CHAPTER 8 – THE FINAL TRAP
Daniel didn't call the police.
He knew Marcus Kane had people everywhere.
If he made one wrong move...
His mother would die.
The GPS coordinates attached to the text led him to an abandoned steel factory on the outskirts of the city.
At exactly 3:00 a.m., Daniel walked through the rusted gates alone.
The silence was terrifying.
Then the warehouse lights snapped on.
Marcus Kane slowly stepped out from the shadows, applauding.
"I knew you'd come."
Behind him sat Margaret, tied to a chair but still alive.
Her face was bruised.
Her eyes filled with tears when she saw Daniel.
"Run!" she screamed.
"It's a trap!"
Marcus laughed.
"No, Margaret."
"This is justice."
He motioned toward a massive screen hanging from the ceiling.
Dozens of security cameras switched on.
Millions of viewers were watching through hacked news channels and livestreams.
Marcus smiled.
"Tonight, the world will finally see who deserves the Holloway empire."
He tossed Daniel a pistol.
"There are only two ways this ends."
"You shoot me..."
"Or I shoot your mother."
Daniel refused to pick up the gun.
Marcus sighed.
"You're just like Richard."
"Weak."
Then he pulled out another folder.
Inside was the missing journal William Hayes had died protecting.
Marcus opened the final page.
"You've spent weeks trying to discover who murdered Richard Holloway."
He looked directly into Daniel's eyes.
"You've been chasing the wrong man."
Marcus pressed another button.
A hidden projector came to life.
The room fell silent.
The screen showed security footage recorded twenty years earlier.
Richard Holloway was alive.
He was arguing with someone.
The person's face was hidden.
Then came a loud gunshot.
Richard collapsed.
The figure stepped into the light.
Daniel's heart stopped.
It wasn't Marcus.
It wasn't Margaret.
It wasn't Olivia.
It was Eleanor Hayes...
William Hayes' wife.
The woman everyone believed had died years before.
Marcus smiled.
"Surprised?"
"Eleanor wasn't just William's wife."
"She was Richard Holloway's head of security."
"She accepted fifty million dollars to betray him."
Daniel could barely breathe.
"So where is she now?"
Marcus laughed.
"Right behind you."
A slow clap echoed through the warehouse.
An elegant silver-haired woman walked out of the darkness.
She smiled calmly.
"Twenty years..."
"And no one ever suspected me."
Margaret stared at her in horror.
"Eleanor..."
"You murdered him."
Eleanor shook her head.
"No."
"I simply finished what Richard started."
Everyone froze.
She looked directly at Daniel.
"Richard wasn't building a family empire."
"He was building a criminal empire."
"The fortune you fought so hard to inherit..."
"...was built on blood, corruption, and betrayal."
Daniel felt his entire world collapse.
Everything he had risked his life for...
Everything he believed his father had left him...
Was nothing more than a poisoned legacy.
Then Eleanor raised a small remote control.
"You all came looking for the truth."
"So you'll all die with it."
A countdown appeared on the giant screen.
05:00... 04:59... 04:58...
The entire factory had been rigged with explosives.
Marcus' smile disappeared.
"You said we'd leave together!"
Eleanor looked at him with cold eyes.
"I lied."
She pressed the final button.
The exit doors slammed shut.
For the first time in his life...
Marcus Kane realized he had been nothing more than a pawn.
And Daniel understood that saving the Holloway fortune no longer mattered.
There were only five minutes left...
To save his mother...
May you like
Escape the factory...
And stop a secret that had destroyed an entire family for more than twenty years.
