Chapter 120 Not the time for nonsense
Chapter 120 Not the time for nonsense
Danika's Pov
The first man tried to puff out his chest, attempting to swallow his fear and act tough. He sneered up at me, though his bottom lip was trembling slightly. "You're just a woman, you can't do shit to our families. The law doesn't work like that. We won't be scared by someone like you!”
"Shut up! Shut the hell up, Frank!" the second man suddenly screamed, his composure completely shattering. He began to sob openly, his tears mixing with the sweat pouring down his face. "She's right! She knows everything! I'm not going to prison for this! I'm not destroying my kids' lives for Victoria!"
"Kevin, close your mouth!" Frank yelled back, his eyes flashing with panic.
"No! I'm spilling everything!" Kevin wept, turning his desperate, terrified gaze directly toward me. "It was us! We did it! We added the harmful substances into the batches. Victoria told us that the original distribution partner pulled out because the formula wasn't 'potent' or fast-acting enough to compete on the black market. She found a cheap, unregulated chemical supplier and forced us to override the manufacturing limits to bulk up the weight of the supplements using industrial mercury compounds. We didn't know it would kill people! She told us it would just cause a mild buzz!"
I kept my expression completely blank, though a cold satisfaction settled deep into my chest. "How many batches did you make? Where are they?"
"There are still manufactured batches hidden!" Kevin confessed rapidly, his words tumbling out of his mouth in a frantic rush. "We didn't destroy them after the federal investigation started. Victoria wouldn't let us! There are over fifty crates of the supplements hidden in a defunct storage unit down by the old railway yard.”
My eyes narrowed. "Why would she keep them if the police are looking for them?"
"Because Victoria's plan was to smuggle them abroad!" Kevin cried out, his shoulders shaking as he bared the final pieces of the conspiracy. "She knew her reputation in this country was finished, but she still owed millions to the loan sharks. Her plan was to ship the remaining inventory to a black-market distributor in Eastern Europe, flee the country using a fake passport, and use the sales from those toxic drugs to make a living there and pay off her debts! She's just waiting for the cargo paperwork to clear tomorrow morning!"
So Victoria hadn't just committed fraud; she was actively preparing to distribute a mass quantity of something so dangerous across international borders to fund her survival. I turned around slowly, looking over at Valeria, who was standing quietly near the door with a dark, satisfied smirk on her face. She tapped her phone screen, indicating that every single word of Kevin's confession had been recorded.
"Send men to secure the storage unit they're talking about immediately," I ordered Valeria, my voice sharp and commanding as I grabbed my suit jacket from the chair. "Also call the police and tell them we have the exact location of where the drugs are hidden and the names of the operators. But tell our men to wait for my signal before they move on to Victoria's apartment, they're going to meet us there."
"Understood, Miss," Valeria replied, her respect for me evident in the crisp, immediate tone of her voice.
I looked back down at the two broken men tied to the chairs. They were no longer the arrogant corporate thieves who had sneered at me in the breakrooms. They were nothing.
"You made the right choice, Kevin," I said coldly, adjusting the collar of my jacket as I walked toward the exit. "Your family might keep their home. But as for you and your partner... start getting used to the color orange.”
I stepped out of the house a few minutes later. I made sure to leave like two of Lysander's most heavily built bodyguards stationed strictly around the perimeter so Kevin and Frank wouldn't even think about trying to escape. They were completely bound to those chairs, terrified out of their minds, but I wasn't taking any chances. They were our golden tickets to clearing Lysander’s name completely, and they weren't going anywhere until the police arrive to officially take them into custody.
Valeria followed half a step behind me, her fingers flying across her tablet as she coordinated our moving pieces. "The team is already en route to the old railway yard storage unit, Miss. The local precinct and the federal investigators have been notified of the confession. They are scrambling a tactical team now, but as requested, they are holding back until we give the word."
"Good," I said, my voice cutting through the quiet morning. I walked down the stone driveway toward the idling luxury sedan waiting for us. "Since Victoria is planning on leaving tomorrow morning, it's better to apprehend her now. I want her caught before she even realizes her loyal finance guys have spilled her secrets."
The driver immediately opened the rear door for me, and I slid into the plush leather interior, with Valeria taking the passenger seat up front. Suddenly, the smooth silence of the car was interrupted by the sharp, rhythmic vibration of my phone in my lap. I glanced down at the screen.
It was Lysander.
A soft sigh escaped my lips, but my fingers slid across the screen to answer it anyway. I pressed the phone to my ear. "Lysander? I'm currently in the middle of…"
"Good day to you too, my fierce little director," his voice purred through the line, completely dripping with a lazy, deeply amused warmth. It was completely unfair how smooth his voice could sound over a speaker phone, sounding absolutely like a man relaxing on a beach rather than a billionaire whose company was actively fending off a national scandal. "I just received an alert from Valeria's system that a full confession was recorded. Tell me, sweetheart... did you really roll up your sleeves and terrify two grown corporate men all by yourself?"
I rolled my eyes, leaning my head back against the leather headrest, an exasperated expression taking over my face. "Lysander, please. This is a very serious matter. Your aunt was literally planning to ship fifty crates of contaminated mercury supplements to Eastern Europe tomorrow morning. We just managed to stop an international crisis."
"Oh, I know it's serious," Lysander chuckled, a deep, rumbling sound that vibrated right against my ear, making my chest tighten in a completely different way. "But can you blame a man for being incredibly turned on by his wife's brilliant investigative skills? I always knew you were smart, Danika, but hearing how you threatened their families and completely dismantled their lies? You are utterly magnificent.”
"Lysander!" I hissed, my cheeks flushing a bright, burning crimson as I glanced nervously at the rearview mirror, hoping the driver wasn't paying attention to the conversation. "Stop flirting with me right now! I am in the car with your security team, and we are actively on our way to Victoria's hiding place to apprehend her. This is not the time for your nonsense."