Chapter 4 - The Bait
At 8:00 AM, inside the precinct interrogation room, Detective Carter placed Vanessa’s seized burner phone on the metal table.
Vanessa sat across from us, her face pale, her hair messy, looking stripped of all her corporate glamour. She wore an orange jumpsuit, her wrists chained to the table anchor.
"Here’s the deal, Vanessa," Carter said, leaning over the table. "You’re looking at attempted premeditated murder, corporate espionage, and poisoning. In Georgia, that’s life without parole. But if you give us Richard Vance right now, the prosecutor will take the death penalty and life without parole off the table."
Vanessa let out a hollow sneer. "You think Richard Vance leaves breadcrumbs? He used three layers of blind proxies. You’ll never link those wires directly to his personal accounts."
"We don't need to link the wires," I stepped forward, stepping out of the shadows behind Carter. "We just need you to send a single text message."
Vanessa looked up at me, her eyes flashing with defiance. "And why would I help you, Mason? You destroyed my life."
"You destroyed your own life the moment you put poison near my children's mother," I snapped, my voice dropping to a low, lethal murmur. "If you don't cooperate right now, I will personally fund a civil suit that will freeze every asset you’ve ever touched. Your family in Ohio will lose their home, your sister’s trust fund will be audited, and I will ensure you spend every remaining day of your life in a maximum-security state prison. Or... you tap out one message, and you get twenty years with parole eligibility."
Vanessa swallowed hard. The mention of her family’s assets broke her cold facade. She knew I had the money and the legal team to execute every word of that threat.
"What... what do you want me to send?" she whispered, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
I pulled a piece of paper from my coat pocket and slid it across the table.
On the paper was a short, coded string of text—the exact phrase Vanessa had used in her previous encrypted logs with Vanguard Holdings:
Target neutral. The bidding files are secured. Meet me at the docks behind the gala at 11 PM for final transfer.
Vanessa typed the text into the burner phone with trembling fingers and hit send.
Ten seconds passed. The silence in the interrogation room was suffocating.
Then, the screen lit up with a single reply from an unlisted number:
Good work. The bonus has been authorized. Don't be late.
"We have him," Detective Carter said, picking up the phone and placing it into an evidence bag.
I looked at Vanessa one last time. "Enjoy your cell, Vanessa. You’ll have twenty years to think about the family you tried to ruin."
May you like
I turned and walked out of the police station, heading back to the hospital.
Claire was waking up.
