Some Closure

Demetrius stood up from his seat in the front row and exclaimed, "What the hell is going on here? Victor?"

Victor had been speechless when Yakov appeared, but his father's voice jarred him to awareness. "Ladies and gentlemen, please remain calm," he started. "This is clearly an instance of sour grapes by those at UniTech trying to ruin the demonstration of our new technology."

Yakov had his own microphone and score to settle, however. He addressed the crowd, "You mean the technology that you stole?" The crowd murmured. Not giving Victor a chance to reply he continued, "I'm here today to let everyone know that Victor Drakos blackmailed me into stealing the technology you see here today from UniTech. I can never apologize enough to my dear colleague, Dr. Serian, nor thank Mr. Liu enough for his help in keeping me and my family safe from the Drakos Group. I am willing to serve my time for what I did but everyone should know that what you see here is the result of years of hard work by Dr. Serian and our team. She deserves the accolades, not the man who is standing on the stage."

"How dare you spout such lies!," Victor demanded but his rant was cut short as several police officers entered the ballroom and surrounded him. They did not have their weapons drawn but were ready to do so in case Victor tried anything.

One officer approached him and said, "Turn around."

Victor hesitated as he looked at his father, so the officer started to force him to do so. He resisted, "Do you know who I am? I'll have your badge for this!"

"You're welcome to try," the police officer said. Then he put hand cuffs on Victor and recited his Miranda Rights.

When Selene heard the officer say, "You have the right to remain silent…," and then continue with the Miranda Rights statement, she felt a huge load of anxiety lifted off of her shoulders.

"It's finally over," Selene whispered as a couple tears trickled out of her eyes.

Ben kissed the top of her head and replied, "There's still a lot of work ahead to make sure Drakos stays behind bars but with Yakov's testimony, the materials Peter has, including the testimonies from our new partners in Greece, it should be enough. Now we just have to make sure Hugh Brown doesn't come near you again and everything will be settled."

Selene sighed, "I trust you. I know you'll keep me safe from him." She pulled away a little bit to look up at Ben, "I still can't believe Max's meeting in Greece was so successful that all those people were willing to testify against Victor for all his under-handed dealings with him."

"Well, we did have to make our own partnerships with them in exchange, but it worked out since we wanted to expand to the Mediterranean and beyond anyway," Ben reminded her.

"Still, I just can't believe it all came together that way. I know it's not over yet, but I feel like I can finally breathe," she said.

Ben nodded and then took her hand to lead her out of the ballroom and back into their SUV.

Demetrius intercepted them on their way out, grabbing Selene's free hand. "Please Selene. He's your brother. Don't do this," he pleaded.

Ben forcefully removed Demetrius's hand from Selene's wrist and warned him, "Don't grab at her again or I'll have my people on you so fast, you won't know what happened.

Selene rubbed her wrist and responded, "Victor brought all this on himself. It's just too bad we can't also charge him for my abduction. He's no brother of mine."

With that she gently pulled on Ben's hand that was holding hers to indicate she wanted to leave. Ben allowed himself to be led out by her.

Once they were in the car, she let out a deep breath and then remained silent. Ben let her be as he knew she needed to be in her own thoughts for a bit. After a few moments, she seemed to nod to herself as if she decided on something. She turned to Ben and revealed her decision, "I'm going to testify on Yakov's behalf."

"Are you sure?," Ben asked, worried for her.

"Yes, I'm sure. It's really not his fault that Victor threatened his family, you know?," Selene explained.

Ben took her hand and replied, "But what about the money that Victor gave him? I mean, he took the money."

Selene looked down in disappointment, "I know. But knowing him, he probably just saved it all and will turn it over to the authorities. If he does that, I'll definitely testify for him. Especially since he was willing to help us once you all found him in Moscow."

"It's a good thing we were tracking him, otherwise if he had made it to Omsk, then we may never have found him," Ben disclosed.

"You never told me that. But that's not where he's from. He told me he was from Volgograd," Selene pondered.

Ben nodded, "He is. Originally. And I guess that's where some of his family still are. But he was taking them to Omsk since Siberia is easier to get lost in and he had some friends there willing to help them."

"Oh, I see," Selene absent-mindedly nodded. "Hmm. He must have been scared. I mean to go back to Russia and leave everything behind."

Ben leaned over and kissed her cheek, "This is one of the many reasons I love you so much. You have such a big heart. Even in this situation you can have empathy for him."

Selene blushed, "He was my friend for several years. When I first noticed the issues with the code, I knew the only other person it could be was Yakov but I didn't want to believe it. Even when we collected all that evidence, it was still hard for me to believe. I just wish he'd come to me."

"It would have served him better if he had, but like you said, he was probably just scared," Ben replied.

"I guess so," she agreed.

Ben slapped his knees slightly and suggested, "How about we stop thinking that's happened and what's to come and just celebrate this victory."

Selene raised one eyebrow and used a posh-sounding tone, "What do you mean sir? I'm intrigued."

"Let's go on a little getaway, starting now. We can go anywhere you want!," he told her.

"Anywhere?," she asked, eyes gleaming, getting into the spirit of it as she was swept up in Ben's energy.

"Anywhere," he answered with a flirty smile.

Selene paused, "Hmmm…I don't know. There's so many places I want to visit."

Ben chuckled, "Keep in mind, it can only be for a few days. This time at least. We can plan for a bigger trip soon though if you'd like."

Selene thought for a little bit and asked, "How about Santa Barbara? That's not too far and we can even drive there."

"Hmm," Ben considered. "We could do that."

Selene clapped her hands, "Awesome! I've never been there so this should be fun!"

Ben was surprised, "I didn't know that."

"It's true," she shrugged. "I haven't traveled a lot actually. I've always just been busy either studying or working. I've been to a few places I guess. Like Yosemite and San Diego."

Ben smiled, "Don't forget San Francisco. We went together. Remember?"

Selene smiled back, "I remember. That was a fun trip. Still, I guess I should travel more."

"We will," Ben said with assurance.

The rest of the car ride was spent talking about all the places they were going to visit.