Chapter 6 - The Monster's Plea
I stared at the heavy hotel door in absolute, paralyzing disbelief.
"Linda is bleeding?" I asked, gripping the brass lamp so tightly my knuckles turned completely white.
My father did not answer immediately.
He carefully unlocked the deadbolt and slowly pulled the heavy door open just a few inches.
Linda immediately collapsed violently against the doorframe, her expensive designer clothes completely torn and heavily stained with dark blood.
She was absolutely not faking her horrific injuries.
She had a massive, bleeding gash across her forehead, and her left arm hung at a completely unnatural, broken angle.
"Sarah, please help me," Linda gasped frantically, her voice weak and trembling with genuine agony.
I felt absolutely no pity for the woman crying pathetically on the floor.
I vividly remembered her brutally telling me I was overreacting while Ellie screamed in pure agony on the kitchen floor.
"You have absolutely no right to be anywhere near my daughter," I stated coldly, refusing to let her inside the suite.
Linda looked up at me, her eyes completely wide with pure, unadulterated terror.
"Gary tried to aggressively kill me, Sarah," Linda sobbed wildly, clutching her broken arm.
My father immediately stepped entirely out into the hallway, pulling Linda roughly into the room and slamming the door shut.
He did not want any outside witnesses to this sudden, unexpected development.
"Explain exactly what you mean, right now," my father commanded aggressively, standing over the bleeding woman.
Linda gasped for air, leaning heavily against the wall and leaving a dark smear of blood on the expensive wallpaper.
"When the undeniable video aired on the evening news, Gary completely lost his mind," Linda cried hysterically.
"He realized he couldn't completely blame Dana because she had already escaped his control."
Linda looked directly at me, her face pale and heavily bruised.
"He aggressively decided that the only way to completely save his corrupt career was to entirely blame the entire assault on my supposed severe mental illness."
I stared at her, completely disgusted by the sheer depth of Gary's terrifying corruption.
He was actively willing to completely destroy every single member of his own family just to protect himself.
"He forced me forcefully into the car and tried to deliberately drive us entirely off the old canyon bridge," Linda revealed in absolute horror.
"I barely managed to violently throw myself out of the moving car before he crashed."
I felt a sudden, sickening knot form entirely in my stomach.
Gary was no longer just a corrupt, arrogant judge; he was an active, violently desperate murderer.
"Why did you aggressively come here instead of officially going to the police?" my father asked suspiciously.
"Because Gary controls the entire local police force, Richard, they would have officially killed me in the hospital!" Linda cried defensively.
"I knew you were the only person powerful enough to completely stop him."
My father let out a harsh, incredibly condescending laugh.
"You brutally assaulted my innocent granddaughter, Linda, and now you actually expect me to save your pathetic life?"
"I will officially sign a full, unedited confession stating everything Gary has ever done," Linda bargained frantically.
"I will actively give you the exact locations of his hidden offshore accounts and his corrupt political bribes."
My father looked entirely at me, his sharp legal mind instantly recognizing the ultimate weapon against Gary.
"If we officially hand her over to the FBI, Gary's entire corrupt empire burns to the ground tonight," my dad noted quietly.
I looked at Linda, feeling a massive wave of dark, satisfying justice wash over me entirely.
She was aggressively trying to save herself, but in doing so, she was completely destroying her husband's life.
"Fine," I agreed coldly, entirely refusing to offer her a single ounce of actual forgiveness.
"We will aggressively call the federal authorities and have them completely extract you from this hotel."
Before my father could even dial the secure federal number, the massive glass window of the luxury hotel suite violently shattered inward.
A heavy, military-grade smoke grenade bounced violently across the plush carpet, instantly filling the entire room with thick, blinding white smoke.
Ellie screamed loudly in absolute terror from the bed.
"Get down!" my father roared aggressively, diving violently across the room to shield Ellie with his own body.
Three heavily armed men wearing dark tactical gear aggressively swung into the suite on heavy rappelling ropes.
They didn't officially look like corrupt local police officers.
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They looked exactly like highly trained, utterly ruthless mercenaries.
And they were aggressively pointing their weapons directly at Linda's head.
