Chapter 6 - The Shadows Strike BackThree days later, the sun shone brightly over Graves Tower, but the atmosphere inside the executive suite on the thirty-eighth floor was anything but celebratory.
I was sitting in a plush leather armchair that was far too big for me, swinging my legs and sipping hot chocolate with tiny marshmallows that a chef had prepared. Samuel was sitting across from me, examining a high-tech tablet while Nathaniel reviewed a stack of legal documents with his chief legal counsel.
Suddenly, the secure intercom on the desk chimed violently.
"Sir!" the receptionist's voice crackled through the speaker, frantic and breathless. "We have an emergency. The federal marshals just called."
Nathaniel pressed the speaker button. "What is it?"
"Malcolm... during the transport transfer from our basement holding to the federal courthouse... his vehicle was intercepted."
The room went completely dead silent. Even the soft hum of the air conditioner seemed to vanish.
"Intercepted by whom?" Nathaniel demanded, standing up so fast his chair rolled backward and hit the glass wall.
"A private paramilitary unit. They ambushed the transport van on the elevated highway. Two guards are injured, and Malcolm... Malcolm is gone."
Samuel’s tablet slipped from his fingers, clattering softly onto the thick wool rug. I looked up at Nathaniel, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. I thought we were safe. I thought the nightmare was over.
"He's not running away," Nathaniel said, his face hardening as he looked out the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the sprawling metropolis below. "He’s coming back for what he thinks is his."
"Where would he go?" Samuel asked, his voice steady despite his young age. "He lost the company, the trust, the money..."
May you like
"He didn't lose everything," Nathaniel replied, grabbing his suit jacket from the back of the sofa. "Before your mother disappeared, Malcolm established a secret offshore account funded by embezzled energy subsidies. With that kind of money, he can buy mercenaries, false identities, and an army."
Nathaniel turned to his security director, who had just rushed into the office. "Put the entire building on lockdown. No one enters. No one leaves. And get a tactical unit to 214 Aldridge Street immediately. If Malcolm is desperate, he won't go into hiding—he’ll try to tie up his loose ends."
