Chapter 5 - The Corrupt Shield
I hid my car behind a large oak tree down the street and watched the horrifying scene unfold.
The police officers were not there to arrest Victor or save my family.
They were openly accepting thick, brown envelopes stuffed with cash from Victor's men.
I realized with a sinking heart that the entire local police department was deeply on Victor's payroll.
If I walked up to that house, those corrupt cops would gladly hand me over to the mob boss.
I needed a massive, undeniable piece of leverage if I was going to survive this night.
I pulled out my encrypted laptop and logged into the hidden security cameras I had secretly installed in the lake house years ago.
The live feed from the living room loaded onto my glowing screen.
My father was bruised and bleeding, weeping uncontrollably as he begged Victor for mercy.
Vanessa was hyperventilating on the floor, her fake maternity dress riding up to reveal something impossible.
I zoomed in on the camera feed, completely unable to believe what I was seeing.
Vanessa's supposed pregnant belly had slipped sideways during the struggle.
It was not a real baby bump, but rather a sophisticated, silicone prosthetic pillow strapped to her waist.
My sister was not pregnant at all.
She had faked the entire pregnancy just to manipulate me into giving up my multi-million dollar lake house.
A blinding rage washed over me, far hotter and more intense than anything I had ever felt before.
I watched as Victor noticed the fake belly and aggressively ripped it off my crying sister.
Victor kicked Mark in the ribs, demanding to know where the rest of his stolen money was hidden.
Mark sobbed and screamed that he knew absolutely nothing about any stolen money.
I knew that if I wanted to negotiate with Victor, I needed to locate my father's hidden offshore accounts.
I hacked into my father's personal cloud server, using the legal backdoor access I had established when I handled his taxes last year.
It took me ten frantic minutes to bypass his pathetic security passwords.
I found a hidden digital ledger containing the exact routing numbers for a secure bank in the Cayman Islands.
The account held exactly three point two million dollars.
I downloaded the routing information directly to a secure flash drive.
I stepped out of my car, holding the flash drive high in the air, and marched directly toward the corrupt police cruisers.
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One of the officers drew his weapon and aimed it directly at my chest.
I did not flinch, but loudly announced that I was Claire, the former homeowner, and I had exactly what Victor was looking for.
