Chapter 13: The Verdict In The Red Light
“Caroline,” Lee’s voice crackled softly through her earpiece, entirely unbothered by the torrential rain or the thirty armed mercenaries trapped inside the steel perimeter. “He is on his knees. What is your directive?”
Inside the dockmaster’s booth, Caroline stared through the rain-streaked glass. Her heart beat with a slow, terrifying rhythm.
She looked at the security monitors. Richard Ashford III, a man who commanded billions of dollars, was kneeling in a muddy puddle under the eerie red glow of emergency lights. He was sobbing uncontrollably, his hands clasped together in desperate prayer.
“Put me on the pier’s main PA system,” Caroline ordered Jin, who was standing guard by the door.
Jin typed a quick command into the terminal, nodding to her. The microphone was live.
Caroline leaned forward, her voice echoing out across the massive, metallic expanse of the Long Beach port.
“Do you remember what you told me, Richard?” Caroline’s voice boomed from the towering industrial speakers, slicing through the heavy rain.
Down on the asphalt, Ashford flinched violently. He whipped his head around, searching the dark, towering cranes. He recognized the voice instantly. It was the voice of the disposable girl he had assaulted less than forty-eight hours ago.
“Caroline?” Ashford gasped, his face twisting in absolute horror. “Is that you? Oh my god, please! Tell him to lower the gun!”
“You told me that people like me exist only to serve people like you,” Caroline spoke into the microphone, her tone eerily calm and devoid of mercy. “You told me that when I failed to be invisible, there would be consequences.”
“I was drunk!” Ashford screamed, his voice cracking as the freezing rain plastered his expensive hair to his forehead. “I was an arrogant fool! I’ll pay you! I will give you a million dollars right now! Just please, don’t let him shoot me!”
Lee stood perfectly still, the barrel of his silver handgun pressed firmly against Ashford’s temple. He did not speak. He simply waited for his newest operative to render judgment.
“You didn’t kick me because you were drunk, Richard,” Caroline continued, her voice echoing like a final verdict. “You did it because you knew no one in that gilded dining room was going to stop you. You did it because you enjoy the taste of a weaker person’s fear.”
“I’m sorry!” Ashford sobbed, burying his face in his muddy hands. “I am so sorry! I’ll do anything! I’ll get on my knees! I’m on my knees!”
Caroline stared at the monitor. For a brief, intoxicating second, she wanted to say the word. She wanted to tell Lee to pull the trigger and erase this monster from the earth.
But as she watched Ashford hyperventilate in the mud, a colder, darker realization washed over her.
“Death is a release, Richard,” Caroline whispered into the microphone. “Death means you never have to face what you actually are. And I am not going to give you that luxury.”
Lee’s eyes flicked toward the dockmaster’s booth. A microscopic smirk touched his lips.
“Mr. Lee,” Caroline ordered, her voice completely steady. “Do not kill him. Strip him.”
Down on the pier, Lee lowered the handgun.
“You heard the architect,” Lee murmured, staring down at the pathetic billionaire. “Your life is spared. But your empire is forfeited.”
“What… what does that mean?” Ashford stammered, looking up with wide, terrified eyes.
“It means that while you were standing in the rain, my financial team was busy,” Lee explained calmly. “The encrypted ledgers you kept on your unsecured yacht network have already been forwarded to the SEC, the FBI, and the IRS.”
Ashford let out a strangled, breathless wheeze. “No. No, you couldn’t have.”
“By the time the sun rises, all of your assets will be frozen,” Lee continued, delivering the words with surgical precision. “Your investors will realize you robbed their pension funds to finance your hostile takeovers. Your board of directors will publicly disown you to avoid federal indictments.”
“You’re ruining me!” Ashford screamed, clawing at Lee’s pant leg. “You’re leaving me with nothing!”
“I am leaving you exactly as you left Caroline,” Lee replied, effortlessly kicking Ashford’s hand away. “Invisible. Penniless. And completely at the mercy of a world that does not care if you survive.”
Lee holstered his weapon and turned his back on the weeping billionaire. He walked toward the shadows, leaving Ashford screaming in the mud as police sirens began to wail in the far distance.
If you had the choice between ending your abuser’s life or forcing them to live the rest of it in utter ruin, which would you choose?
