Chapter 60
Emily Windsor's POV
"Emily, two of those companies you wanted—they've agreed to preliminary acquisition terms," Carl's voice carried a thread of excitement. "Your move was brilliant. They all think they're getting the better deal, with no clue how valuable those environmental patents and community healthcare licenses will be once we combine them."
"Thanks for all your work, Carl." I rubbed my throbbing temples, my lips curving into an involuntary smile.
"But..." Carl's tone shifted. "There's something odd. During due diligence, our team discovered that one of the smaller data security firms—part of its server IP addresses match up suspiciously with a Federal Bureau of Investigation address."
My heart dropped into my stomach.
"Emily? You there?" Carl asked when I didn't respond.
"Yeah." I snapped back, my fingertips going white from how hard I was gripping the phone. "Carl, encrypt everything on that company using maximum-level security and send it to me immediately. And keep the due diligence going, but don't alert anyone—especially not them."
"Understood."
I hung up and slumped against the cold glass wall, feeling drained.
Outside the window stretched the empire of Victor Group, the city's lifeblood flowing in streams far below. Yet all I felt was a bone-deep chill creeping up my spine to the base of my skull.
A coincidence?
No. There were no coincidences like this.
Professor Douglas's warnings, Lena's terror, and now this company with its eerie ties to the FBI—every thread was weaving into a net pulling tighter around me.
The trust Luke gave me, the power he handed over—was it genuine devotion, or just another, more sophisticated trap that had me calculated into it from the start?
These past few days, I'd thrown myself into work with near-manic intensity, numbing myself with negotiations and proposals, trying to bury those blood-red warning signs beneath the sweetness of fighting side by side.
But reality kept dragging me back. I was walking a tightrope with no end in sight, and beneath me yawned an abyss.
I couldn't wait any longer.
---
I contacted Professor Douglas again. This time, we met in a secluded reading area of the New York Public Library.
He was already there when I arrived, dressed in his usual precise suit, a thick legal tome open in front of him.
"Made up your mind?" He looked up and closed the book, his gaze steady.
"Professor, I need time." I didn't sit. I stood across from him and got straight to the point.
Professor Douglas's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. "Emily, we don't have time. Lena's latest intel says there's going to be an auction next month at that private island in South America—the biggest yet. If we don't secure core evidence before then, more girls are going to be sold into hell."
"I know." My voice was calm, almost cold. "But I can't treat Luke like a criminal without hard proof. It goes against everything I believe in—and it violates procedural justice."
"Evidence?" The professor's tone took on a note of disappointment, even severity. "What I gave you isn't enough? Surveillance footage, eyewitness testimony from an undercover agent, every lead pointing straight at him?"
"Those are leads, not evidence!" I met his gaze without flinching. "Professor, you taught me that uncorroborated testimony can never be the sole basis for conviction. Lena's identification could be a mistake—or deliberate misdirection. As for that surveillance video, all it proves is that Luke met with someone from Nordic Shipping. It doesn't prove he orchestrated human trafficking."
I took a deep breath and voiced the alternative theory I'd been turning over in my mind. "What if there's another Lion Badge inside the Victor family? Someone at odds with Luke, someone even more hidden, more powerful than he is?"
Professor Douglas went quiet. He studied me, as if trying to judge whether I was being sincere or simply in denial.
"Emily," he finally said, his tone softening slightly, "I know you have feelings for him. But you can't let that cloud your judgment."
"I'm not clouding anything." I cut him off, my voice carrying a conviction I hadn't realized I possessed. "I'm more clearheaded than I've ever been. Professor, I'm now the lead on Victor Group's restructuring initiative. I have access to their most sensitive financial data and business operations. What Luke is doing right now is carving out the rot from the Victor family—root and stem. That aligns with our ultimate goal. Give me time. Give me three months. If I can help him eliminate the old guard, the real mastermind will surface. And if that person turns out to be Luke, I'll hand him over to the courts myself."
Saying that last sentence felt like a needle driving into my heart.
"And if it's not him?" I looked at the professor, almost pleading now. "If he's also a pawn in someone else's game, then moving now would only tip our hand. Worse—we'd destroy the one person who can dismantle this empire from the inside."
Professor Douglas watched me, his expression complex.
He saw the struggle and pain in my eyes—but he also saw something else. The unshakable logic and reason that belonged to a first-rate attorney.
"Why should I trust you?" he asked.
"Because I'm your student." I placed an encrypted USB drive on the table between us. "This contains preliminary evidence on all the criminal enterprises tied to Hank and the conservative faction, along with my plan to crush them commercially. I'll report my progress to you regularly. You'll see that my goals align with yours. I'm not trying to exonerate him—I'm choosing a more effective, more thorough path."
A long silence stretched between us. Finally, Professor Douglas nodded and took the drive.
"Three months." He looked at me, enunciating each word. "Emily, I'll vouch for you personally to buy you three months. But after that, if you don't deliver results, the FBI will intervene in their own way. And when that happens, no one will be able to save him."
"Deal."
I turned and walked away without looking back.
Stepping through the library's heavy doors, the sunlight stabbed at my eyes.
I'd won three precious months for Luke—and for myself.
But those three months would be spent walking on a knife's edge. One misstep, and I'd be beyond redemption.
---
When I got back to the apartment, the first thing I did was throw myself into the shower.
Warm water cascaded over my body, but it couldn't wash away the chill that had settled deep in my bones.
This was a gamble. I was betting my career, my principles, and my traitorous, already-compromised heart.
I toweled off my hair and stepped out of the bathroom. My computer pinged with a notification—a new encrypted email.
The sender was anonymous. The subject line: a single row of scrambled code.
My heartbeat stuttered. Against every instinct screaming at me to stop, I clicked it open.
There was no message body. Just a heavily encrypted compressed file.
I plugged in my secure USB drive and my fingers flew across the keyboard, deploying anti-tracing software and a virtual machine.
The instant the file decompressed, a tsunami of information flooded my screen.
My breath caught.
Inside was documentation even more detailed, more damning than what Lily had given me.