Chapter 7 - The Final Gambit
Even behind bars, Sylvia was dangerous.
She had managed to squirrel away nearly a million dollars in untraceable crypto before I locked down the accounts. Using a smuggled burner phone in the county jail, she hired a crew to erase the final loose end: Grandma.
It was 2:00 AM on a Tuesday. The estate was quiet.
I was asleep in my childhood bedroom when my military instincts kicked in. It wasn't a sound that woke me; it was the absence of sound. The crickets outside had suddenly stopped chirping.
I slipped out of bed, grabbing the standard-issue sidearm I kept in my nightstand. I moved silently into the hallway, checking Grandma’s door. It was locked from the inside, exactly as I had instructed her to keep it.
Downstairs, the faint scrape of glass breaking echoed from the kitchen.
I didn't turn on the lights. I crept down the back staircase, my bare feet making zero noise on the hardwood.
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There were three of them. Dressed in tactical black, armed with suppressed pistols. They were moving toward the main staircase, whispering in Russian. Professionals.
They expected a terrified heiress. They got a combat veteran.
