CHAPTER 21: THE SHATTERED GLASS OF ISOLATION

CHAPTER 21: THE SHATTERED GLASS OF ISOLATION

“Drop the weapon, Richard.”

The voice didn't come from behind me. It came from the ladder above.

Detective Vance stood at the top of the hatch, flanked by four federal tactical agents with their laser sights locked directly onto my father’s chest. The red dots danced across his muddy raincoat like drops of digital blood.

My father froze, his jaw dropping as he looked up at the circle of steel surrounding him.

“Marcus… Marcus was supposed to clear the road,” my father stammered, his confidence evaporating into pure, cowardly ruin.

“Marcus Sterling was arrested at O’Hare airport twenty minutes ago, Richard,” Vance said coldly as he descended the ladder.

“Your extraction team sold you out the second the feds intercepted their satellite communications.”

“You are completely alone.”

The silver handgun slipped from my father’s trembling fingers, clattering uselessly against the concrete floor. He sank to his knees beside the empty chest, looking small, pathetic, and utterly broken.

He looked at me, his eyes filling with tears of pure self-pity, expecting a daughter’s built-in guilt to save him at the absolute last second.

“Evelyn… please… I’m your father,” he choked out.

I adjusted the collar of my coat, stepping past him toward the ladder without a single drop of regret in my heart.

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“Family protects the child, Richard,” I said, not even looking back.

“You spent your whole life protecting the bank account.”