Chapter 5 - The Red Line
Two flashbang grenades detonated in the center of the living room, filling the space with a blinding white light and a deafening roar.
Victoria screamed, covering her eyes and stumbling backward.
Daniel lunged forward. Years of boxing training kicked in as he threw his weight into a hard tackle, slamming Victoria to the floor. The gun flew from her hand, skittering across the polished hardwood.
Within seconds, Marcus and three armed security operatives burst through the shattered windows, having repelled down from the roof. They flooded the room, their weapons drawn.
"Secure the perimeter!" Marcus yelled, pinning Victoria to the ground and cuffing her hands tightly behind her back.
"Get them out of here," Daniel ordered, rushing over to Marisol and Annie. He quickly untied them, pulling the tape gently from their mouths.
"Mr. Carter, I'm so sorry," Marisol sobbed, clutching her daughter tightly. "She caught us leaving the house. She forced us into her car."
"It's not your fault," Daniel said gently, pulling the shivering little girl into a hug. "You saved my life, Annie. Both of you are safe now. I promise."
He turned to look at Victoria, who was being dragged to her feet by the security team. Her hair was wild, her face twisted in a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred.
"This isn't over, Daniel!" she shrieked. "You can't prove anything! You have no evidence! It’s my word against a maid's child!"
Daniel walked over to her, his face a mask of absolute, icy calm. He pulled his phone from his pocket and tapped the screen, stopping a recording.
"I have your full confession on a secure server, Victoria," Daniel said quietly. "I have the toxicology report showing the Digoxin in the butter. I have your bank records showing the fifty-thousand-dollar payment to a human trafficker to help you flee the country. And I have the Seattle police department reopening the investigation into Thomas Sterling's death as we speak."
Victoria's face drained of color. The realization of her complete and total defeat finally sank in.
"You are going to prison for the rest of your life," Daniel whispered. "For Sarah. For Thomas. And for what you tried to do to me and this child."
"Take her away," Daniel ordered Marcus.
As the security team dragged a screaming, cursing Victoria out of the penthouse, the silence returned. Daniel took a deep breath, feeling the crushing weight of the last twenty-four hours finally begin to lift.
But as he looked around the empty, ruined penthouse, a strange, nagging feeling crept into his chest.
Something wasn't right.
He walked over to the dining table where Victoria had laid out the marriage certificate and the power of attorney. He picked up the documents.
Beside them lay Victoria's phone, which had been knocked out of her pocket during the struggle.
The screen was lit up.
It was a text message from the burner phone registered in New Jersey.
The message read: The police are on their way to the penthouse. You have five minutes to finish him and get out. The client wants Daniel Carter dead tonight.
Daniel stared at the screen.
The client?
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Victoria wasn't working alone. She wasn't the mastermind.
She was just an asset.
