Chapter 10 - The True Empress
The shattered glass covered the beautiful stone balcony, and the expensive red wine violently pooled around my bare feet like spilled blood.
I could not pull my terrified eyes away from the glowing screen of my private cell phone.
The anonymous message contained a highly detailed, recent photograph of a beautiful eight-year-old boy playing happily in a small park.
He had my exact same dark brown eyes, my distinctive smile, and the exact same birthmark on his left cheek that my own mother had.
Beneath the clear photograph was a short, terrifying line of text that made my entire world violently stop spinning.
"Did you really think the precious baby you lost that terrible night died in the hospital fall?" the anonymous message read.
My heart began aggressively pounding against my ribs, making it incredibly difficult to even breathe the warm evening air.
I frantically tried to call the anonymous number back, but the automated system immediately informed me that the secure line had been permanently disconnected.
Mister Miller rapidly stepped out onto the balcony, clearly alarmed by the loud sound of the violently shattered wine glass.
"Missus Vanguard, are you completely alright, did someone try to break into the estate again?" Miller asked with genuine panic in his voice.
I aggressively shoved the glowing phone into his hands, completely unable to form the words to explain what I was seeing.
Miller stared at the photograph for several long, agonizing seconds, his professional composure completely shattering before my eyes.
"Laura, this is absolutely impossible, the medical records clearly stated the child did not survive the severe trauma," Miller whispered in absolute shock.
"Spencer literally bribed the doctor to surgically destroy my body, Miller, so why would he hesitate to fake a death certificate?" I aggressively reasoned with tears streaming down my face.
If Spencer had secretly sold my newborn baby to the dangerous Delgado cartel to quickly pay off a massive debt, my child was still out there somewhere.
A dangerous, absolute fire violently ignited in my soul, completely burning away any remaining traces of the weak woman I used to be.
I was no longer just the wealthy Chairwoman of a billion-dollar empire fighting over a pathetic cheating husband.
I was a deeply enraged, incredibly powerful mother who had just realized her only child had been violently stolen from her arms.
"Call every single elite private investigator, every mercenary, and every federal contact we currently have on the payroll," I ruthlessly commanded Miller.
"I want absolute, total surveillance on every single cartel remnant and human trafficking ring left in this entire state," I aggressively ordered without hesitation.
I turned my back on the beautiful sunset and marched confidently back into my massive, empty mansion.
I had successfully destroyed my wicked mother-in-law, ruined the corrupt Sterling family, and sent my traitorous husband to rot in federal prison.
I had completely won the corporate war, securing my massive financial empire and my beautiful home forever.
But as I aggressively packed a small tactical bag with cash and encrypted laptops, I knew a much darker, far more dangerous war was just beginning.
I walked directly toward the front door, feeling absolutely zero fear for whatever violent dangers lay ahead of me.
I will absolutely burn this entire city straight to the ground if that is what it takes to find my missing son.
Suddenly, the heavy iron gate at the front of my driveway slowly creaked open, completely entirely on its own.
A small, battered cardboard box was aggressively shoved through the bars by a shadowed figure who immediately sprinted away into the dark night.
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I cautiously walked down the driveway and aggressively tore the heavy tape off the mysterious, damp box.
Inside the dark cardboard was a faded, bloody hospital bracelet from eight years ago, tightly wrapped around a single, highly explosive military grenade.
