Chapter 12 - The Midnight Knock
The sharp, heavy rap of knuckles against the penthouse front door cut cleanly through the quiet hum of the apartment. Trina lowered her phone, her conversation with the financial crimes unit instantly suspended. She stared down the long hallway toward the entryway, her mind racing with a dozen dangerous possibilities.
The police had already cleared the unit. Attorney Santos had gone home. Clara was in custody, and Ramon was locked in the back of a patrol cruiser. So who was standing outside her door at past midnight?
"Ms. Rosales?" a voice called out through the heavy oak, muffled but unmistakably familiar.
It was Leo.
Trina gripped her phone tightly, the screen still glowing with the paused video of her cousin conspiring with Ramon. A cold fury washed over her, replacing the shock that had momentarily paralyzed her. He must have seen the alert about the account freezes or tried to reach Ramon and realized their entire criminal enterprise had just imploded.
She walked slowly down the hallway, her heels clicking against the hardwood floor with calculated precision. She did not open the door immediately. Instead, she stepped to the side and glanced at the hallway security monitor.
The camera showed Leo standing alone in the private foyer. He was dressed in a sharp, expensive designer suit, but his hair was slightly disheveled, and his eyes darted nervously from side to side, betraying the panic bubbling beneath his polished exterior. He raised his hand to knock again.
"Trina? I know you're in there," Leo’s voice echoed through the intercom, strained and hurried. "I got an automated alert from the corporate server saying my admin credentials were just revoked. What’s going on? Open the door, we need to talk."
Trina reached out and tapped the intercom switch, her voice remaining eerily calm. "It’s past midnight, Leo. What could possibly be so important that you’re showing up unannounced at my penthouse?"
There was a brief pause on the other side of the door. Leo cleared his throat, trying to regain his composure. "It’s about Ramon. I heard he was detained downtown. The board is in absolute panic, Trina. Some of the international accounts are locked. I came as soon as I could to help you manage the crisis."
Trina let out a cold, humorless laugh that echoed softly in the foyer. "Help me manage the crisis? Or check to see if your name is still hidden in the shipping manifests?"
A sharp silence fell over the intercom. On the security monitor, Leo’s face went completely rigid. The nervous facade melted away instantly, replaced by a dark, calculating expression. He knew. He realized that the game was entirely up.
"So you found the files," Leo said, his tone dropping all pretense of innocence. The polite cousin persona vanished completely, revealing the cold opportunist underneath. "Trina, be reasonable. If you blow this wide open, the scandal will destroy the family name. The entire enterprise collapses, including your grandfather’s legacy."
"My grandfather built this company with honesty and hard work," Trina snapped back, her voice rising with righteous fury. "He didn't build it for parasites like you and Ramon to siphon off half a million dollars every quarter."
On the monitor, Leo’s hand balled into a fist. He leaned closer to the camera lens, his eyes narrowing into cold slits. "You think you can destroy me just like that? I have physical copies of the offshore routing keys, Trina. If I go down, I make sure the regulatory boards trace every single irregular transaction straight back to your primary signature."
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Before Trina could answer, a loud, metallic click echoed from the door lock. Leo wasn't just knocking—he was attempting to override the smart lock using an emergency master key override code.
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