Chapter 3 - The Price of Treason
The air in the study felt thin, charged with the static of imminent violence.
Marcus stood inches from the curtain, his hand resting on his holster.
I knew that holster was filled with a weapon he didn't have a permit for.
He wasn't just a friend; he was a liability who had been playing both sides for years.
I stepped out, not with fear, but with the cold, calculated precision of someone who had nothing left to lose.
I held the master document, the one that proved the trust was mine alone—a document Marcus and Jack thought they had burned.
“Looking for this?” I asked, my voice steady.
Marcus spun, his eyes widening.
“Sarah? You’re supposed to be in the rain.”
“I was,” I said, walking toward him.
“But I realized something, Marcus. You’re not the mastermind. You’re just the guy who cleans up the messes Jack is too cowardly to touch.”
His face darkened, his ego clearly bruised by the truth.
“Jack doesn't need to know,” he growled. “Once you sign those papers, you’ll be gone, and we’ll be rich.”
“Jack is at a ski resort, Marcus. He’s drinking champagne, thinking his mother is handling his messy wife.”
I pointed the camera on my phone at him.
“Everything you’ve said tonight is being recorded. Not just for me, but for the SEC and the local police.”
Marcus lunged.
He was fast, but he was arrogant.
I ducked, swinging the heavy brass base of a desk lamp into his knee.
He crumpled, cursing, his hand clawing for the gun.
I didn't wait.
I kicked the gun across the floor, grabbed Lily, and scrambled toward the door.
The nursery door swung open, and Lorraine appeared, her face a mask of shock.
“Marcus? What is—Sarah?!”
I didn't stop.
I ran toward the back exit, the alarm now silent but the chaos erupting behind me.
I had the evidence.
I had the truth.
But more importantly, I had the location of Jack’s “secret” bank account.
I knew it was linked to Marcus’s phone.
As I fled into the night, I hit ‘send’ on my phone.
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The files went to the authorities.
The traps were closing, but not on me.
