Chapter 5 - Into The Rain
The thunderstorm outside had escalated into a violent, torrential downpour.
Caleb grabbed Ethan by the collar of his expensive shirt and dragged him effortlessly across the hardwood floor.
Liam grabbed the weeping, injured Lauren by her good arm and marched her toward the exit.
The brothers threw both of them forcefully out onto the muddy, rain-soaked driveway.
Ethan scrambled to his knees in the mud, screaming for Grace to give him a second chance.
Julian calmly closed the heavy wooden storm doors, completely blocking out the sound of Ethan's pathetic begging.
Grace stood in the quiet hallway, feeling an overwhelming, sudden sense of absolute peace.
The toxicity was finally gone from her life, and her child was completely safe.
Liam wrapped his strong arms around her in a fierce, protective hug.
"You never have to be afraid again, Gracie," Liam whispered into her hair.
She went to sleep that night feeling lighter than she had in years.
She woke up the next morning to the sound of birds singing outside her bedroom window.
She walked downstairs to the kitchen to make tea, expecting to find her brothers sitting at the island.
Instead, she heard the terrifying screech of multiple heavy vehicles tearing up her gravel driveway.
Before she could even reach the window, the back kitchen door was violently smashed open by a heavy battering ram.
A dozen men wearing dark tactical gear and FBI windbreakers swarmed into her kitchen with assault rifles raised.
"Grace Walker, put your hands exactly where we can see them!" the lead agent screamed.
Grace froze in absolute terror, dropping her favorite tea mug onto the floor where it shattered into a hundred pieces.
"What is going on?" she begged, raising her trembling hands in the air.
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The agent slammed her roughly against the kitchen counter and locked heavy steel handcuffs around her wrists.
"You are under arrest for forty counts of federal wire fraud and international money laundering," the agent announced coldly.
