Chapter 3 - THE TRAP CLOSES
Mark stood up instantly, stepping between the door and his family.
Sarah pulled Leo into her arms, backing away until her spine hit the balcony glass.
"Mark, don't open it!" Sarah begged in a panic. "Please!"
Mark ignored the warning and walked straight to the door.
He unlocked it and yanked it open with violent force.
Standing in the hallway was Julian, flanked by the two heavy security guards.
Behind them stood Eleanor, holding a stack of legal documents in her manicured hands.
"What do you want, Julian?" Mark demanded, staring his brother down.
Julian smiled coldly, his eyes sliding past Mark to look at Sarah.
"Mother and I have come to deliver a formal notice," Julian announced smoothly.
Eleanor stepped forward, her expression devoid of any motherly affection.
"As of thirty minutes ago, Mark, you have been officially removed from the board of Vance Enterprises," Eleanor stated coldly.
"Your company credit cards have been canceled, and your bank accounts have been frozen under suspicion of corporate embezzlement."
Mark let out a harsh, disbelieving laugh.
"Embezzlement? Are you out of your mind?!"
"The board held an emergency meeting while you were busy throwing temper tantrums downstairs," Julian added, tapping the papers.
"We have digital signatures proving you transferred three million dollars of company funds into an offshore account."
"It's a complete lie, and you know it!" Mark shouted, taking a step forward.
The two security guards immediately stepped in, placing their heavy hands on their holsters.
"It doesn't matter what you think, little brother," Julian sneered softly.
"The police are currently reviewing the evidence."
"They will be here within the hour to arrest you for grand larceny."
"Unless..." Julian paused, letting the silence hang heavily in the air.
Mark’s eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "Unless what?"
"Unless you hand over what Sarah took from the study three nights ago," Julian demanded, his voice dropping all pretense of politeness.
"Give me the brass key, Mark."
"Give it to me, sign these relinquishment papers for Leo's trust, and walk away."
"If you do that, the charges vanish, and you leave this property alive."
Mark looked at Eleanor, his heart sinking into a dark abyss of disgust.
"You knew about this, Mother?" Mark asked softly.
"You're letting him frame your own son?"
Eleanor adjusted her diamond necklace, refusing to look Mark in the eye.
"You brought this on yourself by marrying that low-class girl, Mark," Eleanor replied callously.
"Julian is protecting the family name."
"You are destroying it."
Mark slowly backed into the room and grabbed the edge of the door.
"You will never get this key, Julian," Mark said, his voice deadly steady.
"And you will never touch my son."
Julian’s face twisted into an ugly, sadistic scowl.
"Break the door down," Julian ordered the guards.
"Take the key from her dead fingers if you have to."
Mark slammed the bedroom door shut and turned the lock just as a heavy shoulder smashed against the wood.
The door frame splintered with a loud crack.
"Mark! What do we do?!" Sarah screamed as the guards struck the door a second time.
Mark sprinted across the room toward the balcony doors.
He yanked the glass patio doors wide open, letting the cold night wind rush into the bedroom.
Below the balcony was the dark canopy of the estate garden and the roof of the glass greenhouse.
"We're leaving right now!" Mark declared, pulling Sarah toward the balcony ledge.
"Through the balcony?!" Sarah cried in disbelief, looking down at the drop. "It's too high!"
"We don't have a choice!" Mark yelled as the wooden bedroom door gave way with a deafening crash.
Julian and the guards burst into the room just as Mark wrapped his arms tightly around Sarah and Leo.
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"Stop them!" Julian screamed, drawing a handgun from his jacket.
Mark jumped off the edge of the balcony into the pitch-black darkness below.
