Chapter 26 - The Fixer's Threat
I didn't wait for morning. I sent David home through the secure underground tunnel and walked purposefully toward the main lobby, carrying the briefcase. I wanted Silas to know exactly what I had.
As I stepped out through the revolving glass doors into the chilly night air, the dark gray sedan across the street slowly rolled forward, stopping mere feet away from me. The passenger window glided down smoothly.
Silas Vance sat in the driver's seat. He was a man with sharp, predatory features, wearing a dark suit that failed to hide his muscular, intimidating build.
"You shouldn't be working so late, Mrs. Mercer," Silas said, his voice a low, terrifying rumble. "It’s bad for your health."
I stopped on the concrete steps, looking down at him. I refused to flinch. I refused to let the ghost of Daniel’s violence make me cower.
"I prefer the quiet," I replied coldly, tapping my fingers against the leather briefcase. "It allows me to clean out the garbage my ex-husband left hidden in the walls."
Silas’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. He looked at the briefcase, instantly realizing that his hidden vault had been compromised. The facade of the polite journalist completely evaporated.
"You are playing a very dangerous game with things you don't understand," Silas warned, his hand dropping out of sight below the window frame. "Daniel is willing to offer you a truce. If you hand over that briefcase, the appeal goes away. You keep your little lake retreat, and you go back to your quiet life."
"A truce?" I laughed, a harsh, bitter sound that echoed in the empty street. "You think I want a truce with the man who destroyed my children? There is no truce, Silas. You tell Daniel that I am going to take this ledger to the federal prosecutor tomorrow morning. I am going to freeze his offshore accounts, and I am going to ensure that you share a cell with him for aiding and abetting corporate fraud."
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Silas stared at me with pure, unadulterated venom. "You just made a fatal mistake, Victoria."
The window rolled up, and the sedan sped away into the night. The war was officially declared.
