Chapter 10 - The Architect
The man in the armchair didn't move, keeping the rifle perfectly balanced across his knees.
He wore a tailored grey suit that looked entirely out of place in the rustic cabin.
His hair was silver, perfectly coiffed, and his eyes were as cold as polished steel.
“Hello, Ethan,” he said, his voice smooth and terrifyingly calm.
I froze, calculating the distance between us, knowing I couldn't reach him before he pulled the trigger.
“Who are you?” I demanded, keeping my voice low so my mother wouldn't wake.
“I am the man Arthur Sterling worked for,” he replied simply.
The cartel boss.
The phantom investor who had been pulling the strings from the shadows this entire time.
“Arthur was a clumsy, arrogant fool,” the man continued, brushing a piece of lint from his sleeve.
“He thought he could use your father’s company to clean my money without drawing attention.”
“I sent the files to the FBI,” I warned him.
“I know.”
The man smiled, a genuine expression of amusement.
“I intercepted your email ten minutes ago.”
My stomach violently dropped.
“Your father was a very smart man, Ethan, but he didn't realize that my reach extends far beyond local thugs like Marcus.”
The man reached into his jacket and pulled out a familiar silver object.
He tossed it onto the coffee table.
It was my father’s missing watch, the one he had been wearing the night he died.
“Did you really think Arthur Sterling had the intelligence to orchestrate a corporate takeover of this magnitude?” the man asked.
“Claire was never supposed to marry you, Ethan.”
“She was merely bait to keep you distracted while I restructured the board of directors.”
He stood up slowly, leveling the rifle directly at my chest.
“You see, I didn't want to destroy your company.”
“I wanted you to voluntarily hand over the security clearances so I could access the government defense contracts your father held.”
My mother stirred on the couch, groaning softly in her sleep.
The man walked toward the front door, never taking his eyes off me.
“I am going to leave you alive today, Ethan, because you are going to go back to the city.”
“You are going to officially take over your father’s company, and you are going to sign every document I put in front of you.”
He opened the cabin door, letting the cold wind howl into the room.
“Because if you don't,” he whispered, his eyes gleaming with absolute malice.
“The next time you see your mother, it won't be in a hospital.”
Before I could say a single word, my burner phone buzzed loudly on the kitchen table.
I picked it up, reading the flashing text message from an unknown number.
Turn on the television, Ethan.
I grabbed the remote and turned on the small screen in the corner of the room.
A breaking news banner flashed across a local news channel.
The anchor looked incredibly grave.
“We have breaking news regarding the prominent Hayes family.”
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“Police have just found the body of Claire Sterling in a burning vehicle downtown.”
“Authorities are currently issuing a nationwide manhunt for her fiancé, Ethan Hayes, who is now the prime suspect in her brutal murder.”
