lights suddenly flickered.
Victor stood instantly.
Not again.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Sterling.
“Enjoying my house?”
Victor went cold.
“What?”
Sterling laughed.
“The Carter house. I own it.”
Victor looked toward Elena.
Sterling continued.
“Shell company purchased the mortgage eighteen months ago.”
“You're finished.”
“Maybe.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“Nathan made poor choices.”
“You ordered murder.”
“Can you prove it?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Victor knew Sterling finally understood.
“You found the recording.”
“I did.”
Sterling breathed slowly.
“Thomas always was stubborn.”
Victor’s hand tightened.
“You should surrender.”
“No.”
“What do you want?”
“A trade.”
“Not happening.”
Sterling gave him an address.
Victor recognized it.
Elena's old house.
“Midnight tomorrow.”
“For what?”
“Bring the recorder.”
“And?”
“I give you something Thomas would want you to have.”
Victor nearly laughed.
“You have nothing.”
“Ask Elena what happened to her son.”
Victor stopped breathing.
Elena stared at him.
Sterling continued.
“The baby she thinks died.”
Victor’s blood went cold.
“He died in the hospital.”
“Did he?”
Victor looked at Elena.
She could hear Sterling through the phone.
Her face had turned white.
Sterling whispered:
“Midnight, Victor.”
The line disconnected.
Elena slowly stood.
“What did he mean?”
Victor said nothing.
“Victor.”
May you like
Her voice broke.
“What did he mean about my baby?”
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