Chapter 7 - DAWN OF RECKONINGAt 5:30 AM, the first rays of pale sunlight began to pierce through the heavy gray clouds over the city.
Marcus Vance’s luxury waterfront estate was surrounded silently by three unmarked federal SUVs. There were no flashing sirens, no warning horns—just federal agents moving with lethal efficiency in the pre-dawn chill.
I stood beside Commander Vance near the front security gates as the heavy oak front door of Marcus’s mansion was breached with a single, synchronized blow from a battering ram.
Crash.
Shouts echoed from inside the house. Within three minutes, two federal agents emerged from the grand entryway, dragging Marcus Vance by his arms. He was wearing an expensive silk bathrobe, his hair disheveled, shouting protests into the damp morning air.
“This is an outrage! I am the Chief Financial Officer of Kincaid Enterprises! You cannot do this! Do you know who my lawyers are?” Marcus screamed, his voice cracking with panic as they shoved him toward the hood of the patrol car.
I stepped out from the shadows of the SUV, walking slowly toward him until I stood inches away.
Marcus stopped struggling, his eyes widening in sheer terror as he recognized me. “Samuel... Samuel, my boy! Thank God! Tell these madmen there’s been a mistake! Your mother—she’s gone crazy, she dragged me into this—”
“Shut up, Marcus,” I said softly, my voice cutting through his frantic excuses like a razor blade.
I reached into my coat pocket, pulled out the printed photograph Elena had brought us—showing Marcus standing smiling beside Dr. Weston outside Catherine’s prison—and held it up right before his eyes.
Marcus’s face instantly drained of all color. His jaw went slack, and every word died in his throat.
“A mistake?” I whispered, leaning in close so only he could hear. “You helped lock my wife away in a cage. You threatened my unborn child. And then you sat at my table, drinking my wine, pretending to mourn with me.”
“Samuel... please...” Marcus choked out, his knees buckling slightly beneath him. “I have money... I can give you everything... just don't—”
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“You’re going to give everything you have to the state, Marcus,” I interrupted coldly, stepping back and nodding to Commander Vance. “And then you’re going to spend the rest of your natural life reflecting on what happens when you wage war against the Kincaid family.”
As the federal agents slammed the cruiser door shut on Marcus Vance, locking him away with his co-conspirator, I took a deep breath of the crisp morning air. The storm had finally passed.
