Chapter 4 - The House of Secrets
While the elite scribbled away their loyalty to the Croft dynasty, I walked back to Preston. He was completely isolated now. The people who had kissed his ring for years were practically tripping over themselves to throw him to the wolves.
"You're a psycho," Preston hissed, venom dripping from his every word. "You think some witness statements are going to bring my family down? We own the judges. We own the DA. We will have this thrown out of court before the sun comes up."
"You still don't get it, do you?" I asked, shaking my head with genuine pity. "This isn't just about you hitting me, Preston. That was just the catalyst. I needed a reason to lock this building down with all of you inside."
I turned away from him and walked toward the crown jewel of the evening’s auction: a massive, seventeenth-century portrait of a Spanish duke, framed in heavy, gilded gold. It was expected to sell for over ten million dollars.
"Your family uses this gallery to launder money," I announced to the room. The scratching of pens slowly ceased. Everyone looked up.
"You import 'priceless' art from Europe," I continued, pacing in front of the painting. "You inflate the value, sell it to shell companies you secretly own, and wash the dirty money you make from arms trafficking and illegal land grabs. But that’s not all, is it?"
I signaled to my lead guard. He walked up to the priceless painting, pulled a combat knife from his tactical vest, and without a second's hesitation, drove the blade directly into the canvas.
Gasps of horror echoed through the room. The museum curator actually fainted, collapsing into the arms of a waiter.
The guard ripped the blade downward, slicing the million-dollar painting entirely in half. He reached into the dark void behind the canvas and pulled out a series of thick, vacuum-sealed plastic bricks.
He tossed one onto the floor at Preston’s feet. The plastic split open, revealing hundreds of uncut, raw diamonds.
"Smuggling," I said, my voice echoing in the dead silence. "You use the art crates to bypass customs. This gallery is the central hub for the largest illicit diamond smuggling ring on the West Coast."
Preston stared at the diamonds scattered across the marble floor. He looked like a man who had just watched his own executioner sharpen the axe.
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"My father didn't just buy the trust to lock the doors, Preston," I whispered. "We bought it to audit the inventory. We have the ledgers. We have the shipping manifests. And now, we have the physical evidence, all safely recorded on a dozen security cameras."
Preston fell to his knees among the diamonds, the reality of his absolute ruin finally breaking his mind.
