Chapter 12 - THE BAIT
Nathan announced the sale publicly.
Caldwell Development would be broken into divisions.
Assets would be sold.
A victim compensation fund would be created.
Old safety cases would be independently reviewed.
Marcus reacted within hours.
An email arrived.
YOU DON’T GET TO DESTROY WHAT BELONGS TO ME.
Nathan smiled when he read it.
“He took the bait.”
Police traced the message.
Marcus was still in the city.
Daniel leaked one additional piece of information.
The original trust documents would be transferred from the mansion to a bank vault at midnight.
They were worthless to Marcus now.
But he didn’t know that.
At 11:47 p.m., cameras caught a black SUV approaching the mansion.
Marcus stepped out.
He entered through the same service corridor he had used before.
Police waited.
But Marcus knew the mansion too well.
He disabled one camera.
Then another.
Daniel frowned.
“He knows.”
Nathan looked at the monitor.
“Knows what?”
“That this is a trap.”
The lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Marcus wasn’t alone.
Three armed men entered from the rear.
Police responded.
Emily stayed in the secure room with Rosa.
At least she was supposed to.
Then she heard glass break.
A man entered through the window.
Marcus.
Rosa screamed.
Marcus pointed a gun at Emily.
“Hello again.”
Emily stepped in front of her mother.
“You lost.”
Marcus smiled.
“Not yet.”
“There’s nothing left for you.”
“There’s always something.”
He grabbed Emily.
Rosa tried to stop him.
Marcus struck her.
Emily screamed.
“Don’t touch her!”
He dragged Emily into the hallway.
Nathan appeared at the far end.
Marcus pressed the gun against Emily’s head.
“Stop.”
Nathan froze.
Marcus smiled.
“You really do have terrible taste in women.”
Nathan stared at Emily.
“Let her go.”
“Give me the trust.”
“It’s worthless.”
“Then you won’t mind giving it to me.”
Nathan slowly placed a folder on the floor.
Marcus forced Emily forward.
Ten feet.
Five.
Three.
Emily saw Daniel behind a doorway.
Marcus didn’t.
She remembered something her father had taught her when she was a child.
If someone grabs you, don’t fight their strength.
Attack their balance.
Emily dropped her weight.
Marcus stumbled.
Nathan kicked the gun from his hand.
Daniel tackled him.
Marcus fought violently.
But three officers rushed in.
Handcuffs snapped around his wrists.
Marcus screamed.
“This company belongs to me!”
Nathan looked down at him.
“No.”
Then Emily stepped forward.
Her cheek had finally stopped swelling from Vanessa’s slap.
But she remembered every second of that humiliation.
She looked directly at Marcus.
“You destroyed my father because he told the truth.”
Marcus smiled.
“He should have minded his business.”
Emily’s eyes hardened.
“He was.”
Marcus frowned.
Emily continued.
“Making sure people didn’t die at work was his business.”
Police pulled Marcus to his feet.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
Not because of prison.
Because he understood that he had lost.
The evidence survived.
Thomas survived.
Nathan survived.
Emily survived.
And the empire Marcus had spent sixteen years trying to steal was being dismantled before he could touch it.
As officers took him outside, Emily thought the nightmare was finally over.
Then Detective Collins received a phone call.
May you like
Her expression changed.
Vanessa had escaped custody.
