Chapter 6 - The Unraveling Web
By noon the following day, Lorraine Hayes believed she was winning.
Through her corrupt contacts in local law enforcement, she had issued an emergency endangered child alert for Isabella and Mia DeLuca, claiming that I had suffered a violent psychotic break, broken through my own estate gates, and kidnapped my own children while armed.
The local news channels in Nashville were running my corporate portrait beside a headline: "Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager Wanted in Violent Abduction of Toddler Daughters."
In her mind, the game was nearly over. Once her security team located us, I would be committed to an asylum or shot while 'resisting arrest,' leaving her as the sole legal guardian of the DeLuca trust fund.
What Lorraine didn't know was that Daniel Brooks was no longer working for her.
At 2:00 PM, inside a secluded booth at a diner on the outskirts of Franklin, Daniel sat down across from me. He looked terrible—his face bruised from the garage incident, his eyes rimmed with red.
"She hired six outside mercenaries last night," Daniel reported in a low whisper, passing a secure thumb drive across the Formica table. "Ex-military contractors. She paid them two hundred thousand dollars out of your corporate contingency fund to track your SUV."
"Did she find the SUV?" I asked calmly, taking a sip of water.
"She found it burned out in a ravine near the Tennessee River," Daniel nodded. "Just like you wanted. She thinks you abandoned the vehicle and fled on foot into the woods with the kids."
"Good," I said, pocketing the drive. "What’s on this?"
"Full audio and video files from the house server," Daniel said, his voice thick with shame. "I spent all morning cracking Lorraine’s encrypted partition. Marcus... I am so sorry. I should have seen it. I was so focused on perimeter security, motion sensors, and physical threats that I didn't look at the monster inside the house."
"You made it right today, Daniel," I said firmly, reaching across the table to shake his hand. "Where is Lorraine now?"
"She’s holding a private press conference at your downtown Nashville corporate headquarters at four o'clock," Daniel revealed. "She’s announcing that due to your 'sudden medical incapacity,' she is officially assuming the role of acting chairperson of DeLuca Capital and requesting full custody enforcement from the state supreme court."
I looked at my watch. It was 2:30 PM.
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"She wants a public stage," I said, a slow, dark smile touching my lips. "Then let's make sure she has the biggest audience possible."
I pulled out my phone and dialed Sam Callahan. "Sam, tell your federal contacts to position the U.S. Marshals at the corporate tower. And tell Channel 5 News that Marcus DeLuca is going to deliver a personal statement at four o'clock sharp."
