Chapter 10 - THE TRAP
Julian wasn't dead.
The bullet had hit his vest.
He had known Beatrice would shoot.
The entire confrontation had been recorded.
But Emily was still missing.
And Beatrice had escaped.
Mercer found a clue.
An old Vance shipping terminal.
We arrived at dawn.
Hundreds of containers filled the yard.
One contained Emily.
We found her within twenty minutes.
She was frightened but unharmed.
I held her so tightly she complained.
Then I heard footsteps.
Beatrice stood twenty yards away.
She wasn't running.
She was waiting.
“It's over,” Mercer said.
She smiled.
“No.”
She held up a phone.
A live video appeared.
Arthur.
Sitting inside a prison transport van.
Then the screen changed.
The van exploded.
Mercer stared.
“How?”
Beatrice smiled.
“The Vances don't need Arthur anymore.”
She turned.
Behind her stood twelve armed men.
The FBI agents raised their weapons.
Then Beatrice whispered:
“You still don't understand.”
She looked at me.
“This was never about the money.”
“Then what?”
“Power.”
She pressed a button.
Across the country, dozens of accounts began moving money.
Politicians received payments.
Companies transferred assets.
News networks received documents.
The Vance empire was collapsing—
but taking everyone else down with it.
Then Beatrice looked at me.
“You have ten minutes.”
“For what?”
“To decide whether you want justice…”
She smiled.
“…or your husband.”
I looked at Julian.
He had followed us.
Beatrice had kidnapped him too.
She held up a second phone.
Julian's face appeared on the screen.
Bound.
Bleeding.
Alive.
My heart broke.
“Let him go.”
“Give me the Bennett trust.”
I stared at her.
“I don't have it.”
She smiled.
“Yes, you do.”
May you like
She pointed toward my daughter.
“Emily knows where it is.”
