By the time I reached the locked bedroom door, I was already convinced my five-year-old twins were hurt—or something even worse. I forced the door open, braced for a nightmare, but what I saw was almost more shocking: our new housekeeper was asleep in my late wife’s bed, with one of my sons snuggled against her chest and the other clutching her apron. And, for the first time since their mother’s death, my boys looked safe.

I instinctively pushed Annie behind me, shielding her from the dozen laser sights suddenly pointed at our chests.

Marcus strolled to the center of the room, looking entirely too comfortable in the damp, freezing warehouse.

"The problem with brilliant men like you, Arthur, is that you always think you are the smartest person in the room," he taunted.

He snapped his fingers, and two massive guards stepped forward, violently snatching the flash drive from my hand.

"Did you honestly think I didn't track the GPS locator embedded in your lovely housekeeper's uniform?" Marcus sneered.

I glared at him, a cold, calculating fury replacing the initial shock of the ambush.

"You will never get away with this, Marcus," I stated, keeping my voice completely devoid of emotion.

"The police are already looking for me, and they will eventually look deeply into your forged documents."

Marcus laughed heartily, shaking his head as if I had just told a hilarious joke.

"The police are looking for a fugitive CEO who tragically committed suicide after murdering his own children's nanny."

He pulled a silver revolver from his jacket and casually checked the cylinder.

"It really is a poetic narrative for the evening news."

"A grieving widower finally snaps under the pressure of corporate failure and ends it all."

I glanced over my shoulder at Annie, silently communicating that we needed to prepare for a fight.

"You don't have the boys, Marcus, which means you have absolutely no leverage," I bluffed.

Marcus's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a look of genuine, terrifying malice.

He pulled a tablet from his briefcase and turned the glowing screen toward me.

My heart stopped beating completely.

The screen showed a live feed of Justin and Jordan, tied to chairs in a small, windowless concrete room.

The Clumsy Maid Bathed His Dog—Then The Mafia Boss Said She Wasn’t Leavi...

She found her husband with another woman and walked away so quietly that...

The Mafia Boss Asked a Disabled Widow If She Was Okay

Beside them stood the fifth nanny I had fired, holding a lit flare near a puddle of gasoline.

"You have exactly sixty seconds to give me the decryption password for this drive, or they burn," Marcus whispered.

Chapter 6 - The Interrogation