Chapter 4 - The Ransom Demand
I stared at the screen in absolute horror as my own brother smiled at my daughter's pain.
"You always got the best of everything, Arthur," Marcus said, his voice echoing from the laptop speakers.
"You got the successful business, the perfect wife, and the vast family fortune."
Marcus began pacing around Emily, trailing a heavy steel crowbar along the concrete floor.
"Laura and Greg were incredibly easy to buy off, but getting you out of town required a little more creativity."
He explained how he faked his illness and surgery just to ensure Emily would be left completely unprotected.
"I need you to come to the old shipping docks on the east river tonight, all by yourself," Marcus demanded.
"Bring your thumbprint and your master passwords to unlock the offshore trust accounts."
He raised the crowbar and pointed it directly at Emily's head.
"If you bring the police, or if you are even one minute late, I will smash her skull."
The video feed abruptly cut to static.
I grabbed the laptop and smashed it against the wall in a blind, desperate rage.
I left the clinic, determined to kill my own brother if it meant saving my little girl.
I drove to my own house first to retrieve a loaded firearm I kept hidden in a wall safe.
I loaded the magazine, my hands surprisingly steady as cold determination replaced my panic.
Just as I walked back to my car, my phone began to vibrate violently in my pocket.
It was Stan.
I answered the call, expecting an update on my grandson's safety.
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"Arthur, I am so sorry, man, they ambushed my car before we even reached my street," Stan choked out, sounding severely injured.
"They took Leo, Arthur, they took the boy."
