Chapter 7 - THE FINAL GAMBIT
The rain poured heavily down on the tarmac. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Parker’s security team braced themselves, pistols raised, but Julian’s men had the high ground on the jet stairs and heavy military firepower.
Betsy looked between Julian and me, realizing she was caught in the middle of a war between two billionaire titans.
"Julian!" Betsy cried out, running toward the jet stairs. "Help me! Tell them to put the guns down! Take me with you to Dubai!"
Julian didn't even look at her. He raised his silver cane and gave a slight gesture to one of his guards.
The guard didn't hesitate. He kicked Betsy hard in the chest.
Betsy let out a painful gasp and tumbled down the wet metal stairs, crashing heavily onto the asphalt right at my feet. Her designer bag burst open, scattering fake diamonds and stolen passports across the dark ground.
"You're a foolish woman, Betsy," Julian said dismissively, taking a drag from his cigar. "You actually believed I cared about your thirty-year-old grudge? You were just a key to get inside the Vance financial vault. Now that the door is unlocked, you're just trash."
Betsy laid in the rain, sobbing, clutching her broken ribs, looking up at me with eyes full of absolute, pathetic regret. The woman who had sneered at me in the hospital, who had called my daughter a "useless burden," was now bleeding on the ground, completely abandoned by the monster she had served.
"You see, Victoria?" Julian smiled down at me. "That is what happens to people who aren't ruthless. Now, hand over the physical vault key. You have five seconds before my men open fire."
"Five seconds?" I echoed, pulling a small silver device from my coat pocket.
It wasn't a vault key. It was a military-grade satellite signal jammer.
"What is that?" Julian’s eyes narrowed.
"You spent six years planning this, Julian," I said, my voice echoing clearly over the roar of the rain and jet engines. "You thought you were setting a trap for my trust fund. But you forgot one crucial detail about my father."
Julian’s face hardened. "What detail?"
"Dad knew you’d come back," I said, pressing the red button on the silver jammer. "He knew you were obsessed with taking Ares Holdings public. So before he died, he didn't just lock his assets in a bank. He created a honeypot."
Suddenly, high-pitched police sirens began blaring from every direction around the airfield.
Dozens of red and blue lights broke through the heavy rain. SWAT armored vehicles burst through the perimeter fences of the runway, blocking every possible escape route. Helicopters swept down from the dark clouds, their massive floodlights illuminating the tarmac like daytime.
"THIS IS THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION!" a loudspeaker boomed from above. "PUT YOUR WEAPONS DOWN IMMEDIATELY! YOU ARE SURROUNDED!"
Julian’s guards panicked, immediately dropping their weapons and putting their hands on their heads.
Julian’s face turned completely white. His cigar fell from his lips into the wet puddle below. "How... how did they know?"
"The $50 million wire transfer," Parker explained with a triumphant grin, holding up his tablet. "It wasn't routed through Switzerland, Julian. The moment you used the cloned biometric key, it triggered an automatic Interpol tracking beacon that Dad set up ten years ago. We didn't freeze the money to protect it—we froze it to keep you on the ground until the Federal SWAT team locked down your airspace!"
"You..." Julian stammered, stepping back up the stairs in absolute terror. "You set me up!"
"You took everything my father built and tried to turn it into a crime syndicate," I said, stepping forward as FBI tactical agents flooded the tarmac, securing the jet and forcing Julian to his knees. "Now you’re going to spend the rest of your life in a federal facility."
As the agents slammed handcuffs onto Julian’s wrists, Betsy crawled toward me through the mud, grabbing the hem of my dress.
"Victoria... please!" Betsy sobbed hysterically. "Forgive me! I was manipulated! Julian forced me! Think of Connor! Think of your baby's family!"
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I pulled my dress gently out of her filthy grasp.
"My baby doesn't belong to your family, Betsy," I said, looking down at her with absolute cold disgust. "And as for Connor... he’s currently sitting in a holding cell, realizing that his mother traded his life for a lie."
