Chapter 25 THE DANGEROUS MEETING
POV: Selena
I knew something was wrong the moment I stepped inside the coffee shop.
Not because of what I saw, but because of what I felt.
My pulse was already racing, too fast for someone who had barely taken ten steps through the door. My skin prickled, like I had walked into a room where an argument had just ended, or where a secret had been spoken too loudly.
I told myself to breathe.
This was just a meeting. Public place. Glass windows. Cameras. People everywhere.
That was the lie I kept repeating as I scanned the room.
Sarah Chen sat in the far corner, her back pressed against the wall, her face half hidden by the shadow of a hanging light. She looked smaller than I expected. Not weak. Just worn down. Like someone who had not slept properly in a long time.
Her eyes snapped to mine the second I spotted her.
She flinched.
That alone told me everything.
I forced my feet to move. Every step toward her felt heavier than the last, like the air itself was trying to slow me down. I could almost hear Adrian’s voice in my head, sharp and controlled, telling me this was a mistake.
I ignored it.
I slid into the chair across from her.
Sarah’s hands were wrapped tightly around a paper cup, knuckles pale. Her gaze kept darting past me, toward the door, the windows, the people in line. She looked like she expected someone to burst in at any second.
“You came alone,” she said.
“Yes.”
Her shoulders loosened slightly, then tensed again. “No one followed you?”
I shook my head. “No.”
That was not a lie. Adrian had agreed to stay invisible. Far enough away to honor her demand. Close enough to break every rule if things went wrong.
Sarah exhaled, slow and shaky. “Okay. Okay.”
I leaned forward. “You said you had evidence.”
She nodded quickly, then glanced around again. “We shouldn’t talk too loud.”
“We can leave,” I said. “If this place feels wrong.”
“No,” she said immediately. “Public is safer. He hates witnesses.”
My stomach tightened. “You mean Senator Thornton.”
She winced. “I don’t like saying his name.”
I lowered my voice. “Tell me why.”
Sarah’s eyes filled with something like shame. Or maybe fear layered so thick it looked like guilt.
“I helped him,” she said. “Not because I wanted to. Because he gave me no choice.”
I waited.
She swallowed. “When I worked for him, I handled communications. Scheduling. Financial summaries. I thought it was normal. Powerful people hide things.”
My fingers curled against my palm. “And the forged documents?”
Her hands trembled. “He brought them to me already half built. Shell companies. Offshore accounts. He said they were legal. That they just needed to look… messy.”
“Messy enough to ruin someone else,” I said.
She nodded. “The De Luca Foundation.”
Anger flared hot in my chest. “You knew.”
“I suspected,” she said quickly. “But suspicion is different from proof. And then he showed me photos.”
My breath caught. “Photos of what?”
“My sister,” Sarah whispered. “Leaving her office. My parents’ house. He knew their names. Their routines.”
I felt sick.
“He told me if I didn’t finish the documents, if I didn’t make them look authentic, he would destroy them. Not politically. Physically.”
Her voice cracked. “I believed him.”
I believed her too.
“And Jessica?” I asked quietly.
Sarah’s face crumpled. “She didn’t.”
The words landed like a punch.
“She refused,” Sarah went on. “She found the discrepancies. She wanted to go public. She thought the truth would protect her.”
My hands clenched. “What happened to her?”
Sarah shook her head, tears spilling now. “She disappeared two days later. Her emails went dead. Her phone was shut off. Thornton told everyone she had a breakdown. Ran away.”
I closed my eyes briefly.
Jessica had been brave.
And bravery had cost her everything.
“I didn’t want to end up like her,” Sarah whispered. “So I finished the documents.”
I forced myself to stay calm. “Why come forward now?”
She let out a broken laugh. “Because he doesn’t need me anymore. And people like him never let loose ends live.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
I ignored it.
Sarah noticed anyway. Her eyes widened. “Is that him?”
“No,” I said quickly. “Just a message.”
She nodded, but the fear didn’t leave her face.
“I can help you,” she said. “I want to help you. But you need to understand something first.”
“What?” I asked.
She leaned closer, her voice barely above a breath. “He knows about you.”
My blood went cold.
“What do you mean?” I asked carefully.
“He knows your name. Your position. He knows you didn’t take the money.”
My heart pounded harder. “How?”
“He has people everywhere,” she said. “The foundation. The press. Even interns talk.”
I swallowed. “That doesn’t scare me.”
“It should,” she said softly. “Because he didn’t stop there.”
Her hand slipped into her bag.
I tensed.
Slowly, she pulled out a small flash drive and placed it on the table between us.
Everything in me went still.
“Everything I have is on that,” she said. “Emails. Metadata. Draft versions of the forgeries. Instructions from his office.”
My breath came shallow. “This could destroy him.”
“Yes,” she said. “And that’s why I’m terrified.”
I stared at the drive. “Why give it to me?”
“Because you’re not connected,” she said. “Not politically. Not financially. You’re a liability he didn’t plan for.”
I thought of the envelope. The cash. The warning.
“I’m not invisible anymore,” I said.
“No,” Sarah agreed. “You’re not.”
Her gaze dropped to the table. “And that’s why you need to listen very carefully to what I’m about to say.”
My throat tightened. “Okay.”
She took a deep breath. “He knows about your mother.”
The words slammed into me.
My vision blurred for a second. “What?”
“He knows where she works,” Sarah continued. “Her address. Her schedule.”
My chest felt like it was caving in. “That’s not possible.”
“It is,” she said. “He does background sweeps. Deep ones. Especially on people who surprise him.”
My hands started to shake. I clenched them under the table.
“If I help you,” Sarah whispered, “he’ll hurt my family. If you expose him, he’ll hurt yours.”
The noise of the coffee shop faded. All I could hear was my heartbeat roaring in my ears.
This was the choice.
Not justice versus silence.
But truth versus blood.
“I don’t want anyone else to disappear,” Sarah said, her voice breaking. “But I don’t want to be the reason my parents die.”
I stared at the flash drive.
At the weight of it.
At what it represented.
“Has he threatened you again recently?” I asked.
She nodded. “Yesterday. He told me to stay quiet. To forget I ever worked for him.”
“And if you didn’t?”
She looked up at me, eyes hollow. “He said accidents happen.”
My phone buzzed again.
This time, I couldn’t ignore it.
I glanced down.
Adrian.
I didn’t answer.
I looked back at Sarah. “If we protect your family, will you testify?”
Her lips trembled. “If you can protect them, yes.”
“And if we can’t?”
She swallowed hard. “Then I disappear. Like Jessica.”
A chill ran through me.
I reached out and wrapped my fingers around the flash drive.
It felt heavier than it should have.
“I won’t let that happen,” I said.
Sarah looked at me like she wanted to believe me.
But belief was fragile.
“You don’t understand how powerful he is,” she said. “He has people in the FBI. The police. Everywhere.”
“I know,” I said softly. “He’s already tried to scare me off.”
Her eyes widened. “How?”
“Money. Threats. Surveillance.”
“And you’re still here,” she said in disbelief.
“Yes,” I replied. “Because if I walk away now, he wins.”
She stared at me for a long moment.
Then she nodded.
“I’ll give you everything,” she said. “But you need to promise me one thing.”
“What?” I asked.
“If this goes bad,” she said, “you run. You protect your mother. You don’t try to be a hero.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat. “I can’t promise that.”
She gave a sad smile. “Then we’re both doomed.”
A shadow passed across the window.
I stiffened.
Sarah noticed too. Her breath hitched.
“Do you see that man by the door?” she whispered.
I glanced casually. A man stood near the entrance, pretending to look at the menu. Too still. Too focused.
“I see him,” I said.
“He’s not a customer,” she whispered. “He followed me here.”
My pulse spiked.
“Don’t panic,” I said quietly. “Finish your coffee. Act normal.”
Sarah’s hands shook as she lifted the cup.
My phone buzzed again.
This time, I answered.
“Selena,” Adrian said urgently. “We have movement.”
My blood ran cold.
“I know,” I whispered.
“Get out now,” he said. “He’s not alone.”
I stood slowly, slipping the flash drive into my pocket.
Sarah looked at me in alarm. “What’s happening?”
I forced a calm smile. “We’re leaving.”
Her eyes flicked to the man by the door.
He was watching us now.
My heart hammered.
This meeting was over.
But the war had just begun.