CHAPTER 7 — THREE HOURS TO SAVE A FAMILY
CHAPTER 7 — THREE HOURS TO SAVE A FAMILY
No one spoke for several seconds.
The countdown still burned in my mind.
2:59:41...
I turned to Richard.
"Trace the broadcast."
"Our cyber team is already trying."
"Police?"
"They're on the way."
Victor suddenly stepped forward.
"I know who this is."
Every head turned toward him.
"You have five seconds."
Victor swallowed.
"My father didn't steal the payroll money alone."
Silence.
"There was another man."
Richard frowned.
"Who?"
Victor looked directly at me.
"The hotel's former Chief Financial Officer... Leonard Graves."
The name hit like a freight train.
Graves had disappeared overseas the week Thomas Ellis was arrested. The evidence against him had vanished before investigators could question him.
Victor's voice cracked.
"He convinced my father to move the money. Then he framed him when everything fell apart."
"And you knew this?"
"I found out years later."
"Why didn't you tell anyone?"
"Because I hated you more than I hated him."
Victor lowered his head.
"I thought ruining your company would finally make things right."
He looked up again, eyes filled with genuine fear.
"But Graves... he's different."
Richard's phone rang.
He answered immediately.
"We found the signal!"
He looked at me.
"An abandoned shipping terminal in Brooklyn."
I grabbed my jacket.
Richard stepped in front of me.
"Absolutely not."
"They're expecting me."
"Which is exactly why it's a trap."
"They have Anna and those children."
"So we do this the right way."
I looked him straight in the eye.
"No."
Thirty minutes later, I walked alone into the abandoned warehouse.
Exactly as instructed.
Rain hammered the rusted metal roof.
The enormous building echoed with every step.
A spotlight flickered on.
Anna sat tied to a chair.
Sophia and Samuel were beside her.
They were frightened...
...but alive.
Anna saw me first.
"No!"
Her voice cracked.
"Daniel, leave!"
A slow clap echoed through the darkness.
An older man stepped into the light.
Silver hair.
Tailored black coat.
Cold gray eyes.
Leonard Graves.
"I've waited fifteen years for this reunion."
"You framed Thomas Ellis."
"I protected myself."
"You kidnapped children."
"They're leverage."
I took another step.
"You've lost."
He laughed.
"Look around."
Red laser dots suddenly appeared across my chest.
Snipers.
Hidden everywhere.
"You built hotels."
Graves smiled.
"I built wars."
Then a tiny voice interrupted him.
"Mister?"
Samuel looked up.
"My elephant fell."
The stuffed toy had slipped onto the floor.
Graves sighed impatiently.
"For heaven's sake..."
He bent down to pick it up.
The instant he did...
Samuel kicked him as hard as his little legs could manage.
Graves stumbled backward.
The elephant burst open on the concrete.
Tiny tracking chips scattered across the floor.
Everyone froze.
Richard's voice exploded through hidden speakers.
"GO!"
The warehouse doors crashed inward.
Police officers flooded inside.
Flashbangs erupted.
Gunfire echoed.
Chaos swallowed everything.
Richard tackled one sniper.
Federal agents stormed the upper walkways.
Within seconds...
The trap had become an arrest.
I reached Anna first.
My hands shook as I untied the ropes.
"Are you hurt?"
She burst into tears.
"For the first time in years..."
"I thought my children were finally safe."
I hugged all three of them without thinking.
Sophia wrapped both arms around my neck.
Samuel held onto my jacket.
Neither child wanted to let go.
Across the warehouse...
Leonard Graves lay face-down in handcuffs.
May you like
The empire he had tried to destroy had survived.
His own lies hadn't.
