Chapter 3 - Dawn at the Manor and the Shattered IllusionBack at the Carter estate, the house was dark save for the bluish glow of the television screen in the living room. The game had ended hours ago, leaving behind a battlefield of empty beer bottles, crumpled chip bags, and half-eaten plates of steak on the coffee table.
Linda Carter was asleep in her recliner, a cashmere throw over her legs, dreaming of the absolute control she wielded over her household. Ethan sat on the sofa, scrolling lazily through his phone, completely unbothered by the fact that his wife had spent the night freezing in the mud outside. To him, Elena was merely a stubborn piece of furniture that needed to be broken in.
At precisely 5:00 AM, the front heavy oak door didn't just knock—it exploded inward under the coordinated strike of a federal battering ram.
CRASH!
Linda shrieked, bolting upright as the room flooded with blinding tactical flashlight beams and shouting men in heavy tactical gear.
"Federal warrants! Stay where you are! Hands on your heads!"
Ethan dropped his phone, leaping off the sofa with a face twisted in indignant fury. "What the hell is the meaning of this?! Do you know who my father is?! I am Ethan Carter, senior partner of—"
Before he could finish his sentence, a pair of heavy steel handcuffs slammed onto his wrists, slamming him face-first onto the very coffee table where he had eaten his dinner while his wife bled in the kitchen.
Robert Carter, the patriarch, stumbled out of the master bedroom in his silk pajamas, his face purple with rage. "This is an outrage! You can't just break into my house! Miller—what is the meaning of this? I donate fifty thousand to the police commissioner's re-election fund every single year!"
Investigator Miller stepped through the shattered doorway, his trench coat sweeping the floor. He didn't look at Robert. Instead, he pulled a tablet from his inside pocket and tapped the screen, projecting a live video feed onto the large smart television on the wall.
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The screen flickered, revealing Elena sitting up in a hospital bed at the regional medical center, her leg immobilized in a rigid white cast, her eyes burning with cold, absolute triumph.
"Good morning, family," Elena’s voice echoed crisply through the surround-sound speakers of the Carter living room.
