chapter 22

Louis’s POV

The plan was set in motion with a silence that felt more deadly than any shouted threat. Adrienne Cole was the architect, her mind a vault of cold precision. Marcus was the engineer, turning her blueprints into actionable, untraceable steps. My role was to be the immovable force. The unspoken promise of ruin that gave our quiet offer its teeth. Sierra’s resolve had been the catalyst. Seeing that steel in her eyes, forged in the fire of maternal fear, had shifted something fundamental in me. This was no longer just my fight. It was ours. And we would fight it in the shadows, where monsters like Victor were born, and where they could be made to disappear. Lenora Hale lived in a vineyard estate in Napa that was tasteful but not extravagant. Victor’s alimony payments were generous, but his attention was not. According to our files, he hadn’t seen his daughter, Elise, in over a year. Sierra and I took a private helicopter, touching down on a secluded pad miles away before transferring to an unmarked car. She was quiet, her hands clasped in her lap, watching the rolling vineyards blur past. She wore simple trousers and a sweater, looking like any young woman on a trip, not someone embarking on a covert blackmail operation. “You can stay in the car,” I said as we neared the gated drive. She shook her head. “No. I need to be there. She needs to see my face. She needs to understand this isn’t just business.” She was right. This was about mothers and daughters now. Lenora Hale received us in a sunroom overlooking the vines. She was a handsome woman in her fifties, with sharp eyes that held a permanent weariness. She didn’t offer tea. “Louis Trevane,” she said, her voice flat. “I wondered when you’d come. Victor’s latest obsession.” “This isn’t about business rivalry, Mrs. Hale,” Sierra said, stepping forward slightly. Her voice was soft but clear. “He threatened my five-year-old daughter. To get to Louis.” Lenora’s gaze flicked to Sierra, and for the first time, the weariness cracked, revealing a flicker of something like recognition. Shared dread. “He always did have a taste for the low blow.” She sighed and gestured to the chairs. “Sit. Tell me what you want.” We sat. Sierra did the talking. She told her about the photograph, the note, the mannequin. She didn’t embellish. She didn’t need to. The facts were horrifying enough. Lenora listened, her face growing paler. When Sierra finished, the older woman looked out at her vineyards, but I don’t think she saw them. “Elise is twenty. She thinks her father is a difficult man, but a successful one. She doesn’t know about the bodies. The literal ones.” Lenora turned back to us, her eyes hard. “What is your proposal?” I spoke then. “We want him gone. Not dead. Gone. We have enough to sink him financially, but a public collapse could make him desperate, and desperate men are unpredictable. We want to offer him a choice. A one-way ticket to a non-extradition country, with a modest, monitored bank account to keep him quiet. In exchange, he signs over all remaining assets to Elise, under your control, and he disappears. Forever.” “And if he refuses?” Lenora asked. “Then we use what you give us to hand him to the authorities on charges that will ensure he never sees daylight again. Racketeering. Conspiracy to commit murder. The evidence we have is only financial. You have the real keys.” She was silent for a long time. The only sound was the distant hum of a tractor. “He’ll never agree to exile. His ego is his prison.” “Then he’ll die in a real one,” I said, my voice leaving no room for doubt. “But the offer will be made. Through you. As a courtesy from one parent to another.” The mention of parenthood was the final key. Lenora’s shoulders slumped. “He has a safe. Not here. In an old office building downtown he thinks no one knows about. The code is Elise’s birthday, backward. Inside are ledgers. Names, dates, payments. There’s a USB drive. It has… videos. From the early days. He liked to keep souvenirs.” Her voice was thick with disgust. “Take it. Use it. Just keep Elise out of it. And make sure he can never come near us again.” Sierra reached across the small table and touched Lenora’s hand. “Thank you. You’re protecting your daughter. That’s all any of us are trying to do.” An hour later, we were back in the air. In a secure case between us was a small, unmarked USB drive. The final piece. Back at the house, Marcus took the drive. The contents would be verified, copied, secured in a digital vault with a dozen legal failsafes. The offer was drafted. Not by a lawyer, but in a simple, typed letter. It would be delivered by a trusted courier to Victor’s club at midnight. Sierra and I waited in my study. The clock ticked toward the witching hour. She paced, a restless energy coming off her in waves. “What if he laughs at it?” she asked. “What if he comes here with guns?” “Then he walks into a trap that ends with h