Chapter 4 - The Game of Mirrors
The shockwave of Clara’s revelation paralyzed everyone in the room. The federal agents looked at Julian for orders, while Richard Montgomery collapsed into a nearby church pew, clutching his chest, gasping for air.
"Dad!" Victoria screamed, rushing to her father’s side.
"Medics! We need a medic in here now!" an officer shouted into his radio.
While the chaos unfolded around Richard, Daniel and Clara exchanged a triumph glance. Clara backed toward the side exit of the cathedral, holding the encrypted phone that controlled the entire Montgomery empire's liquidity.
"You think you've won?" Julian said, his voice terrifyingly calm as he stepped toward Clara. "You think you can just walk out of a federal sting operation with forty million dollars?"
"We already have, Julian," Clara smirked, pulling a small remote control from her pocket. "If anyone follows us out those doors, a script executes that permanently deletes the decryption keys. The money will be locked in the blockchain forever. Your agency gets nothing. The Montgomerys get bankrupt. And we go free."
Daniel stepped alongside Clara, wrapping an arm around her waist. "It was nice playing house with you, Victoria. You really were the sweetest little fool."
They backed through the side exit, slamming the heavy iron door behind them and locking it from the outside.
"Sir! Should we breach?!" a federal officer yelled to Julian.
"No! Don't touch the door!" Julian ordered. "If they trigger the wipe command, the evidence is lost!"
Victoria stood up from her father’s side. The medics were already treating Richard, placing an oxygen mask over his mouth. She looked down at her torn, dirt-stained white dress. She looked at the abandoned diamond ring on the floor.
The sadness in her eyes was completely gone. Replaced by a cold, calculating rage.
She walked over to Julian and snatched the tactical tablet right out of his hands.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Julian snapped, reaching for the tablet.
"Shut up and let me look," Victoria cold-shouldered him, her fingers flying across the screen at hyper-speed.
Julian stared at her in shock. "You... you know how to read high-frequency ledger protocols?"
Victoria offered a deadly, dark smile as she bypassed three security firewalls in under ten seconds.
"My father thought I was just a spoiled heiress who loved shopping," Victoria said softly, her eyes reflected in the blue light of the screen. "He never knew I was the anonymous lead software architect who built the very encrypted network Daniel just used."
Julian’s eyes widened. "You're 'Vixen'?"
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"Daniel thought he was playing me for four years," Victoria whispered, tapping a final execution code into the screen. "He didn't realize I've been tracking his every move since month six."
Cliffhanger: The bride wasn't a victim—she was the mastermind's worst nightmare!
