"Remove the tape, she'll speak."
Mike didn't hesitate at my order.
He moved forward and ripped the tape off her mouth.
"Get me a chair and a cup of water." I said to Mike.
He obliged and soon enough I was sitting with a glass of water in hand.
"Your name?" I asked looking the woman in the eye.
"S-Selena." She stuttered.
"Selena uhn? Nice name. Want a glass of water?" I asked.
I could see confusion mar the lines of her face.
Since her hands were tied, I had Mike hold the glass up to her lips.
She hesitated a little.
But I guess her thirst must have outweighed her reasoning as she finally opened her mouth and gulped the water down.
"I'm sure you know why you're here. Who sent you?" I asked, going straight to the point.
"I-I I don-"
I moved my chair so that I was sitting right in front of her.
"Let me simplify things." I said quietly.
"What you and Blaire did has affected my reputation and subsequently, the Russo group. Do you understand the level of chaos you've caused?" I questioned.
"I d-did it on my own accord."
"I advice you start talking now or I can't guarantee I won't do something dangerous to you."
I saw her shiver slightly under my gaze, her resolve falling apart.
She looked me dead in the eye.
"You have to promise me you'll not do anything to him."
"Just talk."
"I was told to go there and try to talk to you, that's all." She confessed.
I asked.
"By who?"
"I don't know his name."
"Do you take me for a fool?" I questioned, anger starting to take control of my actions.
She literally just begged me not to harm him, so she definitely knew who it was.
"N-n-no, I'm t-talking about the main boss, I don't know his name." She stammered.
I sighed.
"Fine. What does he look like?"
"I never saw his face, the order was passed through an in-intermediary." She responded.
I replayed her expression when she mentioned the intermediary.
That was definitely who she was trying to protect.
"What exactly were you told to do?" I raised my left brow.
"To get close to you." She answered truthfully.
"The photos?" I asked.
"They weren't taken by me." She answered desperately.
Of course they weren't taken by her, how else would she have been in the photo.
I decided to skip the question.
"And Blaire?" I hurriedly asked.
"You know her?" Confusion lit up her face once again.
"Wrong answer."
I signalled Mike to hit her.
Mike stepped forward and gave her a hard slap on her left cheek.
I might have a rule against hitting women, but Mike didn't.
"Argh." She screamed.
"Are you going to provide my boss with answers now or do I have to hit you again?" Mike threatened.
"I-I'll talk." She screamed.
"Good." Mike said and moved aside for me to have Selena in my line of sight once more.
"Y-yesterday, a car came to pick me up to take me to the club, I saw Blaire inside the car and that was the first time I saw her, we didn't talk much." She revealed.
"Can you recall any mention of her name during any of your time with the intermediary?" I probed further.
She thought for a while.
"I heard the name once through a phone call between the boss and my da-" She paused realizing she had said too much.
So the said intermediary was her father.
I pretended not to have heard her last word.
"What did he say about her?"
"He said...'Be sure to protect Blaire no matter the odds'."
The study went silent.
Interesting.
So she was being protected my the mastermind.
"So she's being protected." I said out loud.
"Which means she's important." Daniel linked.
"Exactly." I agreed.
Something told me the man who set this up was behind all the sorrow that had ever befell my life.
"How was the intermediary being contacted?"
"A burner phone." She responded immediately.
Seemed the slap was working miracles.
But I could still tell she was holding something back.
"She won't budge it seems." I said, standing.
"Wait! I already said everything I knew." She cried out.
I didn't bother looking back.
I knew a lost cause when I saw one.
"Yh sure. Keep her-"
A gunshot interrupted me.
The next thing I saw was Selena's body hit the ground and blood gushing out of her chest were the bullet hit.
"Sniper."
"Find the source ASAP." I heard Daniel yell out the order.
Mike and two of my bodyguards rushed out of the study, trying to get the sniper's location.
I rushed to her side and put my palm on the wound, trying to apply pressure to stop the bleeding.
Unfortunately the bullet had been aimed directly at her heart so I knew she was hanging on her last breath.
"M-my full na-name is S-Selena V-Voss." She managed to say as she started to cough out blood.
"Stop talking, you'll only worsen your situation." I scolded.
She laughed a little.
"You and I b-both know I c-can't ma-make it."
The room stilled.
"You kn-know I've always had a c-cru-crush on you Vi-Vincent." She confessed.
I closed my eyes and sighed.
She what now?
"I-I want to d-do a good deed before I die-" She coughed out more blood.
"You know the mastermind's identity, don't you." I said.
"He's Rocco Be-"
She couldn't complete her statement as her body jerked violently.
By the time the jerking stopped, she was gone.
I let out a dark, low chuckle.
"They were watching."
"They're closer than we think." Daniel finally spoke up.
I smirked.
"This is getting interesting."
Daniel eyed me suspiciously.
"We just lost our only lead and you don't seem affected."
"No." I said, standing. "We just confirmed something."
He frowned.
"What?"
"They're scared." I continued. "She barely even said anything and they killed her."
"They're trying to tie up loose ends to avoid leaving any traces behind." He said." By the way, what was she trying to tell you?"
I refrained myself from telling Daniel that Selena was trying to tell me the masterminds name.
"She said she has always had a crush on me." I said instead.
"She what? How could she even know you enough for that?" Daniel forked his hands through his hair.
That was when it hit me.
"M-my full na-name is S-Selena V-Voss."
Selena was Mr Voss' daughter.
That meant Mr Voss was the intermediary.
He knew who the mastermind was.
"What's the name of Mr Voss' daughter who just got back from Turkey not too long ago?" I asked Daniel.
"I think he said Selen...wait! Her name is Selena." Daniel's expression turned sour.
I revealed.
"She said her full name was Selena Voss."
"So Mr Voss is the intermediary." Daniel cursed beneath his breath.
I sighed.
"Seems like it, I need to go get a shower to was off the blood."
"How are we going to prove to the media that this was planned then?" Daniel asked out if curiosity.
I shrugged slightly.
"Don't worry, you know I have my ways."
"I'll trust you on this one." He relented. "What are we going to do about Mr Voss?"
"Take a picture of his daughter's corpse and send it to him." I instructed. "Tell him to come to my Villa by nightfall if he wants to collect his daughter's body."
"Okay." Daniel responded. "What exactly are you planning to do?"
I smirked.
"I'm about to flip the switch Dan, just wait and watch."
I glanced over at Selena's body.
"She was a good daughter you know."
"That's rather weird and alarming coming from you." Daniel commented.
"I know."