Chapter 4 - The Ransom
The sight of her daughter being thrown into the van made Evelyn's blood run completely cold.
She had spent the last five years keeping Maya far away from Richard's toxic world.
Now, her greatest vulnerability was in the hands of absolute monsters.
"You have exactly twenty-four hours to bring me the decryption keys," the voice on the phone demanded.
"If you hurt one hair on her head, I will burn your entire syndicate to the ground," Evelyn swore.
The mobster simply hung up, leaving her standing in the silent penthouse.
Evelyn stripped off her pristine white blazer and tossed it onto the sofa.
She needed a weapon, and she needed an army.
She walked to her private safe and pulled out a burner phone she kept for extreme emergencies.
She dialed a number that had not been active in ten years.
"I need a ghost, Elias," Evelyn whispered into the receiver.
"You promised you would never call this number again," the man on the other side sighed.
"They took Maya," Evelyn stated, her voice breaking for the very first time.
There was a long, heavy silence on the line.
"I will be at the secondary safe house in twenty minutes," Elias promised before disconnecting.
Evelyn slipped out of the building through the maintenance stairwell to avoid the police.
She drove a stolen car to an abandoned warehouse district on the south side of the city.
Elias was waiting for her in the shadows, holding a duffel bag filled with tactical gear.
He was a former intelligence operative and the only man Evelyn truly trusted.
"We cannot fight the Volkovs head-on," Elias warned her as she checked a loaded handgun.
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"We are not going to fight them," Evelyn said, her eyes flashing with a dangerous light.
"We are going to rob the central federal reserve bank."
