Chapter 5 - The Emergency Summons
At 9:00 a.m., while Michael was filing an emergency police report downtown, a black Maybach pulled up outside his apartment building.
Two armed security guards stepped out, followed by Maris Klein, Maxwell’s trusted corporate troubleshooter, who had flown in from Atlanta on a red-eye flight after receiving Maxwell’s encrypted emergency message.
Maris knocked firmly on the apartment door.
Emma opened it slowly, peeking out with wide hazel-green eyes, clutching a small wooden toy bird in her hand.
Maris stopped dead in her tracks.
She had seen photographs of Elena from twenty-two years ago in the old corporate audit files. Looking at Emma was like looking through a time portal.
“Hello, sweetheart,” Maris said gently, crouching down to eye level. “Is your father home?”
“He went to the police station,” Emma whispered. “Someone broke his truck.”
Maris’s expression hardened instantly. She stood up, pulling out her secure satellite phone and dialing Maxwell’s private hospital room directly.
“Max,” Maris said the second the line connected. “Your instincts were right. But someone is already moving to silence them. Michael’s truck was sabotaged this morning.”
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From his hospital bed, clutching a secure tablet, Maxwell Sterling’s face turned deathly pale. A fierce, predatory rage sparked in his blue eyes—the same ruthless fire that had built his empire from the ashes.
“Get them out of that apartment, Maris,” Maxwell ordered, his voice dropping into a chilling whisper. “Move them to my private estate in Lake Geneva immediately. If anyone touches a hair on their heads, I want them hunted down and buried under federal prison cells before nightfall.”
