Chapter 8 - The Ransom of Truth
My blood ran completely cold as I watched the terrifying video of my sister on the small screen.
Preston sent a follow-up message demanding the encrypted flash drive in exchange for her life.
He instructed me to meet him alone at the abandoned shipyard by the harbor in exactly one hour.
My mother saw the video and gripped the steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white.
She told me we were not going to play his sick, twisted games anymore.
Elena made a single phone call to a man she simply referred to as the Cleaner.
She gave him the location from the video's background details and told him to handle it.
I asked her who she had just called, but she only told me to focus on the corrupt judge.
We drove directly to the local headquarters of the major national news network.
I marched into the lobby and demanded to see the lead investigative journalist.
I slammed the encrypted flash drive onto his glass desk and told him it contained the biggest political scandal of the decade.
He plugged it into his secure laptop and his eyes grew wide as he read the blackmail files.
He immediately called his producers and told them to interrupt the current live broadcast.
I stood in the green room and watched the television monitor as the breaking news alert flashed on screen.
The journalist began exposing the Vales, the corrupt judge, and my former boss to the entire nation.
My phone rang loudly, and I saw Preston's name flashing on the caller ID.
May you like
I answered the call and told him it was finally over.
He laughed maniacally and told me I was completely wrong.
