Chapter 5 - The Flashdrive’s SecretLocked inside his beat-up sedan in the precinct parking lot, Ethan plugged the rookie's flash drive into his laptop. The screen flickered, illuminating his tense, shadowed face.
A single folder popped up: PROJECT_KAIROS.pdf.
Ethan double-clicked it. The document opened to reveal a complex web of corporate shell companies, offshore bank accounts, and medical records. But it was the front-page beneficiary statement that made his heart stop beating.
PRIMARY HEIR & BENEFICIARY: Claire Vance (Legal name: Claire Sterling). STATUS: Legally declared dead on October 14, 2021. CAUSE OF DEATH FALSIFICATION: Approved by Dr. Marcus Thorne and Eleanor Sterling.
Ethan stared at the screen, the pieces clicking together with terrifying clarity. Claire wasn't an estranged, gold-digging relative crashing a high-society party. She was the legitimate, sole heiress to a multi-billion-dollar pharmaceutical empire—an empire that Eleanor had illegally seized by fabricating Claire's death certificate five years ago.
And tonight, Claire had walked back into the house where she was born, completely unaware that her very existence was a death sentence.
Suddenly, the car windows exploded inward.
Glass showered over Ethan as a heavy object smashed through the passenger-side window. Before he could react, two masked men yanked open his doors, dragging him out onto the asphalt with brutal efficiency.
"Don't move!" one of them barked, pressing a heavy boot against Ethan’s chest.
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Another man plucked the laptop from the front seat, smashing it beneath his heel until the screen splintered into useless garbage.
"Ethan Vance," a synthesized, chilling voice spoke from the darkness beyond the parking lot lights. A tall silhouette stepped forward, holding a sleek, silver briefcase. "You really should have learned when to walk away."
