Chapter 15 - THE INTERROGATION
Toby groaned, clutching his bleeding shoulder as blood pooled rapidly across the hardwood floor. I had zip-tied his hands behind his back and dragged him into the kitchen, while Lily sat safely locked in the reinforced panic room I had had custom-built in the pantry. "Who else is on the payroll, Toby?" I demanded, pressing the cold metal of a kitchen knife against his good shoulder just to remind him who held the leverage. He laughed bitterly, spitting blood onto the clean tiles. "You think Derek is the mastermind? Derek was a puppet, Elena. He borrowed money from people who own judges, politicians, and local law enforcement. Even if he rots in a federal cell, the syndicate owns every asset you think you salvaged. They don't want the money back anymore—they want you silent." My phone buzzed on the kitchen island. An incoming text from an unknown, local area code. I looked down at the screen. It was a live video feed of the local grocery store where Lily and I had gone just that afternoon, showing our empty cart parked by the aisle. And superimposed over the video was a single sentence: “You missed one, Elena. Trade Toby for your daughter’s life.”
