Chapter 6 - UNMASKING THE ARCHITECTThe heavy rear bumper of Dad’s steel pickup truck didn't even dent as Derek’s sports car slammed into it at twenty miles per hour. The sports car’s rear radiator exploded in a cloud of white steam and leaking coolant, crushing the back bumper instantly.
Airbags deployed inside the vehicle with a loud bang.
The two police officers drew their sidearms, rushing the driver’s side window. "Driver! Step out of the vehicle! Put your hands on your head immediately!"
Derek stumbled out of the driver's door, coughing through the powder of the deployed airbag, blood trickling from a small cut on his lip. The officers slammed him against the hot hood of his wrecked sports car, clicking steel handcuffs over his wrists.
"Claire!" Derek screamed, his voice cracking with pathetic desperation as he was pinned down. "Claire, tell them! Tell them it was a mistake! Tell them my mother made me do it! She made me take the money! I did it for us!"
I walked across the wet grass and stood right in front of him, looking down at the man who had starved my home, manipulated my sanity, and made me feel worthless for years.
"You didn't do it for us, Derek," I said, my voice steady and cold as ice. "You did it because you're a coward who thought he could bleed me dry while I worked myself to the bone."
"Wait!" Derek choked out as the officers pulled him up. "You don't understand! Patricia doesn't have the master key! The money... the rest of the millions from Vance’s network... it’s not in the offshore accounts! It’s hidden in your house!"
I froze. "What?"
Derek looked terrified now—not of the police, but of something much bigger. "In the basement... behind the furnace wall! Patricia and Vance used this house as the central drop vault because you were working twelve hours a day and never checked the cellar! If Vance’s suppliers find out the police are here, they’ll kill us all!"
My father immediately stepped forward, grabbing Derek by his collar. "Who are Vance’s suppliers, Derek? Speak!"
Before Derek could answer, a blacked-out SUV with dark tinted windows slowed down as it drove past my house. The rear passenger window rolled down an inch.
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The sharp, terrifying sound of a suppressed firearm echoed through the rainy air.
THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!
