Chapter 4 - The Locked Room
The sound of shattering glass echoed like a gunshot through the silent dining room.
Garrick ignored the blood dripping from his lacerated knuckles as he reached deep into the broken cabinet.
He quickly pulled out a heavy, loaded hunting revolver that he kept hidden among the antique plates.
The board members screamed in pure terror and scrambled desperately beneath the large dining table.
Commissioner Fletcher raised his weapon, but Garrick had already grabbed Sienna by her uninjured arm.
Garrick violently yanked my pregnant daughter against his chest and pressed the cold barrel of the revolver against her temple.
He screamed that if anyone moved a single inch, he would blow his own wife's brains out.
The room froze in absolute, suffocating terror.
I felt my heart completely stop as I stared at the gun pressed against my only child's head.
Garrick dragged Sienna backward toward the heavy mahogany doors of the dining room.
He reached out with his bloody hand and aggressively slammed the doors shut.
He quickly engaged the thick brass deadbolts, locking all of us inside the room with a desperate madman.
Commissioner Fletcher slowly lowered his weapon to avoid provoking a fatal reaction.
He calmly tried to negotiate with Garrick, promising that they could work out a peaceful resolution.
Garrick laughed hysterically, blood dripping onto his expensive white dress shirt.
He screamed that there was no peaceful resolution because I had just destroyed his entire life.
He looked at me with eyes filled with pure, murderous hatred.
I stood perfectly still, refusing to show him the intense fear tearing me apart inside.
I calmly told him that killing Sienna would only guarantee him a life sentence in federal prison.
Garrick sneered and declared that he would rather go to prison than let me humiliate him.
He demanded that I immediately sign over all of my corporate voting shares to him right this second.
He pointed to the legal documents resting on the dining table near the spilled wine.
He promised to let Sienna walk out the front door the exact moment I signed my entire fortune away.
I slowly took a step toward the table, pretending to consider his insane extortion demand.
I looked at Commissioner Fletcher and gave him a microscopic, silent nod.
May you like
The Commissioner slowly moved his hand toward the hidden tactical radio clipped to his belt.
Suddenly, a deafening explosion shattered the massive bay windows behind Garrick.
