Chapter 7 - The Basement Cell
I froze completely as the cold steel of the gun pressed painfully against my skull.
Jason stood behind me, heavily favoring his shattered knee, his face twisted into a mask of pure, vengeful hatred.
Richard slowly lowered his tactical pistol, placing it gently on the kitchen floor to spare my life.
"Smart choice, Dad," Jason sneered, kicking Richard's weapon far across the room.
Liam and the armed mercenaries rushed into the kitchen, immediately zip-tying our wrists tightly behind our backs.
My mother walked over, staring down at my ruined, muddy wedding dress with absolute disgust.
"Throw them in the basement cell until the syndicate boss arrives to finish the job," she ordered coldly.
The mercenaries dragged us roughly down the wooden stairs, tossing us onto the freezing concrete floor of my own basement.
The heavy steel security door slammed shut, plunging the room into near absolute darkness.
I struggled desperately against the thick plastic restraints, tears of sheer frustration burning my eyes.
"I am so sorry I dragged you into this nightmare, Richard," I whispered, my voice echoing in the cold room.
Richard sat up slowly, entirely unfazed by the violent capture or the heavy zip-ties cutting into his wrists.
"You didn't drag me into anything, Maya, I have been planning this specific day for twenty years."
I stared at him in the dim light, completely confused by his terrifyingly calm demeanor.
He scooted closer to me, revealing a small, sharp razor blade cleverly hidden inside his expensive silver watchband.
He quickly sliced through his own restraints, rubbing his wrists before immediately cutting my zip-ties off.
"Evelyn thinks she is so incredibly smart, but she forgot one very important detail about this house," Richard smiled darkly.
"What detail?" I asked, massaging the painful red marks on my arms.
"I am the original architect who designed this property for your biological mother," he revealed smoothly.
He walked over to the seemingly solid concrete wall and pressed a hidden sequence of loose bricks.
A heavy section of the wall popped open with a quiet click, revealing a massive, high-tech titanium vault.
"The syndicate thinks the trust documents are hidden upstairs, but the real treasure has been down here the entire time."
Richard placed his hand on the biometric scanner, and the vault door swung slowly open.
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Inside, stacked neatly on steel shelves, were millions of dollars in untraceable gold bars and thick stacks of classified documents.
But before we could grab the evidence, the basement door violently exploded open, flooding the room with blinding tactical lights.
