Chapter 7 - The Truth About The Wrong Number Finally Came Out
Victor Crane emerged from hiding the following morning.
He contacted Ramona.
"I can give you the final piece."
They met at a church.
Victor looked older than Ramona remembered.
"I didn't kill Matteo."
"I know."
"You need to hear the truth."
Victor revealed the final mastermind.
The corrupt port commissioner.
A man named Elias Voss.
He had manipulated everyone.
Duca politicians.
Criminal families.
Shipping companies.
He orchestrated the deaths.
He had created the false identities.
He had even arranged for Greg to use Sharise.
But why?
Because Elena had discovered something.
Elias was responsible for an enormous financial operation.
The evidence could put him away for life.
And Sharise was the only surviving person connected to the original evidence.
Victor handed Ramona a folder.
Inside was one final photograph.
Sharise's mother.
Matteo.
And Elias.
Standing together.
Sharise stared.
"Elias worked with my mother?"
Victor nodded.
"Until she discovered what he was doing."
Ramona looked at Sharise.
"Then we're finished."
"No."
She shook her head.
"We're just beginning."
They released the evidence.
Federal agents moved.
Arrests began.
The city erupted.
Elias fled.
Ramona and Sharise followed the trail.
It led to the same warehouse where everything had started.
1420 North Harbor Drive.
Pier 4.
The wrong number brought them back to where their story began.
Elias stood waiting.
"You were supposed to die."
Sharise stepped forward.
"So were you."
He laughed.
"You have no idea what you're carrying."
She held up the phone.
"This?"
Elias smiled.
"The original SIM card."
She looked at Ramona.
He understood.
The message had never been random.
The old phone had contained a hidden encryption key.
The exact key needed to unlock the final evidence.
Sharise's accidental text had activated it.
Elias had known.
He had tried to manipulate her into delivering it.
Instead, she had walked straight into Ramona's hands.
Elias raised his gun.
Ramona moved in front of her.
"You touch her, and you die."
"You think love makes you stronger?"
Ramona's eyes were cold.
"No."
He looked at Sharise.
"She does."
Federal agents stormed the warehouse.
Elias was arrested.
The network collapsed.
The city changed.
But one question remained.
Why had Ramona received the original message?
The investigators checked the number.
The line had been purchased eighteen minutes before Sharise sent the text.
By whom?
Matteo Cassell.
Using an account created years earlier.
A dead man's account.
Ramona stared at the evidence.
"That can't be."
Sharise stood beside him.
"Maybe he wanted us to meet."
He smiled faintly.
"Maybe."
May you like
She held his hand.
Whatever the reason, the wrong number had changed both their lives.
