Chapter 4 - The Ransom
The air in my lungs turned completely to ice.
I stared into Ryan's eyes and saw nothing but cold, ruthless ambition.
"What did you just say to me?" I whispered.
Ryan adjusted his expensive silk tie and smiled like a polite stranger.
"Major Walker has a six-year-old daughter named Lily who lives in a private boarding school in Virginia."
He pulled his smartphone from his pocket and tapped the screen twice.
He held the phone down below the edge of the table so no one else could see it.
A live video feed showed a little girl with blonde hair sitting in the back of a moving van.
Two men wearing tactical masks sat on either side of her.
"If Walker testifies and exposes my plan, that van drives directly into the Potomac River."
My hands curled into tight fists.
I wanted to reach across the table and crush his throat.
"You are a monster," I hissed.
"I am a businessman protecting my inheritance," Ryan corrected me smoothly.
He slipped the phone back into his tailored pocket.
"When court resumes, you are going to stand up and accept a plea deal."
"You will confess to forging your military records and stealing the company shares."
"If you do exactly as I say, the little girl goes back to her school unharmed."
He patted my shoulder gently and walked out of the courtroom to join our mother.
Mister Hayes returned to the table a moment later.
"The judge is furious, Claire, but he is going to let Walker testify when we resume."
I looked back at the gallery where Ethan was quietly sitting on a bench.
He had sacrificed his own peaceful anonymity to come here and save my life.
I could not let his daughter die because of my family's greed.
I grabbed my attorney's arm.
"I need to change my plea to guilty," I said softly.
Mister Hayes stared at me as if I had lost my mind.
"Absolutely not, we just won this case."
"If you plead guilty now, you will go to federal prison for at least ten years."
"I do not care about prison, just tell the prosecutor I am ready to confess."
I stood up and walked away before he could argue with me.
I went into the hallway and found Ethan leaning against the marble wall.
"You should not have come here, Major," I told him.
He looked at me with his one good eye.
"I never leave a soldier behind, Captain."
I felt tears stinging the corners of my eyes.
"Ryan has Lily."
Ethan did not flinch, panic, or scream.
He simply reached into his pocket, pulled out his watch, and tapped the glass face three times.
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"I know," Ethan whispered.
"That is why my team is hitting his van right now."
