Chapter 7 - The Interrogation Room
The federal holding facility beneath downtown was a sterile labyrinth of brushed steel, fluorescent humming, and thick soundproof glass. Inside Interrogation Room B, the air smelled of ozone, old coffee, and the quiet despair of shattered ambitions.
Elena Rostova sat at the stainless-steel table. The custom Chantilly lace gown was gone, replaced by an unglamorous orange jumpsuit that swallowed her frame. Her hair, unstyled and limp, fell over shoulders that shook with suppressed panic. Gone was the poised socialite who had commanded the attention of the city’s elite; in her place sat a cornered, desperate woman realizing too late that she was merely a disposable pawn in Viktor Vance’s grand design.
The heavy steel door clicked open. Daniel Vance stepped into the room. He wasn't wearing a tactical vest or an executive suit—just a crisp black shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exuding a quiet, devastating aura of absolute authority. He pulled out the opposite chair, sat down, and folded his hands on the metal table.
Elena flinched, her eyes darting frantically toward the one-way mirror before locking onto Daniel’s icy green gaze.
"Daniel," she whispered, her voice cracking, sounding thin and pathetic in the heavy silence. "Please... you have to listen to me. Viktor told me if I didn't play along with the pregnancy scam, he would release photographs from my past—things that would destroy my family, my reputation, everything. I was trapped."
Daniel didn't blink. He watched her with a clinical, detached curiosity, as if observing a specimen under a microscope.
"You had fourteen months, Elena," Daniel said, his voice level, carrying a quiet, bone-chilling resonance. "Fourteen months to walk into my study, to look me in the eye, and tell me the truth. Instead, you spent every single one of those days measuring the square footage of my estate, calculating my voting shares, and conspiring with a convicted felon to drug my water and isolate my son."
"I never wanted to hurt Leo!" she choked out, tears finally spilling over her lashes, carving dark tracks through her unwashed face. "When Viktor said on the phone that the boy was a problem, I fought him! I told him Leo was off-limits!"
"You told him to talk to a nine-year-old child and threatened his school friends," Daniel corrected, leaning forward slightly. "You looked my son in the eye and promised him terror if he opened his mouth. That’s not being trapped, Elena. That’s being a willing accomplice to a monster."
She slumped forward, burying her face in her handcuffed hands, sobbing uncontrollably. "They’re going to put me away for twenty years. Viktor will destroy me from the inside if I testify against him."
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"Viktor isn't going to destroy anyone anymore," Daniel replied, standing up and smoothing his shirt. He looked down at her with a final, pitying glance. "Your trial starts next month. I’ve instructed my legal team not to file a single mitigation motion on your behalf. You made your bed in lace and lies, Elena. Now lie in it."
He turned on his heel, walked out of the room, and let the heavy steel door slam shut behind him, sealing her fate forever.
