Chapter 6 - THE SILICON VALLEY SHADOWRichard half-carried Emily up the basement steps and placed her gently on a velvet sofa in the grand parlor, wrapping a thick cashmere throw blanket around her shivering shoulders. He turned around to find Ethan staggering to his feet in the foyer, wiping blood from his lip and glaring at them with a look of pure, venomous hatred. The mask of the golden boy was completely gone.
"You stupid, stubborn old man," Ethan hissed, his voice dripping with malice as he reached behind his back and pulled out a sleek, black Sig Sauer 9mm pistol from his waistband. "You just had to mind your own business, didn't you? You thought you could walk into my house and play hero?"
Emily gasped, trying to stand, but Richard raised a single calm hand, not breaking eye contact with the armed man across the room.
"Put the gun down, Ethan," Richard said steadily, taking a slow step forward. "You're a tech CEO, not a killer. You don't have the stomach for what comes after pulling that trigger."
"Don't I?" Ethan laughed hysterically, his finger whitening against the trigger. "You have no idea what I've built, Colonel! Everything I have—my company, my wealth, my reputation—is worth more than your miserable life. And it's worth a hell of a lot more than a broken wife who can't even keep her mouth shut!"
"Is that why you kept all those files in the basement?" Richard asked, his voice cutting through Ethan's rant like a razor. "The offshore accounts in the Caymans? The shell corporations? The blackmail dossiers on federal regulators and senators?"
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Ethan froze. The color drained from his face a second time, replaced by absolute, primal terror.
"How... how do you know about that?" Ethan whispered.
