Chapter 9 - Checkmate
Arthur laughed, a cold, arrogant sound that echoed in the empty room.
“Your mother was a meddling fool,” Arthur sneered, pacing the room. “She found the ledger. She was going to expose the Syndicate. I had no choice but to bring her plane down. And you... I engineered your marriage to Julian to keep you sedated, distracted. Julian was weak, taking pleasure in beating you, but it kept you quiet. It was the perfect cage.”
“And the raid on my father’s estate?” I asked, keeping him talking.
“My order,” Arthur admitted proudly. “Marcus was getting too close. The Vanguard empire will be absorbed into the Syndicate by Monday morning. And as for you...” He pulled a small, suppressed pistol from his tuxedo jacket. “You will be a tragic suicide, unable to cope with the loss of your father and husband.”
“You’re right about one thing, Arthur,” I said, not breaking eye contact. “Someone is going to lose their empire tonight.”
I reached up and tapped the emerald brooch.
“Did I forget to mention?” I smiled. “This isn't just a recording device. It’s a live transmitter. And right now, it’s broadcasting this exact conversation, unencrypted, to every news network in Europe, the FBI, Interpol, and the massive projection screens in the ballroom right outside that door.”
Arthur’s face went perfectly slack. He looked at the heavy oak doors. Through the wood, the muffled sounds of the classical music had stopped. In its place was a rising, chaotic uproar of hundreds of panicked, shouting voices.
“You bitch,” Arthur screamed, raising the gun.
Before he could pull the trigger, the large stained-glass window of the antechamber shattered inward. Vanguard mercenaries, rappelling from the roof, breached the room. A sniper round from across the lake tore through Arthur’s wrist, sending his gun clattering to the floor.
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The heavy oak doors were kicked open from the inside by Interpol agents. Arthur fell to his knees, clutching his bleeding wrist, surrounded by the flashing lights of law enforcement and the furious glares of the world’s elite.
He was ruined.
