Chapter 14 - AVA’S CHOICE
Ava stopped breathing.
“No.”
Elias took the phone.
His face went cold.
Security called Lily.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
“Find her,” Elias ordered.
Ava reached for the door.
He grabbed her hand.
“Don’t.”
“They have Lily.”
“We don’t know that.”
“They’re watching her!”
“If you run, they control you.”
Ava’s eyes filled.
“She’s my sister.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know anything!”
The words hit him.
Ava regretted them instantly.
But Elias let go.
“You’re right.”
She stared.
He continued quietly.
“I don’t know what it’s like to have someone left you can’t afford to lose.”
That stopped her.
Then his security chief spoke.
“We have Lily.”
Ava spun around.
“Where?”
“Coffee shop bathroom. She dropped her phone in the sink.”
Ava nearly collapsed.
“She’s okay?”
“Yes.”
Elias handed her the phone.
“Call her from mine.”
Lily answered.
“Ava?”
Ava’s knees weakened.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes? Why?”
“Stay where you are.”
“Why?”
“Just stay.”
Security reached Lily within minutes.
The photo had been surveillance, not kidnapping.
But the threat changed everything.
Ava looked at Damian.
“We end this tonight.”
The fake report was finished at 9:13 p.m.
Damian sent a message to an old contact.
I HAVE THE ORIGINAL KNOX FILE.
I WANT OUT.
A reply arrived three minutes later.
COME ALONE.
VANE TOWER.
MIDNIGHT.
Of course.
Elias hated the plan.
Damian would carry the fake drive.
Ava and investigators would monitor from a secure floor.
Federal agents had finally been brought in after Robert Langford provided testimony.
At 11:58 p.m., Damian entered Vane Tower.
He wore a wire.
Ava listened from a command room twenty floors above.
Footsteps.
Elevator bell.
Door opening.
Then Margaret Langford’s voice.
“You’ve caused an unbelievable amount of trouble.”
Damian answered.
“I learned from experts.”
“Drive.”
“Money first.”
A pause.
Then another voice.
Charles Dane.
“You’re in no position to negotiate.”
Ava looked at Elias.
He went rigid.
Damian spoke.
“I want immunity.”
Dane laughed.
“You want absolution. Different thing.”
“Same price.”
“Give me the drive.”
“No.”
A gun clicked.
Ava’s blood ran cold.
Federal agents prepared to move.
Elias raised one hand.
“Wait.”
Damian’s breathing grew louder through the wire.
Then he said:
“You know what’s funny?”
Dane replied, “I doubt anything about you is funny.”
“You all thought Ava was weak.”
Silence.
Damian continued.
“I did too.”
Ava’s throat tightened.
“That was the biggest mistake I ever made.”
A shot exploded through the speakers.
Ava screamed.
Agents moved.
Elias ran with them.
“Elias!”
She followed.
The elevator doors opened onto chaos.
Damian lay on the floor holding his leg.
Margaret had a gun.
Dane was running toward a private stairwell.
Agents shouted.
“FEDERAL AGENTS! DROP IT!”
Margaret turned the weapon toward Ava.
Everything slowed.
Ava froze.
Margaret smiled.
“So you’re the little researcher.”
Then Elias stepped directly between them.
“Don’t.”
Margaret aimed at his chest.
Ava grabbed the nearest object.
A fire extinguisher.
She swung it.
Hard.
It struck Margaret’s wrist.
The gun flew.
Agents tackled her.
Elias caught Ava before she fell.
“You okay?”
“Ask me tomorrow.”
Down the hall, Dane disappeared through the stairwell.
An agent shouted.
“He’s heading to the roof!”
Elias ran.
Ava followed.
Dane burst through the rooftop door.
Rain cut across Manhattan.
A helicopter waited on the neighboring pad.
Dane ran toward it.
Then suddenly stopped.
Damian stood in front of the helicopter.
Limping.
Blood running down his leg.
Dane raised another gun.
“You stupid little nobody.”
Damian laughed through the pain.
“Yeah.”
He looked past Dane at Ava.
“Turns out nobodies remember everything.”
Sirens surrounded the building.
Agents closed in.
Dane slowly lowered the gun.
For eighteen years, he had controlled billionaires, politicians, bankers, and judges.
And in the end, he was trapped because of a woman he had never considered important enough to notice.
Ava stepped forward.
Dane looked at her.
“This is your fault.”
Ava shook her head.
“No.”
She looked at Damian.
“At first, I used to think everything was my fault.”
Then she looked at Elias.
“I’m done carrying other people’s shame.”
Agents handcuffed Charles Dane.
And as dawn began turning Manhattan gray, Elias reached for Ava’s hand.
May you like
This time, she took it without hesitation.
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