Chapter 14 - The Intruder in the Hallway"Who's down there?" a gruff voice demanded.
It wasn't Sloane. It wasn't Elena.
"Marcus?" I called out, lowering the flashlight slightly as the figure stepped into the light.
It was my best man, but his expression was entirely foreign. The easygoing, joking friend I had known for a decade was gone. In his place stood a man with wild eyes, a bruised cheek, and a cold, desperate sweat gleaming on his forehead.
"You shouldn't have been poking around down here, Graham," Marcus said, walking slowly down the basement steps, the iron poker dragging along the concrete floor with a screeching scrape.
"Marcus? What are you doing in my house?" I demanded, backing up against the workbench. "How did you get in?"
"I gave myself a spare key three years ago," Marcus smiled grimly. "When Elena and I set up the initial plan."
The words hit me like a physical blow. Elena and I.
"What are you talking about?" I whispered, my chest tightening.
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"You always were a workaholic, Graham. Too busy building your tech empire to notice what was happening right under your nose," Marcus said, stopping ten feet away. "Elena and I were in love years before she met you. But you had the family money, the inheritance. She married you for security. When she couldn't take the boring suburban life anymore, we planned the fake accident. Sloane was just supposed to be a temporary distraction—a corporate spy we hired to infiltrate your firm and help us drain your accounts."
Marcus chuckled darkly. "Only problem was, Sloane got greedy. She liked the lifestyle too much. She decided to cut Elena out of the deal and keep you and the house for herself. That's why Elena came back tonight. She realized Sloane was going to kill Maisie to secure the full inheritance."
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