Chapter 6 - the truth behind the brace
By ten o'clock that evening, the estate had settled into a quiet, peaceful calm.
In the second-floor master suite, Anna was tucking four-year-old Lily into a plush canopy bed. Lily clutched her stuffed rabbit, her small face peaceful as her mother softly sang a lullaby.
Down in the subterranean level of the estate, beneath the east wing, heavy iron security doors led into the private family vault.
Dominic stood before the vault’s reinforced steel door, accompanied by Marcus and Norah Bennett. They were conducting a final audit of the physical property deeds recovered from Evelyn Crane’s private office.
"Everything has been cross-referenced with the state registry, Don Moretti," Norah reported, handing him a clean digital tablet. "The original land deeds for the river docks are secure."
Suddenly, the red emergency alarm lights on the vault ceiling began to flash silently!
"Security alert!" Marcus growled, pulling his sidearm. "Subterranean sector three access gate has been breached!"
Dominic drew his heavy silver revolver in a single fluid motion. "Norah, stay inside the vault and lock the steel door."
Dominic and Marcus moved quickly through the dark stone corridor leading toward the holding cells.
Standing before the open door of the third-floor holding suite was Evelyn Crane! She had been freed by an insider guard—a corrupt night officer who had been bribed by Vance's network!
Evelyn held a small leather pouch containing five master encrypted flash drives she had hidden in a hollow floorboard behind her holding room desk!
"Evelyn!" Dominic’s thunderous voice echoed down the stone hallway like a cannon blast.
Evelyn spun around in pure terror, her severe black suit disheveled, her eyes wild with panic. The corrupt guard beside her raised his weapon, but Marcus fired two precise shots, disarming the guard instantly and sending him crashing onto the floorboards!
Dominic walked slowly toward Evelyn, his towering broad frame filling the hallway with an overwhelming, dark presence.
"You tried to steal the physical data drives before fleeing the country, Evelyn," Dominic said coldly, stopping three feet from her.
Evelyn backed against the stone wall, clutching her leather pouch to her chest, her arrogant facade completely destroyed. "Dominic... please! Vance promised me ten million dollars! He threatened to kill my family if I didn't give him the dock access codes!"
"You chose money over loyalty, Evelyn," Dominic growled, taking the leather pouch from her trembling hands. "And you chose to starve a four-year-old child's mother."
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Dominic looked at Marcus. "Transfer her to the federal holding facility downtown. Give the federal prosecutor full access to her financial records."
As Marcus dragged the weeping traitor away, Dominic looked down at the encrypted flash drives in his hand, knowing that Richard Vance’s final desperation would peak at the upcoming syndicate assembly.
