The Mafia Boss Was About to Walk Out on His Blind Date When a Little Girl Took Her Mother’s Seat / Chapter 13 / 20

Chapter 13 - The Velvet GuillotineFor the next forty-eight hours, the library was a hive of relentless, surgical precision. They barely slept. They survived on adrenaline, dark roast coffee, and a fierce, blinding determination to eradicate the threat permanently.

Julian Vargas was brilliant, but arrogance always leaves a footprint.

With Hannah directing the medical supply audits and Silas cracking the corporate firewalls, they traced Vargas’s shell companies through Switzerland, the Caymans, and London.

At 3:00 AM on Thursday, Silas let out a sharp gasp.

"Got him," Silas announced, his voice vibrating with adrenaline.

Vincent and Hannah were by his side in a second. Silas pointed to a cascading series of micro-transactions on his monitor.

"Vargas claims his firm operates in legitimate medical logistics," Silas explained, typing furiously to decrypt the final layer of the ledger. "But these routing numbers... they match the exact shipping weights of illegal European arms manufacturing. He is padding the shipping crates of MRI machines with military-grade hardware."

"And he is doing it on American soil," Vincent smiled, a cold, terrifying expression. "If the federal government finds out, they won't just freeze his assets. They will lock him in a federal black site for international terrorism and racketeering."

"But we still have a problem," Elias interjected, his tone urgent. "Vargas’s servers are rigged with a dead-man's switch. If we try to download the master ledger remotely, the files will self-delete. The only way to secure the unredacted evidence is to physically plug a decryption drive into his personal, air-gapped server."

"Where is the server?" Hannah asked.

"It’s in his private office at the Plaza Hotel," Elias replied. "He is hosting the Global Healthcare Summit tomorrow night. It’s a massive charity gala. He will be surrounded by politicians, investors, and armed guards."

Vincent stood up, smoothing his shirt. Vargas thought he could hide behind a tuxedo and a ballroom full of elite socialites. He thought his fortress was impenetrable.

"He expects me to meet him tomorrow to sign over the Brooklyn ports," Vincent said, a predatory calm settling over his mind. "I will give him exactly what he wants. I will distract him in the main ballroom."

"While you distract him," Hannah said, her eyes meeting Vincent’s with absolute resolve, "I will access his private office. No one will suspect the quiet nurse in a ballgown."

"Absolutely not," Vincent growled, his protective instincts flaring violently. "I am not putting you in the line of fire."

"Vincent," Hannah said softly, stepping into his personal space and resting her hands on his chest. "You promised we were a partnership. He threatened my daughter. Let me help you bury him."

Vincent looked into her eyes. He saw the immovable steel beneath her gentle exterior. He let out a ragged sigh, nodding slowly.