Chapter 5 - The Velvet Trap
David’s lifeless body slumped to the floor, blocking the only exit.
Adrian instantly dove behind the heavy mahogany desk, dodging a second bullet that tore through the computer monitors.
Sparks showered over him as the screens exploded into glass and wires.
He was trapped in the server room, pinned down by a highly trained sniper positioned somewhere in the surrounding buildings.
Adrian pulled his phone from his pocket, dialing Victor’s number to call for immediate backup.
The line rang twice before a voice answered.
It was not Victor.
“Hello, Adrian,” Claire’s voice echoed through the receiver, calm and terrifyingly cold.
“Claire,” Adrian growled, gripping his gun tightly. “Where is my daughter?”
A soft, cruel laugh came through the speaker.
“She isn’t your daughter, Adrian,” Claire said smoothly. “Emma is an orphan I bought in Belarus to play a role.”
Adrian squeezed his eyes shut, trying to process the magnitude of the deception.
“Why are you doing this?” he demanded, his voice thick with a mixture of rage and profound grief.
“Because you were getting weak,” she replied. “You wanted to go legitimate, to leave the life behind.”
A third bullet slammed into the desk, showering Adrian with wood splinters.
“I built this empire with you, and I refused to let you dismantle it just because you wanted a quiet life.”
Adrian realized the sniper was not trying to kill him, only to keep him pinned in this exact spot.
He looked around the room, noticing a blinking red light beneath the floorboards.
It was a military-grade explosive charge, wired directly to the server racks.
“You have three minutes before the house turns into ash,” Claire whispered through the phone.
“Goodbye, my love.”
The line went dead.
Adrian heard the distant wail of police sirens approaching rapidly from the north side of the city.
Claire had not just trapped him with a bomb.
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She had called the police to ensure that if he survived the blast, he would be arrested for murdering a decorated detective.
He looked at the blinking red light, realizing the countdown timer showed only forty seconds remaining.
