Chapter 10
Heloise stared at him, her chest heaving, the blood dripping from her nose forgotten in the face of his absolute, chilling confidence. She reached a shaking hand into the pocket of her ruined gown and pulled out her smartphone.
"I'm doing it," Heloise threatened, her thumb hovering over the screen. "I'm calling Agent Miller. He’s been investigating your logistics firm for two years. He'll give me full immunity for the ledgers."
"Call him," Aldric repeated, turning back to his daughter and gently adjusting the oversized jacket around her shoulders.
Heloise let out a frustrated scream and dialed the number. She pressed the phone to her ear, a manic, triumphant gleam returning to her eyes. She waited for the ring. She waited for the federal agent who had been circling her husband’s empire for years.
Instead of a ring, a pre-recorded, automated voice echoed through the receiver:
“We're sorry, the number you have reached has been disconnected or is no longer in service.”
Heloise froze. She pulled the phone away from her ear, staring at the screen in disbelief. She dialed again. The same automated message played.
"What did you do?" Heloise whispered, looking up at Aldric with a sudden, creeping terror.
"I told you, Heloise," Aldric said, his American accent smooth and lethal. "My trip ended early. I was finalizing a business acquisition overseas. Did you ever bother to ask what company I was acquiring?"
Heloise shook her head slowly, her mind racing. "You... you buy shipping ports."
"I bought the private cybersecurity firm that handles the localized server data for the federal field office," Aldric stated, his voice dropping into a deadly rumble. "There is no investigation, Heloise. There are no ledgers. Agent Miller was reassigned to a desk in Alaska yesterday morning. You have no leverage. You have no money. You have absolutely nothing."
The phone slipped from Heloise’s bloody fingers, shattering against the hardwood floor. The final, crushing realization that she had been completely outmaneuvered broke her entirely. She fell to her knees, weeping hysterically, the sound echoing pathetically through the grand, bright dining room.
Aldric didn't waste another second on her. He scooped Thora up into his arms, holding her securely against his chest.
"Let's go upstairs, little bird," Aldric said gently, turning his back on the ruined woman on the floor. "We have a lot of toys to unpack."
"Okay, Daddy," Thora whispered, resting her head against his shoulder.
As Aldric carried his daughter toward the grand staircase, leaving Heloise sobbing in the ruins of the dinner party, the heavy oak front doors suddenly burst open.
Four men in dark suits stepped into the foyer. They weren't Aldric’s security team. They wore tactical vests, and the lead man held a silenced automatic weapon at his side.
Aldric stopped at the base of the stairs, his entire body going rigid as he shielded Thora from view.
The lead man looked past Aldric, staring directly at Heloise on the floor.
May you like
"Mrs. Vance," the armed man said, his voice cold and mechanical. "Your brother sent us. It seems you couldn't handle the job yourself."
Aldric’s eyes narrowed, his mind calculating the threat in a fraction of a second. Heloise hadn't just been trying to steal his house. She had opened his front door to a cartel. The domestic nightmare was over, but the war for his life had just walked through the front door.
