Chapter 19 - The Last Deal
Police surrounded the warehouse long before anyone went inside.
Pike did not know that.
Or maybe he did and simply did not care.
Elena entered with Nathan and Victoria under a controlled plan approved by Alvarez. Each wore a hidden microphone. Officers waited outside every exit.
Pike stood beneath a single hanging light beside Elena’s stolen laptop.
He looked ordinary.
That was the most frightening thing about him.
No wild eyes. No dramatic weapon in his hand. Just a man in a dark coat who had spent years learning how rich people hid their sins.
“Welcome,” he said.
Victoria’s voice shook. “Daniel, this ends tonight.”
“It ended years ago. Tonight is just accounting.”
Elena placed a folder on the table.
“You want the safety records.”
“I want the board to transfer voting control to me.”
Nathan laughed once. “Why would they?”
“Because if they don’t, every file goes public before sunrise.”
Elena looked at him. “You think owning the company makes you different from Victoria?”
Pike smiled. “I never pretended to be better.”
Claire’s voice suddenly came through Elena’s hidden earpiece from the police van.
We found the upload server.
Alvarez whispered next.
Keep him talking.
Elena stepped closer. “Did you kill Claire’s father?”
Pike’s smile faded.
Victoria said, “Answer her.”
He looked at Victoria with years of hatred in his eyes.
“He was going to expose everything.”
“So you killed him?” Elena asked.
“He had a heart condition.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
Pike’s jaw tightened. “I scared him. He collapsed. I left.”
Nathan stared at him. “You let him die.”
Pike said nothing.
That silence was enough.
Alvarez’s voice sounded in Elena’s earpiece.
We have it.
Elena exhaled.
Then Pike looked directly at her ear.
His expression changed.
“You’re wearing a wire.”
He grabbed the laptop and ran.
Nathan moved instinctively to block him.
Pike slammed into him, sending both men into a stack of empty crates.
Victoria screamed.
Elena pulled Nathan backward as officers stormed through the doors.
Pike reached the river exit.
He got one hand on the handle before Detective Alvarez tackled him to the concrete.
The laptop skidded across the floor.
Everything stopped.
Pike was handcuffed.
Nathan sat against a crate, bleeding from a cut near his eyebrow but conscious.
Victoria stared at Elena.
“You saved him.”
Elena looked at Nathan.
“No,” she said quietly. “He finally tried to save himself.”
Then her phone buzzed.
May you like
Her attorney had sent one final message.
The marriage license had just been officially filed.
