CHAPTER 11: Victoria’s Bargain
Malcolm held Victoria near the broken office window.
Her wrists were bound with plastic ties.
Daniel remained in the hallway while federal agents took positions behind the walls.
“How did you get her out?” Daniel asked.
Malcolm smiled.
“I did not. She was transferred to testify before a grand jury. My people intercepted the vehicle.”
Victoria glared at him.
“He thinks I know where Thomas hid the original shipping manifests.”
“You told Charles the evidence was in the ring,” Malcolm said. “You told Lydia how to contact Daniel. You’ve become extremely helpful since prison.”
“I was trying to shorten my sentence.”
“You were trying to survive.”
Malcolm turned toward Daniel.
“Tell the agents to leave, or she falls.”
Daniel looked at Victoria.
Months earlier, he had planned to marry her.
Then she humiliated his mother, attempted to steal his inheritance, and helped Charles Wynn access private records.
He had every reason to hate her.
But hatred did not give him the right to abandon her.
“Let her go,” Daniel said. “I’ll help you find the manifests.”
Victoria stared at him in disbelief.
Malcolm pulled her away from the window.
“You still want to rescue everyone. Just like your father.”
He ordered Daniel into the archive room.
Rows of filing cabinets stood beneath water-stained ceilings.
Malcolm demanded the password hidden inside Thomas’s ring.
Daniel gave him Eleanor’s name.
A concealed drawer opened inside one of the cabinets.
It contained a sealed metal case.
Malcolm’s hands shook as he lifted it.
Inside were the original shipping manifests.
Each document showed that Malcolm had authorized the illegal transfers after forging Eleanor’s identity.
There was also a handwritten confession from a Wynn executive.
Malcolm had finally found the evidence he needed to destroy.
Before he could ignite the papers, Victoria drove her shoulder into him.
The gun slid across the floor.
Daniel pulled Victoria aside as agents entered the room.
Malcolm ran toward the stairwell.
An agent followed, but Malcolm locked the fire door behind him.
Daniel cut the ties from Victoria’s wrists.
“Why did you help us?”
She looked at him with tears in her eyes.
“Because your mother was right.”
“About what?”
“I wasn’t sorry when I hurt her. I was only sorry when I learned who she was.”
Victoria looked toward the burning barrel Malcolm had prepared.
“I don’t want to spend the rest of my life being that person.”
A gunshot echoed from the roof.
May you like
Then an agent shouted through the radio.
Malcolm had taken Eleanor hostage.
