Chapter 48 - The Prosecutor's Gamble
Arthur Vance let out a low, humorless laugh, though his eyes remained hard and unyielding.
“Warrants are for men who play by the rules, Vincent,” Vance said, taking a deliberate step closer despite the weapon aimed at his chest. “I’ve spent three years chasing phantoms. I watched the attorney general drop the case, I watched my colleagues look the other way, and I watched the most dangerous man in the East Coast buy his way into polite society with hospital wings and university endowments.”
“You’re chasing a ghost, Vance,” Maya said, her voice cutting through the chill of the night air. “Damien Moretti doesn't run the syndicate anymore. The past is dead.”
“Nothing ever truly dies in this city,” Vance countered sharply. “It just changes its name. And I have enough unsealed intelligence fragments from our international partners to reopen every single racketeering charge against Moretti within forty-eight hours—unless.”
Vincent’s eyes narrowed. “Unless what?”
“Unless Damien sits down across a table from me and answers a few off-the-record questions about what really happened the night the Salvatore empire collapsed,” Vance said, his voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper. “Just him and me. No lawyers, no bodyguards, no press. A quiet conversation to clear the air once and for all.”
Vincent stared at the prosecutor for a long, agonizing moment. He recognized the look in Vance’s eyes—it wasn't the righteous fury of a public servant; it was the desperate ambition of a man staking his entire career on a conspiracy theory.
“And if he refuses?” Vincent asked.
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“Then I unleash a legal firestorm that will tear this estate down brick by brick,” Vance replied evenly. “Tell your boss I’ll be waiting at the old boathouse at the edge of the municipal pier tomorrow at midnight. If he cares about the life he’s built with Ellie, he’ll be there.”
Without waiting for an answer, Vance turned on his heel and disappeared back into the dark treeline, leaving Vincent and Maya alone in the whispering wind.
