Chapter 4 - The Mind Games BeginPanicked, Daniel slammed the coffin lid shut before any of the press or guests could see inside. His heart was hammering against his ribs like a trapped bird. He pulled Michael into the hallway, his face ghostly white, sweat dripping down his temple.
“Who took the body?!” Daniel hissed, grabbing his twin brother by the lapels. “Who got that photo?! We were the only ones on that deck, Michael! The only ones!”
“Calm down!” Michael snapped, shaking him off, though his own hands were visibly trembling. “She’s dead, Daniel! She couldn’t swim! You saw her plunge fifty feet into a freezing storm! No human being survives that! It’s a trick—someone on the crew must have recorded us or Marcus Kane is trying to play mind games with us!”
“Then explain the photo!” Daniel shouted softly, looking around the empty corridor in terror. “Explain who stole the corpse!”
While the brothers unraveled in suspicion, Emily was sitting comfortably inside an encrypted surveillance van parked three blocks away, watching their panic through a long-range camera lens. Beside her, Marcus was monitoring their phone lines.
“They’re breaking,” Marcus noted. “Daniel’s heart rate must be through the roof. But panic isn't enough, Emily. They still control Vance Enterprises, and tomorrow morning, 'Fake Emily' is going to the bank to sign over your trust fund.”
“They won't get a single penny,” Emily replied smoothly, adjusting a pair of sleek, black audio headphones. “Because tomorrow, 'Emily' will show up to the bank... but it won't be Victoria.”
That evening, Victoria was alone in her luxury apartment, applying her makeup in front of a grand lighted mirror. She picked up a lipstick tube, but suddenly heard a faint click behind her.
Before she could turn around, a cloth soaked in chloroform covered her mouth and nose. Victoria thrashed violently for ten seconds before going completely limp.
Marcus dragged the unconscious woman to the back room while Emily sat down in front of the vanity mirror. She looked at Victoria’s open purse, grabbing the customized silicone mask, the dark wig, the fake ID cards, and the voice-modulator device Victoria was planning to use at the bank.
Emily looked at her own reflection in the mirror, slipping the high-tech voice modulator around her neck.
“Let’s see how well my husband knows his own wife,” Emily murmured, her voice transforming through the speaker into a pitch-perfect replica of Victoria’s tone.
Chapter Hook: The next morning at First National Bank, Daniel stood inside the private VIP vault room as Victoria—or who he thought was Victoria—walked in wearing a dark coat and wide hat, holding the trust fund documents.
“Did you get the money moved?” Daniel whispered greedily.
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The woman leaned close to his ear and whispered: “Every cent is transferred, darling. But not to your account... to mine.”
She pulled off her hat and sunglasses, revealing eyes that made Daniel’s blood freeze solid.
