The cold, metallic click of three silenced rifles echoing through the cramped apartment made my ears ring. Panic surged through my veins like boiling acid, and my legs felt entirely like lead. I was trapped between a firing squad and the man I thought was a helpless vagrant, but who now looked like a ghost come back to claim a blood debt. The heavy scent of gunpowder and rain filled the air as the armed men stood like statues, waiting for a single command from Caleb.
“Caleb, please…” I choked out, a terrifying chill running down my spine as I raised my trembling hands in the air. “I don’t know anything about his business! I just wanted to get away from them!”
Caleb didn’t even blink. He stood calmly by the titanium suitcase, his tailored suit completely unwrinkled, exuding an aura of absolute control that made my stomach drop into a bottomless pit. He raised a single, leather-gloved hand, and to my absolute shock, the three masked men instantly lowered their weapons and bowed their heads in synchronization.
“Secure the perimeter. We have exactly four minutes before her father’s private security realizes the tracking chip in her phone has gone dark,” Caleb ordered, his deep, gravelly voice devoid of any warmth. He turned his piercing, icy gaze back to me, taking a slow step forward until he was close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off him. “You’re right, Victoria. You don’t know anything about his crimes. But your DNA is the encryption key to his vault.”
Before I could process his words, Caleb grabbed my wrist. His grip wasn’t violent, but it was unyielding, sending a jolt of pure adrenaline through my system. He dragged me toward the glowing monitors. On the screen, a live security feed showed the perimeter of my parents’ massive estate. Flames were licking at the edges of the screen—the security outpost had already been breached.
“What did you do to them?!” I screamed, hysteria finally breaking through my voice as my heart raced at a lethal pace.
“I’m merely repossessing what he stole from my father before he drove him to leap from a twenty-story building,” Caleb whispered, his eyes flashing with a terrifying, vengeful fire. He forced my thumb onto a biometric scanner connected to his laptop. The screen flashed a bright, blinding green. ACCESS GRANTED. “And now, the world thinks you are the mastermind. Look at the news.”
He flicked his finger across the keyboard, and a breaking news broadcast popped up. My face was plastered across the screen next to a headline that made my blood run completely cold: BILLIONAIRE’S DAUGHTER ACCUSED OF STEALING $800 MILLION IN CORPORATE FUNDS, FLEEING WITH RADICAL ANARCHIST LEADER.
My jaw dropped. I was framed. My own husband had systematically turned me into the most wanted fugitive in the country within a single month.
“You’re a monster,” I gasped, tears finally spilling over my hot cheeks as a wave of utter helplessness washed over me.
“I am whatever your father made me,” Caleb replied coldly, snapping the titanium suitcase shut and slinging it over his shoulder. He grabbed a heavy black coat and threw it over my shoulders, pulling the hood tightly over my head. “Now, we run. And if you try to scream, the men outside have orders to make sure you never speak again.”
He grabbed my arm and threw open the back window of the apartment, leading me out onto a slippery, dangerous fire escape into the pouring rain. Down in the alleyway, a sleek, black armored SUV was waiting, its engine idling like a growling beast. But as we scrambled down the iron stairs, a sudden, blinding searchlight cut through the darkness from above.
A deafening loudspeaker boomed from a hovering, unmarked helicopter overhead: “Caleb Vance! Step away from the girl and put your hands on your head! Your father-in-law sends his regards.”
Caleb froze, his face twisting into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury. He reached inside his jacket, pulled out a military-grade detonator, and looked me dead in the eyes with a sinister smirk that made my heart completely stop. “He always was a terrible negotiator,” Caleb muttered, and slammed his thumb down on the button…
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