Chapter 8 - THE TRAP CLOSES
"Show me," Elias demanded, stepping closer.
I handed him the phone, my fingers numb. He read the text messages, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle twitched beneath his skin.
"Amateurs," Elias muttered, but there was genuine fury in his eyes. "They're escalating faster than I anticipated."
"They're threatening my parents, Elias!" Panic surged through me, sharp and blinding. "I don't care how terrible my mother is, she doesn't deserve to be murdered in her sleep! I have to go to the police. I have to—"
"The police won't help you," Elias cut in, his voice ironclad. "Meridian has two former deputy commissioners on their board of directors. If you walk into a precinct right now, you'll be detained under suspicion of corporate espionage based on the false paper trail Lila and Jake already laid down."
"Then what do I do?" I screamed, tears finally spilling over my eyelashes. "I have no money, no power, no influence! I’m a barista who codes in the dark! I can't fight a multi-billion-dollar private equity firm!"
Elias took my shoulders in his hands. His grip was firm, grounding me against the swirling vortex of terror.
"You're not fighting them alone, Maya," he said, holding my gaze until my breathing slowed down. "You have me. Voss Fintech has more liquid capital than Meridian could dream of. And more importantly, you have the intellect that built that engine in the first place."
"They have the drive," I choked out. "They have the key."
"A key is useless without the ignition," Elias said coldly. "They sent that threat because they tried to run the cipher and it threw a fatal deadlock. They can't decrypt Andrew’s research without you. Which means, for the next twenty-four hours, you have all the leverage."
He released my shoulders and walked over to a heavy steel desk in the corner of the living room. He opened an encrypted laptop, his fingers flying across the mechanical keyboard.
"We have to move your parents," I said, pacing the hardwood floor. "Even if they hate me, Elias. I can't let them die."
"I already have a private security detail en route to their home in Long Island," Elias replied, not looking up from the monitor. "They’ll be evacuated within twenty minutes under the guise of an emergency federal subpoena. They’ll be safe in an undisclosed Voss facility by midnight."
I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Thank you."
"Don't thank me yet," he said, turning the screen toward me.
On the display was a live feed of a New York City precinct parking lot. In the grainy security footage, a sleek black SUV was idling near the entrance. A man in an expensive tailored trench coat stepped out—tall, slicked-back hair, carrying a leather briefcase.
"Who is that?" I asked.
"Vincent Kane," Elias said, his voice laced with poison. "Chief Operating Officer of Meridian Global. And look who just walked out of the precinct to meet him."
The camera zoomed in.
Coming down the concrete steps of the police station, arm-in-arm, were Lila and Jake. Lila wasn't crying anymore. She had changed out of her ruined wedding dress into a chic cashmere sweater and jeans.
She smiled, shook Kane’s hand, and handed him a manila envelope.
"She’s not just a victim who got caught," I whispered, the final remnants of my sisterly affection turning to ash inside my heart. "She went straight to them."
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"She made her choice, Maya," Elias said, snapping the laptop shut. "Now it’s time to make yours. Do we run, or do we burn their entire empire to the ground?"
***
