CHAPTER 6 — THE KIDNAPPING
Victor recovered quickly.
"My childhood isn't relevant."
"It became relevant the moment you lied on your employment records."
Several directors looked between us in confusion.
Victor stood.
"I think this meeting is over."
"No."
I pressed another button.
The screen displayed payroll documents from fifteen years earlier.
Then court records.
Then prison files.
Finally...
A photograph of Thomas Ellis being escorted into court.
"I know what happened to your father."
Victor's jaw tightened.
"You ruined him."
"My father reported a theft."
"You destroyed our family!"
His voice exploded through the boardroom.
People jumped in their seats.
"My mother cleaned floors while yours built hotels!"
"You blame a child for your father's crimes?"
"You inherited everything!"
"And you inherited a lie."
The room fell into stunned silence.
Victor laughed bitterly.
"You still don't understand."
He reached into his jacket.
Every security guard tensed.
Instead of a weapon...
He removed a small remote control.
He pressed the button.
My phone vibrated instantly.
One message.
One photograph.
Anna.
Sophia.
Samuel.
All three tied to chairs inside a dark warehouse.
My blood froze.
Victor smiled.
"You were so busy protecting your empire..."
"...you forgot to protect the only people who still believed you were a good man."
Richard burst into the room.
His face was ashen.
"Sir!"
I was already standing.
"The safe suite..."
His breathing was ragged.
"It's empty."
Anna and the twins were gone.
Richard looked around desperately.
"Our guards were drugged."
Another officer ran in behind him.
"We found a note."
Richard handed it to me.
Only six handwritten words covered the page.
COME ALONE IF YOU WANT THEM ALIVE.
Victor slowly raised both hands.
"I didn't write it."
I stared at him.
For once...
...I believed him.
His hatred was real.
But the fear now spreading across his face wasn't fake.
Someone else had entered the game.
Someone who had manipulated Victor...
...just as easily as they had manipulated Anna.
Before anyone could speak again, every television in the boardroom suddenly switched on by itself.
A masked figure appeared on every screen.
His voice was electronically distorted.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Martin."
The room became deathly silent.
"You've been chasing the wrong enemy."
The figure chuckled.
"Victor wanted revenge."
"I want something much more valuable."
A countdown appeared on the screen.
02:59:59
Three hours.
"When the timer reaches zero..."
"...the woman and the twins die."
The screens went black.
No one in the room moved.
Then Richard whispered the words none of us wanted to hear.
"Sir..."
May you like
"This isn't revenge anymore."
"It's terrorism."
