Chapter 12 - Confessions in the Dark
The interrogation room at the federal annex was freezing, illuminated only by the harsh, flickering glare of a single overhead fluorescent bulb.
Viktor Sterling sat slumped in a bolted metal chair, his broken wrist wrapped in a makeshift sling, staring blankly at the scarred wooden table.
The heavy steel door swung open, and Luca Moretti stepped into the room.
He didn't wear a coat.
He looked like an executioner who had finished his work and come to inspect the debris.
"They're charging you with racketeering, industrial espionage, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping," Luca stated, pulling out the opposite chair and sitting down with deliberate slowness.
"You'll spend the rest of your natural life eating prison food in a supermax facility in Florence, Colorado."
Viktor raised his head, his eyes bloodshot and full of bitter hatred.
"You won, Luca," Viktor spat, a dry chuckle rattling in his throat.
"Enjoy your little victory."
"Do you honestly believe Vanessa came up with that surrogacy scheme on her own?"
Luca's eyes narrowed slightly, though his posture remained unyielding.
"She was a greedy, ambitious social climber."
"She was a pawn," Viktor corrected him, coughing slightly.
"Her father, Alberto, was three million dollars in debt to my offshore syndicates by the end of last year."
"He couldn't pay his dock workers, let alone maintain his estate."
"I gave him a choice: either surrender his shipping berths to Sterling, or find a way to insinuate our bloodline into the Moretti estate."
"Vanessa volunteered for the job."
"She thought she could trap you into marriage, birth a surrogate-backed heir, and slowly poison you while the trust funds transferred into her name."
"She played her part well," Luca murmured.
"She played it like a cheap whore desperate for a crown," Viktor sneered.
"And you ruined it all because a bleeding maid stumbled into a nursery."
Luca stood up, resting both palms flat on the stainless steel table.
"Lauren Mitchell is worth a thousand Bellinis and ten thousand Sterling syndicates."
"Remember that name when you're sitting in your cell, Viktor."
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"Because every single brick of your empire was dismantled by the very person you considered beneath notice."
Luca turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving the broken patriarch of the Sterling family alone in the dark.
