Chapter 8 - The Ransom
I stared at Robert, completely confused by the sudden change in his demeanor.
"What do you mean, they took the bait?" I demanded.
"We just lost the condo, the recording, and you are about to be arrested for treason."
Robert walked over to the kitchen table and picked up the shattered pieces of Chloe's phone.
"The recording was already uploaded to a secure server," he explained calmly.
"And as for the condo, Victoria is too greedy to realize what she actually just stole."
He pulled out his own encrypted cell phone and dialed his lawyer.
"Execute protocol Omega," Robert instructed before hanging up.
He turned back to us, his eyes gleaming with calculated brilliance.
"That property deed Chloe just signed wasn't standard paperwork," Robert revealed.
"I had my legal team alter the hidden sub-clauses in the fine print."
Chloe wiped the tears from her bruised cheeks, trying to understand.
"What did the fine print say, Dad?" she asked.
"It stated that the new owner of the property assumes all hidden liabilities attached to the title," he smiled.
"And yesterday morning, I secretly attached forty million dollars in unpaid federal tax liens to that specific condo."
My jaw dropped in absolute shock.
"The moment Victoria tries to file that deed at the courthouse, she will be legally claiming forty million dollars of federal debt," Robert finished.
"The IRS will immediately seize every single asset her family owns to pay it off."
It was a brilliant, flawless trap.
Victoria thought she was stealing a luxury property, but she was actually stealing a financial death sentence.
"But what about your illegal files?" I asked, still worried about his freedom.
"She is going to leak them tomorrow."
Robert let out a dark chuckle.
"I leaked them myself ten years ago under a fake name, paid the fines, and served a secret six-month house arrest."
"I have double jeopardy protection, so her blackmail material is entirely worthless."
We had won.
We had completely outsmarted the Dudley family.
Just as we began to breathe a sigh of relief, my apartment landline rang loudly.
I answered it, putting it on speakerphone so everyone could hear.
"Sarah," Victoria's voice crackled through the speaker, sounding breathless and frantic.
"The police just pulled our car over on the highway."
Robert grinned, knowing the embezzlement warrant for Lewis was finally catching up to them.
"Enjoy prison, Victoria," I said proudly.
"Listen to me very carefully," she hissed, pure venom in her tone.
"I know I am going down, but I used my last favor to make a phone call."
"Look out your broken balcony window."
Robert stepped toward the shattered glass and looked down at the street below.
A red laser sight suddenly sliced through the darkness, painting a bright dot directly in the center of Robert's chest.
May you like
"I hired a sniper, Sarah," Victoria whispered.
"If you don't call the police off in sixty seconds, I am blowing your ex-husband's heart out."
