Chapter 43 AFTERMATH
Ava's POV
We walked into the warehouse through a side door that creaked loudly in the silence and the inside was dark except for moonlight coming through broken windows high up on the walls.
"Robert should be here any minute," I whispered even though there was no reason to be quiet yet.
"I'll be right outside," Marcus said, "if anything goes wrong just shout and I'll come in."
He left through the door we came in and Tom went back to his van to monitor the recording while Dominic, Adrian and I stood in the middle of the empty warehouse waiting.
My heart was pounding so hard I was sure everyone could hear it and I kept checking my phone to see what time it was even though only a minute had passed since I last looked.
Then we heard a car pull up outside and footsteps approaching and the main warehouse door slid open with a screech of metal on metal.
Robert Davidson walked in looking exactly like he always did at board meetings, expensive suit, perfect hair, confident smile, except now I knew what he really was underneath all that polish.
"Dominic, Ava," he said pleasantly like we were meeting for coffee, "I'm glad you decided to be reasonable about this."
"Where's Sarah," Adrian asked from beside me.
"She's waiting in the car, I thought it would be better if we kept this meeting small," Robert's eyes moved to Adrian, "I'm surprised to see you here though, I thought I told Sarah to keep you out of this."
"He insisted on coming," I said quickly, "he wanted to make sure his sister stays safe."
"How protective," Robert smiled but it didn't reach his eyes, "now where's my money."
"Where's your proof that you'll actually delete everything once we pay you," Dominic countered.
"You'll have to trust me."
"Trust a man who's been blackmailing us for months, forgive me if I'm skeptical."
Robert's smile faded and his expression hardened.
"I don't think you understand the position you're in, I have enough evidence to destroy all of you, your careers, your relationships, your freedom, everything you care about is in my hands right now."
"And what about Sarah and Adrian," I asked, trying to keep him talking, "what happens to them after this."
"They'll be free to live their lives as long as they keep their mouths shut about certain events from the past."
"You mean about their parents' murders."
Robert's whole body went still and his eyes narrowed.
"Sarah told you," he said and it wasn't a question.
"She told us everything, about how you killed their parents because their father was going to expose your illegal business dealings."
"That's a very serious accusation Ava."
"It's not an accusation if it's true."
He laughed and it echoed off the warehouse walls.
"You think you're clever don't you, coming in here with recording devices trying to get me to confess," he pulled out a small electronic device from his pocket that beeped, "I sweep for bugs as a matter of habit."
My blood went cold as I realized he knew about the wire.
"It doesn't matter," I said even though my voice was shaking, "we know what you did and we're going to the police."
"With what proof, the testimony of two scared kids who ran from a crime scene twenty years ago, good luck with that."
"They're witnesses," Dominic said.
"They're accomplices who helped cover up a murder, the police will be more interested in arresting them than listening to their stories."
Adrian stepped forward and I saw his hands were clenched into fists.
"You've been holding this over us our whole lives," he said and his voice was full of anger I'd never heard before, "threatening us, controlling us, using us."
"And you've both been very useful, Sarah especially, she was so eager to please once I explained what would happen to her baby brother if she didn't cooperate."
"You're a monster."
"I'm a businessman who understands leverage, now either give me my money or I'll make one phone call and by morning everyone will know about your sordid little arrangement with Dominic and his girlfriends."
That's when the warehouse lights suddenly turned on all at once and I had to cover my eyes from the brightness.
When I could see again there were police officers pouring in through every door with their guns drawn and someone was shouting for everyone to get on the ground.
Robert's face went from confident to shocked to furious in the span of seconds.
"What did you do," he snarled at me.
"We gave you exactly what you wanted," I said and couldn't help smiling, "a confession."
One of the officers approached Robert with handcuffs.
"Robert Davidson you're under arrest for extortion, blackmail, and we'll be reopening the investigation into the Chen murders based on new evidence."
"This is entrapment," Robert shouted as they cuffed him, "you can't use anything I said."
"Actually we can," a woman's voice said and I turned to see Sarah walking in behind the police, "I've been wearing a wire for the past three months, I've been working with the DA's office to build a case against you and tonight you just gave us everything we needed."
Robert's face went white.
"You betrayed me," he said to Sarah.
"You killed my parents," she replied coldly, "this isn't betrayal, it's justice."
They led Robert away still shouting about lawyers and illegal searches while the rest of us just stood there trying to process what had happened.
A detective approached us with a notebook.
"We're going to need statements from all of you," she said, "this is going to be a long night."
I looked at Dominic who looked relieved and exhausted at the same time and then at Adrian who was hugging Sarah while she cried.
It was over, the blackmail was over, Robert was going to prison, and we were finally free.
Except as we were walking out of the warehouse to give our statements my phone buzzed one last time.
I pulled it out expecting another threat but instead there was just a photo.
It was me and my mom at the hospital from earlier today and written across it in red letters were the words: "Robert wasn't working alone.”