Chapter 11 - THE EXCHANGE AT MIDNIGHT
Aurora read the message three times.
Then she looked at Dante.
“We have to save Lily.”
“We will.”
“Victor wants me.”
“I know.”
“Then let me go.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
Aurora stood.
“She's sixteen!”
“And Victor would kill both of you if he got the chance.”
The harshness of his words silenced her.
Dante softened his voice.
“Courage doesn't mean walking into a trap without a plan.”
Working with federal investigators already examining Northstar Capital's financial activities, Dante arranged a controlled exchange.
Aurora insisted on participating.
But only with investigators supervising the operation.
At 11:58 p.m., she stood beside an unmarked vehicle near an abandoned industrial warehouse.
Rain fell steadily.
Dante stood nearby, speaking into a concealed microphone.
“You follow the plan. Nothing else.”
Aurora nodded.
Then Victor appeared beneath the warehouse lights.
He was tall, silver-haired, and elegantly dressed.
His face bore the same sharp features as Dante's.
Victor smiled when he saw Aurora.
“My beautiful daughter.”
Aurora felt sick.
“You don't get to call me that.”
His smile faded.
“I gave you life.”
“You helped destroy my mother's.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“Your mother betrayed me.”
“No,” Aurora said. “She protected me.”
Behind Victor, Lily appeared between two armed guards.
Her cheeks were wet with tears.
“Aurora!”
“It's okay, Lily!”
Victor raised his hand.
“Enough.”
He gestured toward a black briefcase.
“Sign the transfer documents. Then the girl goes free.”
Aurora stepped forward.
Dante's voice sounded through her hidden earpiece.
“Not yet.”
But before Victor could open the briefcase, a gunshot echoed from inside the warehouse.
Everyone froze.
Victor spun toward the sound.
A man staggered into view.
Richard Whitlock.
Blood stained his sleeve.
He collapsed to his knees.
Then he looked directly at Aurora.
“Your mother...” he gasped.
May you like
“She didn't die in that accident.”
And somewhere behind the warehouse walls, a woman screamed.
