Chapter 16 - The Final AllianceThe next morning, Roberto didn't go to his corporate office. Instead, he walked into a high-security federal interrogation room at the Manhattan field office.
Sitting across the stainless-steel table in an orange jumpsuit was Julian Thorne. The arrogant, self-satisfied billionaire from weeks prior was completely gone; in his place sat a broken, hollowed-out shell of a man facing multiple life sentences for federal conspiracy, racketeering, and murder.
Julian looked up, his eyes bloodshot and haunted. "Come to gloat, Roberto?" he rasped.
Roberto didn't sit down. He simply tossed a small, clear evidence bag containing the microcassette onto the table. It slid across the steel surface and hit the edge of Julian's handcuffs with a sharp metallic clink.
Julian stared at it, and the color drained completely from his face.
"Viktor Vance sent his cleaner to my house last night," Roberto said softly, his voice dangerously calm. "He wanted to destroy the proof of what you and your syndicate did to Elena."
Julian swallowed hard, his hands trembling. "You... you found the vault."
"I found everything, Julian," Roberto said, leaning down so his face was inches away from his ruined rival. "You thought you were clever, playing corporate chess while hiring monsters to clear your path. But your game is over. Unless..."
Julian’s eyes flickered with a desperate spark of hope. "Unless what?"
"Unless you want to spend the rest of your life in a supermax prison cell with a target on your back," Roberto said, "or you can sign a full, sworn federal confession detailing every single account, every offshore shell company, and every hidden asset belonging to Viktor Vance."
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Julian stared at Roberto for a long, agonizing moment. He knew that betraying Viktor meant signing his own death warrant in the criminal underworld. But refusing Roberto meant rotting in a federal cage forever with zero protection.
Slowly, Julian reached out a shaking hand, picked up the pen, and began to write.
