Chapter 4 - The Ultimatum
Harper stared at the ringing phone as if it were a live grenade.
Her hands shook so violently she could barely pick it up from the broken wooden table.
She pressed the phone to her ear and heard Derek’s cruel, mocking laughter on the other end.
Derek cheerfully told her that her little brother was putting up a very brave fight for his age.
Harper screamed at him, begging him not to hurt the innocent child.
Derek coldly replied that Noah’s safety depended entirely on her next move.
He demanded that she steal Gabriel Ashford’s personal encrypted ledger from the mansion’s vault.
Derek gave her exactly one hour to bring the ledger to an abandoned warehouse in the Seaport district.
If she involved Gabriel or the police, Derek promised to send Noah back to her in pieces.
The line went dead, leaving Harper standing in absolute, horrifying silence.
She dropped the phone and fell to her knees on the dirty carpet, completely broken.
Gabriel picked up the phone, his face an unreadable mask of cold, hard stone.
He had heard every single word through the quiet room.
Harper looked up at him with tears streaming down her bruised face.
She apologized profusely, admitting she was going to have to betray him to save her brother.
Gabriel knelt in front of her, using his thumb to gently wipe a tear from her cheek.
He told her that nobody was going to steal anything from his vault tonight.
He grabbed her hand and pulled her firmly to her feet.
He promised her that they were going to the Seaport district together to end this nightmare.
He swore on his own life that he would bring Noah back to her unharmed.
As they walked out of the ruined apartment, Gabriel’s encrypted radio buzzed again.
May you like
His head of security frantically reported that the mansion’s vault had already been breached.
Someone inside Gabriel's trusted inner circle had just stolen the ledger for Derek.
