Chapter 9 - The Catch
I moved faster than I ever thought humanly possible.
I launched my body forward, diving desperately across the polished marble floor of the ballroom.
I slid on my stomach, entirely ignoring the agonizing pain ripping through my surgical wounds.
I extended both of my arms as far as they could possibly reach into the empty air.
The heavy impact knocked the wind completely out of my lungs, but I felt the soft weight of the blankets land safely in my grasp.
I wrapped my arms tightly around my crying children, shielding them from the hard floor with my own body.
My left arm snapped with a sickening crunch, but I refused to let go of my precious babies.
Heavily armed SWAT teams swarmed the entire mansion from every single entrance.
They aggressively tackled the wealthy buyers and secured the armed guards in heavy steel handcuffs.
Paramedics rushed into the room, gently taking the twins from my exhausted arms to check their vitals.
The lead medic smiled warmly and confirmed that both of my boys were perfectly healthy and unharmed.
Two tactical officers dragged a screaming, bleeding Mark across the ballroom floor.
He cursed my name violently as they hauled him out into the flashing lights of the police cruisers.
I sat on the floor, surrounded by broken glass, finally allowing myself to breathe a sigh of absolute relief.
The nightmare was ending, and my family was finally safe.
A tall SWAT commander walked over to me and slowly removed his heavy tactical helmet.
He crouched down, placing a surprisingly gentle hand on my uninjured shoulder.
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He looked at me with a grim, serious expression that made my stomach turn into tight knots.
"You need to come with us to a secure federal facility immediately, because Mark and Eleanor were not working alone."
