Chapter 10 - The Ultimate EndgameGrant bolted from the study, his heart pounding in his throat, every instinct screaming in pure terror. "Sophie!" he roared, sprinting down the corridor with a speed he hadn't possessed since his youth.
He burst into the nursery. The window was shattered, shards of glass glistening like diamonds across the lavender rug. Mara was already there, kneeling beside the empty bed, her face completely drained of color, her hands trembling as she clutched a small, blood-stained stuffed animal.
"They took her," Mara whispered, her voice cracking with a devastation far worse than death. "Grant... they took our daughter."
Grant froze in the center of the ruined room. The cold night air poured in, carrying with it the faint, fading echo of a helicopter rotor blades beating against the distant sky. On the windowsill, resting neatly beside the broken glass, was the silver music box.
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The lid was open. The brass key was winding down on its own, playing the final, haunting notes of a lullaby that had just begun its most dangerous verse.
Grant walked slowly to the window, his reflection staring back at him from the dark glass—not as a billionaire, not as a king of industry, but as a father who had just realized the game was only beginning.
