Chapter 7 - The Mastermind’s Last CardMultiple police cruisers sped down the pier, blocking all escape routes. Armed officers poured out of the vehicles, guns drawn.
"Edwin Vance! Put your hands in the air and drop the evidence immediately!" an officer shouted through a megaphone.
Panicking, Edwin tried to run, but he tripped over the wet wooden planks, sprawling face-down into the cold rainwater. The USB drive rolled straight to Camila’s feet.
She casually picked it up and handed it to the chief detective walking beside her.
"Officer," Camila said politely, "this man attempted to extort fifty million dollars from me while holding classified stolen corporate data."
"No! She set me up! She tricked me!" Edwin sobbed as police officers pinned his arms behind his back and slammed him against the police cruiser.
As the handcuffs clicked securely around his wrists, Beverly and Annika arrived at the scene in a rented clunker, having followed Edwin in secret.
Seeing Edwin in handcuffs, Beverly screamed, rushing toward the officers. "Let my son go! You don't know who we are! We are the Vances!"
"Beverly Vance? Annika Vance?" the detective asked, checking his tablet. "You're both under arrest as co-conspirators in a grand larceny and tax evasion investigation."
"What?!" Annika shrieked as female officers handcuffed her on the spot. "I didn't do anything! It was all Edwin!"
"You snitch!" Edwin screamed at his sister from the back of the police car. "I gave you everything!"
"You ruined us, Edwin!" Beverly wailed, falling to her knees on the wet asphalt, her expensive makeup running down her face in dark streaks.
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Camila walked over to the ruined family. She looked down at them without a trace of anger—only complete, absolute indifference.
"You told me to crawl under your dog three times, Edwin," Camila said softly, her voice carrying over the sound of the ocean waves. "Now, you will spend the next twenty years begging for mercy behind bars."
