Chapter 5 - THE MAN IN THE DARK
He looked feral. The tailored tuxedo was ruined, his bow tie gone, his shirt unbuttoned and stained with sweat. Richard tore through the bedroom, flipping the mattress, smashing a lamp against the wall.
"Maya!" he screamed, his voice cracking with panic. "Where is the bag? Maya!"
In the dark closet, Maya clamped her hand over Leo’s mouth to keep the boy from crying out. I could feel her whole body shaking against mine.
He wasn't looking for his family. He was looking for money.
Richard dropped to his knees, prying up a loose floorboard beneath the bed. He pulled out a black canvas duffel bag, unzipping it frantically. I caught a glimpse of banded stacks of cash—my cash, bled from the company I had built to save his worthless skin twenty years ago.
"I know you're here," Richard growled, standing up, the gun swinging wildly. "I saw the tire tracks outside. Maya, if you don't come out, I'm leaving you to them!"
He was abandoning his own child. The realization was a physical blow. I looked at Maya. The terror in her eyes was slowly being replaced by a horrifying, devastating clarity. The man she loved was a monster.
I couldn't let him leave with the money. If he vanished, the syndicate would come after the company—after me. And they would slaughter Maya and Leo to tie up loose ends.
I gently pushed Maya back behind the hanging coats. I took a deep breath, smoothing down my navy silk dress, and pushed the closet door open.
"She's not coming with you, Richard," I said, stepping into the dim light.
Richard spun around, leveling the gun at my chest. When he saw it was me, his jaw dropped. The gun wavered. "Eleanor? How did you..."
"Your black card declined, remember?" I said coldly, walking slowly toward him. "You’ve always been sloppy. Did you really think you could borrow eight million from the Volkovs and I wouldn't notice the margin calls?"
His eyes darted nervously. "You don't understand. I had a plan. The tech merger was supposed to cover it! You ruined everything by freezing the accounts tonight! You killed me, Eleanor!"
"You dug your own grave," I countered, stopping ten feet from him. "And you used a fake one for me to trap a young girl."
Richard sneered, regaining a fraction of his old arrogance. "Maya is a naive idiot. She was just a place to keep my offshore assets. But you, Eleanor... you're smart. You're going to wire the eight million to my account right now, or I swear to God, I'll pull this trigger."
"No, you won't," a voice said from the doorway.
May you like
We both turned. Vanessa stood there, shivering in her evening gown, holding a heavy manila envelope. But she wasn't looking at Richard with love. She was looking at him with pure venom.
"He's not going to shoot you, Eleanor," Vanessa said, stepping into the room. "Because he needs you to decipher the ledger I just stole from his safe."
