Page 21 of Certified Pressure 4
“You seem to misunderstand the situation, Mr. Charm. This is not a negotiation. I’m not just asking you to hand her to me. I’m asking you to understand the position you’ve put yourself in.”
He laughed bitterly. “Position? I’m being held hostage by a woman who’s lost her muthafuckin’ mind. I’m sure my wife has already reported me missing, and it’s only a matter of time before someone comes looking for me.”
I smiled faintly. “You’re right about one thing. Someone is looking for you… but not your wife.”
His expression shifted. “And what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You see, Mr. Charm, when a man like you vanishes, the world doesn’t send heroes to find him. It sends investigators, and investigators dig. They dig into your files, your calls, your contracts. They dig into everything you thought you buried. And while they search, I do the same. Except unlike them, I already know what I’m looking for.”
He frowned, confused. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about?”
“I’m talking about your daughter,” I said evenly. “The one who thought she could kill my son, rob him of the things he’s worked hard for and disappear. I’m also talking about the man who raised her, the one who taught her that deceit could buy her peace. She may be running, but you are the map that leads to her. And while my people have been trying to track her steps across every island within reach, I’ve been tracking you. What I’ve found so far, Mr. Charm, makes me wonder if your daughter ever had a chance at being anything other than corrupted.”
His mouth opened slightly, but I continued before he could speak.
“While you’ve been here enjoying my hospitality, I’ve been going through your affairs. You’ve built a business on greed and bodies. You’ve covered every sin with a polished smile, but I know who you are… and I know your secrets.
He blinked rapidly, his anger fading into confusion. “You’re bluffing.”
“Am I?” I asked, pulling my phone from my clutch. I swiped the screen, scrolling slowly. “I found payments made to offshore accounts under your name. I found invoices from your subsidiaries transferring military-grade software. You’ve been moving military software through false names, and selling technology that doesn’t belong to you, to nations currently undersanction. I found your signature on false documentation used to move those shipments through our trade routes. And I found emails from you to contractors arranging payments to make it all disappear if the wrong people ever looked too closely.”
His lips parted. “You had no right to?—”
I lifted a hand slightly, cutting him off. “I had every right. You entered my world the moment your daughter entered my son’s life, so you see—we were going to cross paths inevitably. You see, my husband’s company builds Trill-Land’s entire defense grid. Every drone, every surveillance system, every line of code that keeps this nation protected runs through him. There is nothing we do not see, Mr. Charm. There’s nothing we cannot reach.”
He stepped back, his breathing growing heavy. “You’re insane.”
“No,” I said softly, meeting his gaze. “I’m thorough.”
I walked past him and sat down on the velvet chair near the bar. The air in the room felt dense now, and not because of tension but because Sterling could finally see the truth forming around him. I poured myself a glass of wine, swirling it once before speaking again. “You’ve been selling pieces of our technology under false names for years. You’ve made millions from it. You should feel lucky that I’m not the one tearing you apart publicly. The people who built those systems would do far worse than lock you in a suite.”
He ran a shaking hand over his face. “You’ve ruined me.”
I smiled faintly. “Not yet. You still have your life, your breath, and your secrets, but even that will not last if you continue to lie to me.”
He was quiet for a long time before he finally whispered, “I told you, I don’t know where Kashmere is.”
“Then let us discuss something you do know,” I said. I pulled his phone from my pocket, and scrolled through it, reading theold messages on the screen. “Her name was Lianne. She was seventeen when she told you she was pregnant, wasn’t she?”
Sterling’s eyes widened. His entire body froze. “Where did you get that?”
“You left it in your phone, tucked away in an old folder you thought no one would find. You told her she couldn’t keep the baby. You told her that if she did, you would ruin her life. You said she would never make it out of the mess she created.” I paused and looked up from the screen. “Do you remember that?”
He didn’t answer. His hands were trembling.
“The last message she sent said she was keeping it. She told you she would go public if you didn’t take responsibility. After that, the messages stopped. No more calls, and no more replies.” I tilted my head slightly. “That was around the same time her body was found in a lake outside of Crystal Bay. Seventeen years old, pregnant, and forgotten. Her murder has been unsolved for a year now, but something tells me you know exactly what happened to that little girl.”
His face twisted. For a moment, I saw guilt flicker through his eyes before he turned away.
“Do not bother denying it,” I said calmly. “You are a man who believes he can bury his mistakes, just like your daughter. You have buried enough of them to build an empire, but now the earth you buried them in is beginning to shift. And what rises from it will bury you.”
Tears began to fill his eyes, but I could tell it wasn’t sorrow. It was fear.
I stood up and walked closer, lowering my voice until it was barely above a whisper. “Now you know what it feels like to be destroyed. You are a sick man, Mr. Charm, and it makes perfect sense that your daughter is the way she is. Your bloodline is rotten. Your semen breeds sickness.”
He flinched like the words themselves had struck him. His mouth opened, but no sound came out.
I continued, my tone smooth and cold. “Your illegal businesses are finished. Every account you’ve hidden has been exposed, and every contract tied to your name has been cut. You are now a wanted man, not for power or ambition, but for corruption, abuse, and lies. So, you see, the life I’ve provided for you is not a punishment. It’s protection. This suite is the safest place you can be.”
