Chapter 2 - The Sterling Ultimatum
Marcus stared at the sheriff with cold, calculating eyes that betrayed absolutely zero emotion.
He knew that fighting a corrupt cop inside a hospital room would only end with him in handcuffs.
Without saying a single word, Marcus memorized the badge number on Landry’s chest, turned on his heel, and walked out the door.
He retreated to a cheap, dimly lit motel on the outskirts of Sterling Falls to formulate a battle plan.
As he sat on the sagging mattress, his phone buzzed with an incoming call from Evelyn Sterling, the ruthless family matriarch.
Her voice dripped with arrogant amusement as she mocked him for being chased out of the hospital.
She bragged that her boys were completely protected because her husband ran the county, the police force, and the courthouse.
Evelyn casually added that if Marcus dared to come looking for Rowan, they would gladly finish what they started with his daughter.
She hung up the phone, completely unaware that Marcus had recorded every single syllable of her chilling threat.
He immediately dialed a highly encrypted satellite number belonging to Colonel Arthur Mitchell, his former commanding officer.
Marcus played the audio file in its entirety while the line remained deathly quiet.
After a long, heavy silence, the Colonel finally spoke with absolute authority.
He ordered Marcus to assemble his specialized ghost team because they were going to conduct a violent, systematic audit of the Sterling empire.
Marcus opened his laptop and began drafting a list of tactical assets he needed flown in immediately.
Suddenly, an encrypted text message popped up on his screen from an unknown burner number.
The message simply read that the sender was Brooke, Jaxson’s sixteen-year-old daughter.
Attached to the text was a massive video file captured from a hidden security camera overlooking the manor driveway.
Marcus pressed play and watched in utter horror as Rowan and Jaxson brutally attacked his little girl with the tire iron.
He saw Miranda standing coldly at the upstairs window before calmly pulling the heavy curtains shut.
But as the video panned slightly to the left, Marcus noticed something that made his blood run completely ice cold.
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Parked directly across the street, perfectly visible under a streetlamp, was a police cruiser.
Sheriff Landry was sitting in the driver's seat, casually smoking a cigarette while he watched the brutal attempted murder of a nine-year-old child.
