Chapter 3 - The Secret Vault Beneath the Sand"Take her away," Chief Miller ordered.
Two female officers hoisted Victoria to her feet. She didn't scream anymore; she was completely catatonic, her eyes glazed over as she was dragged past rows of expensive lounge chairs where her closest friends desperately turned their faces away to avoid catching her eye. In high society, loyalty was a currency spent only when profitable, and Victoria Vance was officially bankrupt.
As the police cordon tightened around the club, Mark turned to me, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face in my neck.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice cracking. "I should have shut her down the second she opened her mouth. I shouldn't have let her humiliate you."
"You wanted to handle it peacefully," I murmured, running my fingers through his hair. "I wanted to let her hang herself with her own rope. It's more poetic that way."
Chief Miller walked back over to us, holding a sleek, black encrypted tablet recovered from Mercer’s jacket. His expression was grim, far more serious than it had been during the initial confrontation.
"Captain, you’re going to want to see this," the Chief said, handing me the device. "We bypassed the biometric lock using the guard's wrist scanner. This tablet isn't just connected to Mercer's local network. It's tied to an offshore server located right here in the city."
I swiped across the screen, my eyes scanning the data streams. My military training immediately kicked in, decoding the file structures. "It’s a financial ledger," I said, my brow furrowing. "Not just for the smuggling ring. Look at the real estate transactions."
Mark leaned over my shoulder, his eyes widening as he read the company names. "That's... that's Vance Holdings. Victoria’s family empire."
"It's worse than that," Chief Miller added, tapping a sub-folder. "The Vance Foundation isn't a charity. It's a front company laundering illegal weapons funds through beachfront properties. And look at the primary beneficiary address."
The coordinates displayed on the screen pointed directly to the luxury villa sitting less than fifty yards behind the beach club—Victoria’s personal residence.
"She wasn't just hosting parties," I realized, a cold realization washing over me. "The beach club was a dead drop for international shipments. That's why she insisted on total exclusivity today. She needed the entire staff and local police distracted while a shipment moved through the private docks."
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Mark's jaw tightened into a hard line of absolute fury. "Her father left her that estate. She’s turned it into a criminal fortress right under our noses."
"Not anymore," I said, handing the tablet back to Chief Miller. "Let's pay Victoria's home a visit. I want to see what else she's been hiding behind those expensive security gates."
