Chapter 12 - The Midnight Intruder
"Move a single step and I press this trigger," a harsh, familiar voice rasped through the dark.
The stranger turned, pulling down a black face mask. My lungs seized. It was James.
He had escaped federal custody three days prior during a prison transport ambush that had left two marshals wounded. But he didn't look like a man on the run; his clothes were crisp, his posture rigid, and his eyes burned with a strange, unnatural coldness.
"James..." I whispered, backing against the wall while keeping my eyes glued to the device in his hand. "What are you doing to our daughter?"
"She isn't just your daughter anymore, Eleanor," James said, his voice flat and detached. "And I didn't escape prison. I was extracted. Victoria Vance bought my freedom, and in return, I bring her the genetic key she needs."
"You sold us out twice?" Horror flared in my chest. "You looked me in the eye eleven years ago and promised to protect this family!"
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"I am protecting them!" James snarled, stepping around the crib. "Victoria promised that if I deliver Hope’s bio-metric key, she will wipe out our boys' names from Marcus’s hit list! You think we’re free, Eleanor? Marcus was the foolish one, but Victoria is a ghost. She will hunt our sons down one by one unless she gets what was promised!"
Before James could trigger the device, the nursery door slammed open. Sarah stood in the doorway holding a heavy steel fire poker, her face twisted in rage. Without a word, she swung it with full force into James’s side.
