Chapter 6
The stranger didn't turn around as Daniel stepped into the garage, his boots crunching on the dusty concrete floor. He simply set his coffee cup down on the folding table with a soft clink and continued typing a sequence of lines of code into his terminal. He wore a simple dark hoodie, the hood pulled back to reveal closely cropped brown hair and a sharp, clean-shaven jawline.
“You’re a few minutes late, Mr. Miller,” the man said calmly, his voice smooth and devoid of any panic. He finally turned his chair around to face Daniel, offering a thin, polite smile. “I expected you to check the garage before tearing through the master bedroom.”
Daniel closed the distance between them, his hands curling into tight fists at his sides. Adrenaline spiked through his veins, but years of corporate composure kept him from lunging forward. “Who are you?” Daniel demanded, his voice low and dangerous. “Where is Richard Vance, and what did you do with our money?”
The stranger leaned back in his ergonomic chair, steepling his fingers together. “Richard Vance is currently sitting on a beach in Cabo San Lucas, sipping margaritas purchased with a very different wire transfer. My name is Ethan. I’m the system administrator for this particular project.”
“Project?” Sarah’s voice rang out from the doorway. She had followed Daniel across the yard, her trench coat swirling around her ankles as she stepped into the garage, Helen right behind her with her cane tapping a steady rhythm. “What kind of sick project involves stealing our life savings and staging an empty house?”
Ethan looked at Sarah, nodding respectfully. “It’s not theft, Mrs. Miller. It’s an acquisition audit. You see, Elmwood Terrace isn't just a house. It’s an asset in a decentralized real estate portfolio managed by a private equity trust. Your bid was accepted, yes—but your financial vetting failed a very specific secondary compliance check.”
Helen stepped forward, her eyes narrowing as she glared at the younger man. “Compliance check? You took three hundred thousand dollars from a retired schoolteacher and a mid-level manager. There’s no compliance check that involves grand larceny.”
“Larceny is such an ugly word,” Ethan replied smoothly, standing up from his chair to gesture toward the banks of monitors. The screens showed crisp, high-definition footage of every angle of the property, including a split-screen view of their grey sedan parked out front. “Your funds are sitting safely in an escrow holding account managed by a smart contract. The moment you prove you understand the true value of this property, the keys—the real keys—will be released to you.”
Daniel stared at Ethan in disbelief. “We paid the asking price. We signed the legal disclosures. What more could you possibly want?”
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Ethan smiled, a cold, calculating expression that didn't reach his eyes. “You need to find out why the previous family vanished without packing a single box.”
***
