Chapter 15 - THE DESPERATE ALLYVanessa’s hair was tied back in a messy knot, her expensive designer coat stained with grease. She was frantically punching a sequence into the digital keypad of the floor safe, muttering curses under her breath.

"You're wasting your time, Vanessa," my voice cut through the cavernous silence of the warehouse like a glass blade.

Vanessa shrieked, spinning around so fast she dropped her flashlight. It clattered loudly against the concrete.

When she saw Luca and me stepping out from the shadows, the color drained completely from her face.

"Isabella..." she breathed, backing up until her legs hit the edge of the open safe. "How... how did you find this place?"

"You're not as invisible as you think, Vanessa," I said, walking slowly toward her, my heels clicking sharply against the floor. "Running off to South America didn't work out, did it? Your accounts were frozen under international money laundering statutes, and now you're back, trying to dig up Vance's dirty secrets to buy your way out of federal prosecution."

Vanessa’s chest heaved. Desperation flared in her eyes. "You don't understand! Vance’s people are looking for me too! They think I have the encryption keys to the offshore holdings! If I don't give them this ledger, they'll kill me!"

"Then maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to play mistress to a man who couldn't even manage his own life, let alone protect yours," Luca said coldly, stepping up beside me.

"I didn't want to ruin you, Isabella!" Vanessa cried out, her voice cracking as tears spilled down her cheeks. "Ryan lied to me! He told me you were signing the divorce papers! He told me he was building an empire for us!"

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"Ryan lied to everyone," I replied, stopping two feet away from her. "Including himself. Now hand over the flash drive in your pocket."

Vanessa hesitated, her hand dipping toward her coat pocket. For a second, a dangerous glint flashed in her eyes—she wasn't reaching for a drive; she was reaching for something else.