Chapter 5 - The Public Nightmare
The morning sun brought an absolute apocalypse to Maddie’s quiet life in Brooklyn.
She looked out her living room window and saw three news vans parked illegally on the street below.
Dozens of aggressive paparazzi were swarming the entrance of her building, shouting questions and flashing cameras at the glass doors.
Maddie was terrified, knowing she had to get the twins to daycare so she could attend a mandatory meeting for her remote data-entry job.
She bundled Leo and Maya into their heavy coats, hoping to slip out through the building's basement service exit.
But the moment she pushed the alley door open, blinding camera flashes erupted from the shadows.
Ruthless reporters shoved microphones into her face, screaming accusations about her extorting the Callahan fortune.
Leo began to cry hysterically, clinging to Maddie’s leg as a photographer aggressively pushed forward.
Maya hid her face in her hands, trembling in absolute terror.
Maddie screamed for them to step back, desperately trying to shield her babies with her own body.
Just as a reporter reached out to grab Maddie’s shoulder, the roar of a massive engine drowned out the chaos.
Vance’s armored black Maybach violently hopped the curb, forcing the paparazzi to scatter in panic.
Four massive security guards in black suits leapt from the vehicle, aggressively shoving the reporters away from the terrified mother.
Vance stepped out of the car, looking like a dark, wrathful god of vengeance.
He did not speak to the press, instead wrapping his own expensive overcoat around Maddie and the crying twins.
He practically carried them into the back of the armored car, slamming the heavy door shut and sealing them in quiet safety.
Maddie collapsed against the leather seat, holding her sobbing children, too exhausted and traumatized to even fight him.
Vance told the driver to head straight to his private, heavily fortified estate in upstate New York.
He softly promised Maddie that no one would ever point a camera at her or the children again.
For a brief second, Maddie looked at him with a glimmer of the old trust they used to share.
Then, little Maya began to cough aggressively.
The coughing fit quickly escalated into a horrifying, wet rattle that shook the toddler's fragile body.
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Maya suddenly went entirely limp in Maddie’s arms, her small lips turning a terrifying shade of blue.
Maddie screamed in pure horror as a thin trail of dark blood leaked from her daughter’s nose.
