Chapter 6 - The Poisoned TrapMidnight at the Los Angeles pier was pitch black, with waves crashing violently against the wooden pilings. Rain poured from the sky, echoing the night Camila had left the Bel Air mansion.
Edwin walked down the dimly lit pier, clutching the encrypted USB drive in his coat pocket.
Standing beneath a single flickering streetlight was not a journalist, but a solitary figure draped in a long black trench coat, holding a black umbrella.
It was Camila.
Edwin stopped in his tracks, his smile turning mockingly cruel. "Well, well, well. The grieving daughter herself. I see my message reached you."
Camila turned around slowly. Her face was calm, unbothered by the cold wind. "You think you have leverage, Edwin?"
"I don't think, Camila, I know," Edwin boasted, pulling out the USB drive and waving it in front of her face. "On this drive is the complete file on the 2021 industrial audit. If I release this to the press, your precious father’s legacy will be destroyed! The media will call him a criminal! The Stanford name will be ruined forever!"
Edwin stepped closer, his eyes crazed with desperation.
"Here are my conditions," Edwin demanded, pointing a trembling finger at her. "You drop all criminal charges against me, my mother, and my sister. You return my title at Crestview Construction. You restore my bank accounts and give me fifty million dollars in cash. Do it, or I press send right now!"
Camila didn't flinch. She took a step toward him.
"Did you ever ask yourself, Edwin... how my father became so successful?" Camila asked softly.
Edwin frowned. "What?"
"My father was never naive," Camila said, her voice piercing through the sound of the rain. "He knew every move you made. He knew about the offshore accounts. He knew about Chloe. And he certainly knew you found that file five years ago."
Camila pulled out her own phone and tapped the screen. A recording began to play—a crisp, clear audio track of George Stanford's voice recorded just one week before his death.
"Edwin thinks he found my dark secret. What he doesn't know is that I deliberately placed that fabricated file in the system as a test. If he ever attempted to use it to blackmail my daughter, the encryption key on that drive triggers an immediate, automatic confession of blackmail and corporate treason directly to the FBI."
Edwin’s heart stopped. He looked down at the USB drive in his hand as if it had turned into a venomous snake.
May you like
"No... no! You're lying!" Edwin screamed frantically, trying to throw the drive into the ocean.
Before he could toss it, bright blue and red siren lights flashed across the pier, illuminating the dark night.
