Chapter 18 - The Fall of Meridian
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The fallout the next morning was swift, brutal, and highly televised.
Nora and Luca sat in the sunny breakfast nook of the estate, drinking coffee while Leo happily ate a bowl of cereal, entirely oblivious to the chaos unfolding in the city.
The massive flat-screen television on the wall played the morning news.
“Breaking news out of Manhattan this morning,” the anchor announced, her expression serious. “The FBI has raided the headquarters of Meridian Capital following an anonymous tip regarding a massive international money-laundering syndicate.”
The screen flashed to a live feed of the luxury high-rise apartment building in Brooklyn.
Federal agents in dark windbreakers were leading a woman out of the front doors in handcuffs. It was Vanessa Thorne. She wore a wrinkled silk robe, her hair a messy bird’s nest, screaming hysterically at the cameras flashing in her face.
“Get away from me! I didn't do it! Gregory Whitmore did it!” Vanessa shrieked as an agent forcefully shoved her into the back of an unmarked federal vehicle.
Nora took a slow, satisfying sip of her coffee. The woman who had twisted her wrist and called her a pathetic nanny was now facing decades in federal prison, stripped of her dignity and her wealth.
“A flawless victory,” Luca noted quietly, watching Nora’s face. “You dismantled her entirely without firing a single bullet.”
“What about Gregory?” Nora asked, turning to look at him.
Luca’s expression darkened into a grim, stoic mask. He muted the television.
“Gregory didn't make it to the airport,” Luca informed her, his voice devoid of any sympathy. “Viktor Volkov received the decrypted ledgers we sent him. The Russian syndicate is not as forgiving as the federal government. Gregory was intercepted by Volkov’s men outside his hotel last night.”
Nora felt a strange, cold shiver run down her spine. For seven years, Gregory had been the terrifying monster who controlled her entire reality. Now, he was simply a footnote in a mafia ledger, erased by his own arrogant greed.
“Is he…?” Nora trailed off.
“He is gone, Nora,” Luca said firmly, reaching across the table to cover her hand with his. “He will never hurt you, or belittle you, or cast a shadow over your life ever again. The past is dead.”
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Nora looked down at their joined hands. The fear and the insecurity that had defined her adulthood had completely evaporated. She wasn't the weak, plain woman Gregory had discarded. She was the woman who had brought down a corrupt firm and survived an assassination attempt.
She squeezed Luca’s hand tightly. “Good.”
