Chapter 6 - the basement confession
The sub-level interrogation vault was an unyielding room of dark stone and thick iron bars.
Graham Pierce sat bound to a heavy wooden chair in the center of the room, his charcoal suit wrinkled, his dark tie loosened. Despite his restraint, he maintained a cold, arrogant expression, staring straight ahead as the heavy iron door swung open.
Roman entered the room. He had changed into a dark black shirt, his sleeves rolled up to his elbows, exposing the dark, intricate tattoos that covered his forearms. Behind him walked Viktor, carrying the carved wooden box retrieved from Megan's locker.
Roman didn't say a word. He walked over to the wooden table set up in front of Graham, placed the carved wooden box on the surface, and opened the brass latch.
Inside lay three thick audio cassette tapes and an official police evidence report from Chicago dated twenty years ago.
Graham's arrogant expression finally crumbled. His eyes widened in absolute, unmistakable horror as he stared at the cassette tapes.
"Where... where did you get those?" Graham stammered, his voice cracking for the first time.
"These belonged to Megan Cole's mother," Roman said, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying growl. "The woman who managed the Vance household in Chicago. The woman who saw you take my sister Elena out of that house twenty years ago."
Graham swallowed hard, his skin turning gray under the harsh fluorescent light. "Roman... listen to me... you don't understand what happened back then—"
"I understand everything now," Roman interrupted coldly. He reached down, picking up the official police report. "My sister didn't die in a car accident. She ran away from this estate because she found out you were stealing millions from the harbor accounts. You tracked her down to Chicago, brought her to Julian Vance... and when she refused to keep your secret, you made her vanish."
"It was Vance!" Graham yelled, his composure completely shattering. "Vance ordered the hit! I tried to save her, Roman! I kept the bow key because... because I couldn't bring myself to throw it away! It was the only thing left of her!"
"Liar," Roman spat. He leaned down, his face inches from Graham's pale cheek. "You kept the bow key because it unlocks the private deposit box in Zurich where you hid twenty million dollars of stolen Vale money."
Graham froze, his mouth half-open.
"Sadie found that key under your chair today because you brought it here to finalize your escape with Chicago," Roman revealed, his dark eyes burning with ruthless precision. "You were going to sign that shipping contract tonight, take the cash, and leave me to take the fall for your tax fraud."
Graham slumped back in his chair, defeated, his hands trembling within the thick leather restraints.
"What are you going to do with me?" Graham whispered, tears of terror welling in his eyes.
May you like
Roman stood up straight, smoothing his dark shirt sleeves.
"You're going to give me the codes to the Zurich account," Roman said flatly. "And then... you're going to help me destroy Julian Vance once and for all."
