Chapter 4 - VICTORIA’S TRAPWhile the board was frantically voting to strip Andrew of his power, Andrew and Victoria were hiding out at his luxury penthouse in Gold Coast, drinking heavily and trying to salvage what was left of their lives.
Victoria sat on the velvet sofa, scrolling furiously through her phone as her social media accounts were flooded with thousands of hateful comments.
“This is a nightmare, Andrew!” she screamed, throwing her wine glass against the fireplace, shattering it into pieces. “My reputation is ruined! My father’s firm is being investigated by the federal government! You said Mara was an uneducated housewife!”
“Shut up, Victoria!” Andrew yelled back, pacing back and forth, clutching an old bottle of whiskey. “I didn't know her father set up a convertible clause! I didn't know that damn kid was a freakish genius!”
“Don’t call him a freak!” Victoria snapped, her tone suddenly shifting into something sinister. “If that kid is the one who holds the key to the master server, then we just need to get the kid.”
Andrew stopped pacing and stared at her. “What are you talking about?”
Victoria stood up, her eyes dark and calculating. “Mara loves that boy more than life itself. If Ethan disappears for just twenty-four hours, Mara will sign whatever papers we put in front of her. She’ll give up the control shares, she’ll drop the fraud charges, and she’ll hand over the shadow ledger decryption keys.”
Andrew shook his head nervously. “Victoria, that’s kidnapping! That’s federal prison!”
“We’re already going to federal prison if we don’t get those control shares back!” Victoria hissed, grabbing Andrew by his collar. “Do you want to spend the next thirty years in a maximum-security cell, stripped of every dollar you ever made? Or do you want to take back control of your life?”
Andrew swallowed hard. His greed and fear overcame whatever tiny shred of humanity he had left. “How do we do it? She has private security now.”
Victoria smiled a wicked, terrifying smile. “Your mother, Andrew. Ethan loves his grandmother. Mara would never suspect your mother of helping us.”
Two days later, I was sitting in my new private office, going through the mountain of corporate documents Ethan had helped me organize. My phone rang on the desk. The caller ID showed a number I hadn't seen in months: Evelyn Vaughn—Andrew’s mother.
I hesitated before answering. “Hello, Evelyn.”
“Mara, my dear,” Evelyn’s voice came through the speaker, sounding frail, emotional, and heartbroken. “I heard what Andrew did... I am so, so sorry. I am ashamed to call him my son. Calling my precious grandson ‘defective’... it broke my heart.”
I kept my guard up. “Thank you, Evelyn, but Ethan and I are doing fine.”
“Mara, please... I’m an old woman, and my health is failing,” Evelyn wept softly into the phone. “I just want to see Ethan one last time before all this corporate madness tears our family apart completely. Can I please bring him some homemade cookies at the park near your security estate? Just thirty minutes. I promise Andrew won't be anywhere near us.”
I looked out the window. Evelyn had always been cold to me, but she had never shown direct hostility toward Ethan. Still, my instincts as a mother screamed that something was wrong.
“I’ll think about it, Evelyn,” I said neutrally.
“Please, Mara,” she pleaded. “4:00 PM today at Lincoln Park. Just thirty minutes.”
I hung up the phone and looked at Ethan, who was quietly playing with a Rubik’s cube in the corner of the room. He solved it in eight seconds flat without even looking at it.
“Ethan,” I called softly. “Your grandmother wants to see you.”
Ethan didn't look up from his cube. “Grandmother didn't call because she misses me, Mom.”
I paused. “Why do you say that?”
“Because she hasn't called on my birthday in three years,” Ethan replied calmly. “And her voice always goes higher when she’s lying about money.”
May you like
I smiled proudly at my son. But then a sudden, dark realization hit me. If Victoria and Andrew were desperate enough to use Evelyn to lure us out, they were planning something drastic.
And it was time to set a trap of our own.
