Chapter 28 - THE VIDEO FROM FOUR YEARS AGO
The explosion hadn't come from Ethan. Nor had it come from the mercenaries.
Through the smoke and falling plaster, a tactical squad dressed in unmarked urban gray gear breached the foyer, moving with the terrifying, mechanical precision of elite government operators.
*“Federal Task Force! Weapons down! On the floor, NOW!”*
The two mercenaries barely had time to pivot before they were neutralized with surgical headshots. Elena shrieked, diving behind the overturned grand piano as concrete dust filled the air like a blinding fog.
Ethan dropped to one knee, keeping his weapon trained on the breach, but the lead operative in urban gray stepped forward, lowered his rifle, and raised a tactical badge.
“Ethan Vance?” the lead agent shouted through his comms mask.
“Who the hell are you?” Ethan shouted back over the roar of the helicopter hovering outside.
“Director Marcus Kane, Department of Justice Special Investigations,” the man said, pulling off his ballistic mask to reveal a weathered, scar-creased face. “We’ve been tracking Charles Vance’s ghost accounts across eleven European jurisdictions for three years. We didn't come for you, Mr. Vance. We came for the syndicate.”
From behind the piano, Elena scrambled to her feet, her face covered in chalky dust, her silver Walther raised trembling in both hands.
“Stay back!” she screamed, her eyes wild, her aristocratic composure completely unhinged. “You can’t arrest me! I have immunity under the Hague Protocols! I have custody of the Sterling heir!”
Kane didn't even raise his gun. He simply pulled a ruggedized tablet from his combat vest and pressed play.
A high-definition video feed illuminated the dust-filled air.
The timestamp was dated four years ago. A sterile, subterranean medical suite in Geneva.
On the screen, Elena Vance sat across from Charles Vance, signing a series of documents with a Montblanc pen.
*“And what of the child?”* Charles’s voice asked on the recording.
Elena’s voice came through the speaker with crystalline, horrifying clarity:
*“Let Vanessa break her. The more severe the trauma documented by state authorities, the faster the emergency custody petition goes through. If the child breaks completely, place her in a permanent institutional care facility in Zurich. All I need is her biometric thumbprint once every quarter to authorize the dividend draw. I don't care if she never speaks again.”*
Elena froze. Her hands dropped. The Walther slipped from her trembling fingers and clattered onto the ruined parquet.
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“The digital archive was recovered from Julian’s server thirty minutes ago,” Kane said calmly. “Every deal, every wire, every cruelty inflicted on that little girl was signed, authorized, and paid for by you, Elena.”
***
