Chapter 33 - The Final Confession
We burst out of the northern sea-cliff culvert just as the cold ocean spray crashed against the jagged rocks below.
Waiting for us fifty yards offshore was a high-speed maritime interceptor boat manned by our loyal Eastern European contacts, its twin diesel engines idling with a deep, throaty rumble.
We scrambled down the slick rock face, sliding the last ten feet into the rolling deck of the boat just as the vessel throttled forward, cutting through the dark Adriatic waves like a knife.
Safe behind the armored windshield, watching the burning lights of Vance’s coastal villa fade into the stormy horizon, I finally let out a long, shuddering breath of relief.
Ronan pulled off his ceramic plate carrier, tossing it onto the deck, and dropped onto the bench seat beside me. He grabbed my shoulders, pulling me into a fierce, suffocating embrace, burying his face in my hair.
“You’re insane,” Ronan murmured, his voice thick with a mixture of raw terror and immense pride. “You stood in the middle of a live combat zone downloading corporate files while bullets were tearing the walls apart.”
“I told you, Mr. Cain,” I smiled, resting my forehead against his chest as the boat raced toward our waiting private jet. “I’m an auditor. And I always finish balancing the books.”
Twenty-four hours later, back inside the secure East Wing study of Raven Hill, the recovered data files were decrypted, formatted, and transmitted simultaneously to the U.S. Department of Justice, Interpol, and every major media syndicate in North and South America.
The evidence was airtight, irrefutable, and devastating.
David Vance and his remaining conspirators were arrested by local authorities before they could even charter a flight out of Croatia. The federal warrants fabricated against Cain Logistics were permanently expunged, and the rogue elements within the municipal courts were systematically purged under federal corruption statutes.
As the autumn leaves drifted quietly past the tall Gothic windows of the estate, casting warm, golden light across the polished mahogany desk, I sat sipping my morning coffee while Ronan wrapped his arms around me from behind, his chin resting softly on my shoulder.
May you like
The past had finally been buried. The shadows had been cleared away.
And as we looked out over the wide-open iron gates of Raven Hill, we knew that no matter what storms tried to roll in from the outside world, our empire was built to stand forever.
