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The apartment was deathly quiet after the front door clicked shut. My mother’s venomous parting words still hung in the air, but they were nothing compared to the cold weight settling in my chest. Savannah was in our bedroom, the door closed, likely curled up in the dark. / Chapter 7 / 20

Chapter 7 - The Docks at Midnight

The SUV crept along the deserted industrial road with its headlights off, relying on night-vision optics displayed on the dashboard screen. We parked a quarter-mile away from the derelict shipping depot where the red dot had stopped moving.

"Stay here," I whispered, reaching for the door handle.

"Don't be an idiot, Christopher," Savannah shot back, unbuckling her seatbelt with a fierce determination. "This is my war too. And if your mother has backup inside that warehouse, you won't last two minutes."

We slipped out into the damp, salty air blowing off the harbor. Rusted shipping containers towered over us like metallic monoliths, casting long, eerie shadows under the amber glow of distant sodium streetlights.

We crept up to the side entrance of the main warehouse. A rusted metal door stood slightly ajar, leaking a sliver of yellow light and the muffled sound of raised voices.

We pressed our backs against the corrugated steel wall and peered inside.

My mother and Victor Vance were standing over a metal folding table. But they weren't alone. Standing opposite them was a man I recognized instantly—Richard, my senior business partner.

And he looked terrified.

"What do you mean, you want more?" Richard stammered, his hands trembling as he clutched a briefcase of his own. "We had a deal, Bernice! I gave you the embezzlement logs from the firm!"

My mother crossed her arms, a cruel, triumphant sneer twisting her features. "Deals change, Richard. Ten thousand from Christopher isn't enough to cover my debts. You’re going to sign over your 30% equity share in Miller & Associates to me right now, or I hand these files directly to the federal prosecutor."

My chest seized. My business partner—the man I had trusted for a decade—had sold me out to my mother.

"You can't do that!" Richard shouted, his voice cracking. "That's my entire life's work!"

"You should have thought of that before you started embezzling," Bernice laughed coldly.

Inside my earpiece, Savannah’s voice was crisp and calm. "Christopher, look at the rafters above the loading bay."

I blinked, raising my gaze into the dark upper shadows of the warehouse.

There, perched with a professional-grade telephoto camera and recording gear, was a tech operative Savannah had hired three hours ago.

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I stepped past the door frame, my leather shoes clicking softly against the linoleum floor.

I stepped past the door frame, my leather shoes clicking softly against...

The screech of the chopper’s rotor blades vibrated directly through the freezing slate beneath my spine. The blinding white vortex of snow kicked up by the downdraft burned my eyes, but I forced my lids open, locking my gaze onto the amber visor of the rescue specialist dropping out of the sky.

The screech of the chopper’s rotor blades vibrated directly through the...

Daniel stepped toward the bed, his polished leather shoes squeaking against the pristine hospital linoleum. He reached for the tray table, his fingers brushing the edge of the papers. His voice was low, coated in a practiced, corporate calm that made my stomach churn worse than the spiked blood pressure.

Daniel stepped toward the bed, his polished leather shoes squeaking agai...

"She's recording every word of the extortion," Savannah whispered in my ear. "Every threat, every confession, every admission of corporate sabotage. It's streaming live to a secure cloud server monitored by my legal team."

"And now," Savannah added, stepping past me toward the partially open door, "we drop the hammer."

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