Chapter 4 - The Audit of a Coward
Marcus staggered back against the kitchen counter, knocking his champagne glass over. The crystal shattered, sending sparkling shards across the floor.
“You’re… you’re lying,” Marcus stammered, looking wildly between my brothers and me. “Elena, what is this? What are these lunatics talking about? Tell them to leave!”
I walked slowly into the kitchen, stopping two feet away from him. The man who had roared in my face just hours ago, the man who had stood over my daughter with a leather belt, now looked smaller than the kitchen island.
“You told me this morning that I had until tomorrow morning to put ten thousand dollars in your account or we’d be out on the street,” I said, my voice ice-cold.
“Elena, honey, I was angry!” Marcus babbled, his voice pitching upward in panic. “It was about the dress! Chloe’s dress! That brat of yours—”
*Crack.*
Before Marcus could finish the sentence, Cole moved with blinding speed. He grabbed Marcus by the collar of his designer shirt and slammed him against the refrigerator with enough force to rattle the magnets.
“Say Maya’s name with respect, you miserable piece of trash,” Cole snarled, his face inches from Marcus’s.
“Stop! Please!” Chloe shrieked, backing into a corner near the pantry. She looked at me, her fake tears finally real. “Elena, tell them to stop! We can talk about this! We can work it out!”
I turned my gaze to Chloe. “You cut your own dress with my sewing scissors, Chloe. Then you sat there and watched a grown man whip an eight-year-old child because you wanted to punish us for existing in your way.”
Chloe opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
Vance stepped up to the kitchen island, opening a sleek silver laptop. He plugged a cord into the smart-home hub on the wall. “All security cameras are disabled, audio feeds are isolated, and Marcus’s corporate email server has just been mirrored to our secure Boston servers. Boss,” Vance looked at Kane, “you want to see what he’s been hiding in his company folders?”
Kane nodded once. “Put it on the screen.”
The massive smart-fridge screen flickered, instantly displaying a series of encrypted financial spreadsheets, text message logs, and bank statements.
May you like
Marcus went completely gray.
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