Chapter 5 - The Devil's Bargain
I stared at the glowing screen in absolute, mind-numbing shock.
Liam’s mistress, Chloe, walked into the frame and casually slapped him across the face.
"Your husband is a pathetic thief, Clara," Chloe sneered into the camera.
"He tried to steal fifty million dollars from my family to run away and start a new life."
Chloe explained that Liam had planned to frame me for the massive theft using the loans he opened in my name.
He had completely intended for the cartel to murder me while he escaped with the stolen cash and his new bride.
But Liam had foolishly left a digital trail, and the cartel boss had easily caught him.
"We have your baby, Clara, and she is currently perfectly safe," Chloe stated coldly.
"If you want to see her alive again, you will bring those physical ledgers to the abandoned shipyard at midnight."
The video call abruptly ended, leaving me standing in the freezing rain with the stolen documents.
I knew that walking into a cartel meeting was a guaranteed suicide mission.
They would never leave a living witness who knew about their massive money laundering operations.
I drove straight to a secluded diner and met my father to explain the horrifying situation.
My father listened quietly, his face hardening into a mask of pure, protective rage.
"You are not going to that shipyard alone, Clara," my father declared firmly.
He revealed that before he retired, he had spent thirty years as a covert operations director for the CIA.
My father made three phone calls from a secure, encrypted satellite phone he kept hidden in his trunk.
Within two hours, four heavily armed, highly trained former operatives arrived at the diner.
They quickly reviewed the blueprints of the shipyard and formulated a tactical breach plan.
I was fitted with a Kevlar vest and given a small tracking device to hide in my shoe.
At exactly midnight, I drove my father's car alone into the desolate, rusting shipyard.
Chloe and three massive armed guards were waiting for me under a flickering streetlamp.
I held the heavy backpack up to show her I had brought the documents.
May you like
"Where is my daughter?" I demanded, refusing to take another step forward.
Chloe smiled wickedly and pointed to a wooden crate suspended high above the dark ocean water by a rusty crane.
