Chapter 8 - The Ultimate Betrayal
I read the note three times, my mind struggling to comprehend the depth of the betrayal.
Grace had left me disarmed, bleeding, and entirely alone with two young children in the middle of a massive manhunt.
Sophie woke up, rubbing her sleepy eyes as she looked around the dusty, unfamiliar cabin.
"Where did Aunt Grace go?" she asked, her voice perfectly innocent and deeply confused.
I crumpled the note in my fist, forcing a reassuring smile to hide my rapidly rising panic.
"She went to get us some help, sweetheart," I lied smoothly.
I rummaged through the cabin's rusted cabinets, finding absolutely nothing but an old iron crowbar to use as a weapon.
I knew I couldn't stay here, not when Grace knew our location and could easily sell us out to the Romeros.
Just as I gathered the children to leave, a sleek black SUV pulled up silently outside the cabin.
My heart hammered against my ribs as I gripped the crowbar, fully preparing to fight to the death.
The car door opened, and a solitary figure stepped out, holding a white handkerchief as a flag of truce.
It was Vanessa.
She looked perfectly composed in a sharp designer suit, a stark contrast to the mud and dried blood covering me.
"Come out, Evan," she called out, her voice dripping with absolute arrogance.
"You have nowhere left to run, and these woods are completely surrounded by Romero's men."
I stepped out onto the porch, keeping myself positioned firmly between Vanessa and the cabin door.
"What do you want, Vanessa?" I spat, tightening my grip on the heavy iron tool.
She smiled, holding up a transparent evidence bag containing the bloody knife used to kill the local mayor.
"I want your signature on a document signing over every legitimate business asset you own to the Chicago syndicate."
She pulled a folded contract from her pocket, tossing it onto the dirt directly in front of me.
"Sign it, and I will miraculously find the evidence that clears your name with the police."
I laughed bitterly, knowing full well she would kill us the second I handed over my empire.
"And if I refuse?" I asked, staring her down without blinking.
Vanessa's smile widened into a terrifying, shark-like grin as she snapped her fingers loudly.
Two massive men stepped out of the SUV, dragging a bound and gagged woman brutally between them.
May you like
They threw her roughly into the dirt at Vanessa's polished heels.
It was Grace.
