Chapter 5 - The Mastermind's Mandate
"Step away from her, Marcus," Clara said calmly, wiping a stray strand of wet hair from her forehead. "You always were remarkably stubborn. That's why your partners hired me."
Marcus slowly stood up, placing Lily behind his back, shielding every inch of her small frame with his wide shoulders. "You watched her grow up. You were at her seventh birthday party. She trusted you."
"Trust is an overhead cost," Clara replied without a flicker of emotion. "And right now, the cost of keeping you alive is zero. The syndicate already has the security codes to your offshore routing numbers. The girl is simply insurance to make sure you sign the transfer affidavits before you 'commit suicide' from this very balcony."
Lily clutched the back of Marcus’s soaked black dress shirt. She could feel his chest vibrating as he spoke. He wasn't trembling from fear; he was calculating.
"The offshore routing numbers are dual-custody," Marcus said coldly, stalling for time. "You know that. You can't touch a single dollar without my secondary biometric key."
"Which is why Lily is going to board the vessel at the docks," Clara smiled, her finger tightening on the trigger. "You will authorize the transfers while watching her on a live video feed from somewhere in international waters. Every minute you delay, she loses an ear, a finger, a toe. You will cooperate."
A sudden beam of light cut through the rain from above. The deep, rhythmic thrum of rotor blades beat down on the penthouse terrace, whipping the rain into blinding sheets of horizontal spray. A black unmarked helicopter rose up from beneath the balcony edge, its blinding searchlight pinning Clara in a cone of raw brilliance.
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"Drop your weapon!" a voice boomed from the aircraft's megaphone.
Clara winced, momentarily blinded by the high-intensity halogen beam. In that split second of disorientation, Marcus didn't charge her—he swept Lily into his arms and dove through the adjacent floor-to-ceiling glass panel leading into the private study.
