Chapter 5 - The Vanguard’s DemandSerena dropped to her knees, wincing as the sharp pain in her back flared. She ignored it, crawling beneath the smoking desk and grabbing the heavy satellite handset. The screen flickered to life, displaying a direct text-based communication terminal linked to an external IP address.
ESTABLISHING SECURE ENCRYPTED FEED...
A face materialized on the small monitor. It wasn't a mask. It was a man with cold, calculating eyes, wearing a dark tactical turtleneck, sitting inside a command vehicle parked just beyond the estate's security gates.
“Well, well,” the man said, his voice coming through the tinny speakers with chilling clarity. “Mrs. Serena Dre. Or should I say... former Mrs. Dre, given your husband’s lovely extracurricular activities with Miss Vale upstairs?”
Marcus Dre shoved past Detective Miller, staring furiously at the screen. “I am Marcus Dre! You release this estate immediately, or I will spend every penny of my fortune hunting you to the ends of the earth!”
The man on the screen chuckled darkly. “Your fortune no longer exists, Marcus. Vanguard has legally and digitally liquidated every holding tied to Dre Enterprises over the last forty-eight hours. Matthias’s greed made it disgracefully easy.”
Matthias crawled forward from the doorway, pale and shaking. “Please! What do you want? Money? Power? Just let us go!”
“We want accountability,” the man replied coldly. “For years, the Dre family has laundered dirty money through offshore accounts, destroying innocent lives and silencing whistleblowers. But we didn't lock down this estate for your money, Matthias.”
The man on the screen shifted his gaze, locking directly onto Serena.
“We locked it down for the drive ledger hidden inside the estate's central safe. And Mrs. Dre is the only one who knows the master override code.”
Silence descended on the ruined server room, save for the crackling of dying electrical wires. Every head in the room slowly turned toward Serena.
“What ledger?” Marcus demanded, staring at his daughter-in-law. “What is he talking about?”
Serena slowly stood up, leaning against the edge of the console for support. She looked down at Matthias, whose eyes were wide with sudden, sickening realization.
“Three weeks ago,” Serena said clearly, her voice echoing in the damp room, “when Matthias thought I was asleep, he brought home a encrypted thumb drive containing every illegal transaction, bribe, and offshore account the Dre family ever operated—insurance policy in case his father ever tried to cut him out. He hid it inside the false bottom of our nursery dresser.”
Matthias scrambled to his feet, lunging toward her in blind rage. “You bitch! You stole it?”
Detective Miller intercepted him instantly, slamming Matthias hard against the concrete wall and clicking cuffs around his wrists with brutal efficiency.
“Keep your hands off her, Dre,” Miller warned.
Serena reached into the deep pocket of her burgundy coat and pulled out a small, sleek black USB drive, holding it up in the dim, flickering light.
May you like
“I didn't just steal it, Matthias,” Serena said, a fierce, triumphant smile breaking across her face. “I uploaded a mirror copy to an automated federal drop box timed to release to the FBI every thirty minutes if my heart monitor flatlines. So if you, or your Vanguard friends out there, think killing us will save your secrets... think again.”
The man on the monitor stared at the flash drive in her hand, his expression of arrogant control instantly evaporating into sheer, unadulterated fury.
Related Stories
