Chapter 4 - Unraveling the Web
While Emma slept soundly in a room adjacent to Lily’s—a room filled with plush blankets, soft nightlights, and round-the-clock guards outside her door—I retreated down into the subterranean operations center beneath the estate.
The room was filled with screens showing live surveillance, data feeds, and financial tracking grids. Victor was waiting for me alongside my chief intelligence specialist, Gabriel.
"What do we have?" I asked, my voice cold and focused.
Gabriel pulled up a dossier on a large monitor. "Karen Vance. Forty-two years old. Sister to your late wife, Grace. After Grace passed, Karen vanished from public records, living off untraceable offshore wire transfers."
"Transfers from Grace's personal trust," I stated grimly.
"Exactly," Gabriel confirmed. "Grace was setting aside a massive monthly sum from her personal inheritance. We always assumed it was going toward a private charity. In reality, it was blackmail money paid directly to Karen to keep Emma alive and hidden in a secluded town in Indiana."
"Why drop her in Chicago now?" I asked.
Victor stepped forward, tapping a key to bring up bank logs. "Because the trust fund ran dry three weeks ago, Boss. Without Grace around to replenish it, the automatic payments stopped. Karen realized Emma was no longer generating income. She brought the child to Chicago, dumped her in Lincoln Park near your usual weekend route, and fled."
"She wanted me to find her?" I frowned.
"Or she knew you would find her, and she intended to use the abandoned child as a distraction while she liquidated Grace's remaining dormant assets," Gabriel corrected, showing a series of pending fraudulent bank transfers initiated just hours ago in downtown Chicago. "She's trying to clean out Grace’s legacy accounts right now."
My blood ran cold with pure rage. Karen had treated my flesh and blood like a bargaining chip, starving her, abusing her, and then tossing her away like trash when the money stopped flowing.
"Where is she?" I asked softly. The tone of my voice made even my seasoned guards stiffen.
"She’s currently hiding in a high-end suite at the Drake Hotel, waiting for the illegal wire transfers to clear at midnight," Victor reported. "She thinks she’s anonymous."
"She thought my wife was alone," I corrected, turning toward the armory doors. "She forgot who Grace was married to. Prepare the cars. I’m going to pay my sister-in-law a visit."
Before I could walk out, a soft patter of footsteps echoed at the top of the stairs. I stopped instantly.
Lily was standing at the door, holding Emma by the hand. Emma was wearing oversized pink pajamas that belonged to Lily, looking tiny and frightened in the harsh metallic lighting of the basement hallway.
"Daddy?" Lily asked softly. "Emma had a bad dream. She thought you weren't coming back."
The fury in my chest dissolved into profound grief. I stepped away from the armory, walking over to the two little girls. I knelt down, taking both of them into my arms, holding them tight against my chest.
"I am never going anywhere," I promised Emma, pressing a soft kiss against her hair. "I will always come back to you."
Emma slowly wrapped her thin arms around my neck, resting her head against my shoulder. "Don't go away, Daddy," she whispered.
May you like
It was the first time she had called me 'Daddy.' The word struck my heart like a thunderbolt, shattering the last remnants of the cold, unfeeling crime lord I had been forced to become.
I caught Victor’s eye over her shoulder. He nodded silently, understanding the unspoken order: Handle Karen. Bring her down legally and completely. I am staying with my daughters.
