Chapter 14 - The Final Confession
The heavy silence that settled over the third-floor glass gallery was broken only by the distant wail of approaching police sirens echoing up through the winding canyon roads.
Julian stood frozen, holding Maya close to his chest while processing the revelation hanging in the air. He looked from Elena’s calm, authoritative posture back to Vanessa, who was now slumping defeatedly against the steel-reinforced glass railing.
“You’re federal oversight?” Julian asked, his voice a tight whisper as he stared at the metallic badge gleaming in Elena’s hand.
“Internal Affairs and Behavioral Compliance Division,” Elena corrected smoothly, slipping the badge back into her pocket before adjusting baby Leo comfortably against her shoulder. “For the past six months, my mandate wasn’t to clean this house or manage the nursery. It was to document every phase of Arthur Sterling and Vanessa’s psychological deployment strategy from the inside.”
Detective Vance nodded slowly, stepping forward to snap the steel cuffs around Vanessa’s wrists without encountering any resistance.
“We’ve been tracking Vanguard Capital’s shell corporations for three years,” Vance added, looking at Julian with an expression of genuine sympathy. “Your marriage, the purchase of this property, the financial pressures—they were all artificial constructs designed to test how civilian subjects adapt to total digital surveillance. You were the unwitting subject of a multi-million-dollar behavioral paper, Mr. Sterling.”
May you like
Julian felt a cold wave of numbness wash over him. He looked down at Maya, who buried her face against
[... đã cắt bớt, xem bản đầy đủ trong tệp trên máy ...]
