Chapter 5 - A Declaration of War
The police swarmed my property within minutes, establishing a heavy perimeter and taking endless statements.
Arthur sat at the kitchen island, heavily medicated by the paramedics for a fractured rib.
He could not take his eyes off Elena, who was quietly sipping a cup of hot tea at the dining table.
"Thirty years," Arthur murmured, tears streaming down his bruised face.
"I spent thirty years mourning a daughter, only to find out I lost two of them."
Elena offered him a sad, empathetic smile.
"Margaret destroyed all of our lives for a paycheck," she said softly.
The lead detective, a gruff man named Harrison, walked into the kitchen with a grim expression on his face.
"The vehicle was reported stolen three days ago in Chicago," Harrison announced, flipping through his notepad.
"These guys were professionals, ghosts with no digital footprint in the local database."
I crossed my arms, feeling the lingering adrenaline still coursing through my veins.
"They were sent by her adoptive father," I told the detective, gesturing toward Elena.
"He runs a criminal syndicate in Europe and wants to cover up an illegal adoption ring."
Detective Harrison raised an eyebrow, clearly skeptical of this massive, cinematic conspiracy theory.
"Do you have any actual proof of this, ma'am?" he asked, clicking his pen.
Elena stood up and walked back to the home office, returning a moment later with her leather briefcase.
She dumped the contents onto the kitchen counter, revealing ledgers, bank routing numbers, and encrypted hard drives.
"My adoptive father is Viktor Volkov," Elena stated, watching the detective's jaw practically unhinge.
"And these drives contain the financial records of every politician and judge he has bribed over the last two decades."
Harrison stared at the pile of evidence, his skepticism completely evaporating into thin air.
"I need to call the FBI," he muttered, pulling out his radio and rushing out the front door.
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We were no longer dealing with a simple case of domestic fraud.
We had just declared war on one of the most dangerous men in the world.
