Chapter 7 - The Final GambleThe elevator doors slid open behind Sophia.
She stepped backward into the car, her finger hovering over the lobby button, a triumphant smirk plastered across her face. "Have a wonderful family reunion, guys. I’ll let my divorce lawyers handle the rest of the assets."
"Don't let her move!" Lucas yelled, lunging forward with an agility born of pure adrenaline.
Before Sophia could press the button, Lucas threw his full weight against the elevator doors, jamming his forearm between the sliding panels before they could seal shut. The emergency safety sensor kicked in with a sharp chime, and the doors bounced wide open.
Sophia gasped, stumbling backward against the back wall of the elevator cab.
Daniel was right behind his son. He reached past Lucas, grabbed the collar of Sophia’s designer blazer, and yanked her bodily out of the elevator, slamming her down onto the concrete floor of the office.
"You think you won?" Daniel snarled, standing over her. "You think you can ruin our lives, steal our son, and walk away with my company?"
Sophia glared up at him, defiant to the very end. "You have no proof, Daniel! The flash drive is encrypted, and—"
"And it doesn't matter," a calm, authoritative voice echoed from the hallway.
Everyone turned toward the sound.
Stepping out from the stairwell exit was Detective Miller of the Chicago Police Department, accompanied by two uniformed officers and an elderly man in a wheelchair wrapped in a hospital blanket.
Robert Mercer. Daniel’s father.
Daniel stared at his father in utter disbelief. "Dad? What are you doing out of the hospital? You're dying!"
Robert looked up from his wheelchair, his breathing assisted by a portable oxygen tank, his eyes burning with fierce determination.
"I wasn't going to die with this lie on my conscience, son," Robert rasped, looking directly at Sophia. "Twenty years ago, Dr. Thorne came to me first when the hospital board needed money to save St. Catherine’s. I was the one who stupidly agreed to finance the cover-up to protect the family name. But tonight... when I heard what that monster Thorne confessed in the storage unit... I called the authorities myself."
Detective Miller stepped forward, pulling a pair of steel handcuffs from his belt and snapping them onto Sophia’s wrists as she shrieked in protest.
"Sophia Grant, you're under arrest for extortion, corporate fraud, and obstruction of justice," Detective Miller announced, hauling her to her feet. "And as for Dr. Aris Thorne, his nursing home room is currently being swarmed by federal agents. The adoption conspiracy is wide open."
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Sophia was dragged away toward the elevators, her screams fading down the empty corridor until the doors finally closed.
The office fell into a profound, heavy silence.
