CHAPTER 10: UNMASKED
Mark kicked the back patio door open and sprinted across the lawn. He reached the gate just as two tactical officers tackled Marcus into the gravel, twisting his arms behind his back and clicking the steel cuffs shut.
Detective Ramirez deftly caught the tumbling metal case before it smashed on the concrete, immediately sealing it into a tamper-evident evidence bag.
Clara stood petrified, the cold white light exposing every shred of her panic. "Mark! Mark, thank God you're here!" she shrieked, instantly attempting to feign innocence. "This man attacked me! He was trying to break into the house! I came out to protect Lily!"
"Save it, Clara," Mark said, walking up to the gate with a look of utter disgust. He held up his phone, showing the live high-definition playback of the infrared camera—complete with crystal-clear audio of her negotiating the twelve-million-dollar buyout and the permanent blinding of his child.
Clara’s face contorted, her polished facade stripping away to reveal ugly, unbridled malice. "You ungrateful fool!" she screamed, her voice turning shrill as officers pushed her against the fence and cuffed her wrists. "Elena never loved you! That money belonged to my family! She should have left it to me!"
"You'll spend the next thirty years explaining that to a judge," Detective Ramirez said coldly, reading her Miranda rights as they dragged her toward the waiting cruiser.
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Mark didn't watch them drive away. He turned back toward the dark house, his heart pounding with a sudden, overwhelming urge to hold his daughter.
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