Chapter 10 - The False Victory
The heavily armed police officers completely froze, their tactical laser sights instantly wavering away from Claire's head.
The corrupt police captain frantically checked his encrypted mobile phone, his eyes widening in absolute shock at the massive banking notification.
Loyalty to the Vale matriarch simply could not compete with an immediate, untraceable billion-dollar payout for the entire precinct.
The captain immediately ordered his men to lower their weapons and stand down.
Two officers roughly hauled a screaming, furious Victoria off the wet concrete and slammed her into heavy iron handcuffs.
The police quickly removed the cuffs from Adrian, respectfully apologizing to the newly minted benefactor of their entire department.
Adrian ignored them completely, sprinting across the tarmac and pulling Claire into a desperate, crushing embrace.
He kissed her wet face a dozen times, deeply thanking her for her incredible bravery before leading her toward the helicopter.
They opened the secure doors of the medical transports, and Claire finally, truly held her tiny, crying babies against her chest.
The torrential storm slowly began to break, revealing the beautiful, glowing lights of the city skyline in the distance.
Hours later, Claire sat comfortably in the massive, heavily guarded master bedroom of Adrian’s luxury penthouse.
She was wrapped in a thick, warm silk robe, watching her two beautiful babies sleep safely in their brand-new, expensive cribs.
Adrian walked up behind her, gently kissing the back of her neck as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist.
He promised her that his mother was locked away in a federal holding cell, and they were finally safe to be a real family.
He smiled warmly, telling Claire he was going down to the kitchen to brew them some hot chamomile tea.
Claire smiled back, feeling a profound, overwhelming sense of true happiness and absolute peace for the first time in a year.
When Adrian closed the heavy bedroom door, Claire noticed his mobile phone buzzing quietly on the bedside table.
She casually walked over and picked it up just to check the current time.
A highly encrypted text message popped up on the bright screen, sent directly from Julian’s restricted phone number.
The message read that their mother was safely in jail and the crazy woman firmly believed she had just been saved.
May you like
Claire stopped breathing as her eyes rapidly scanned the final, horrifying sentence of the text message.
"Just get her to sign the marriage certificate tomorrow, and we can finally lock her in the asylum and split the trust exactly as we planned."
