Chapter 7 - The Sealed Manor
The heavy oak doors of the grand hallway slammed shut on their own accord, the automated security deadbolts throwing themselves into place with a series of loud, mechanical thuds. Jax sprinted up the stone steps, slamming his fists against the thick wood. The surface was freezing cold, completely unyielding.
"Elena, you said the security system reset itself!" Jax roared, turning around to face her across the courtyard. "Did you program the perimeter lockdown?"
Elena backed away slowly, her designer heels clicking frantically against the pavers. "I only set the standard evening mode! I swear to God, Jax, I didn't touch the master lockdown protocol!"
"Then why are the doors sealed and all our communication lines fried?" Jax demanded, taking a menacing step toward her.
Before Elena could answer, a sharp, piercing alarm began to wail from the roof of the manor. Red emergency strobe lights flickered to life along the eaves of the roof, casting an unnatural, blood-red glow over the entire courtyard. Sarah groaned weakly on the ground, rolling onto her side as Lily desperately tried to shield her mother's ears from the deafening noise.
"Jax! Over there!" Lily screamed, pointing a trembling finger toward the estate gates at the edge of the property.
Jax whipped around. Emerging from the dense fog rolling in off the nearby coast were the headlights of three identical black SUVs. They idled silently at the wrought-iron entrance, their engines humming a low, menacing tune. No one stepped out of the vehicles. They simply sat there, blocking the only paved exit from the estate.
"Who is that?" Elena whimpered, grabbing onto Jax's black shirt with white knuckles. "Are those your associates, Jax? Is this some kind of setup?"
"Shut your mouth," Jax growled, his dark eyes narrowing as he scanned the approaching vehicles. "If these were my people, we wouldn't be locked out of the house and poisoned inside a smart-car."
"Poisoned?" Elena gasped, her knees nearly buckling under her. "What are you talking about?"
"Look at the dashboard of your car, Elena," Jax pointed back at the smoking SUV. "The air conditioning system was pumping carbon monoxide directly into the cabin before the engine even stalled. Someone overrode the exhaust valves manually."
Sarah let out a weak cough from the pavement, her fingers gripping the hem of Lily's pink dress. "They... they knew about the merger papers," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the wailing alarm.
Jax froze, his muscular frame tensing. He knelt down beside Sarah, ignoring the red strobe lights flashing above them. "What merger papers, Sarah? What did you find in that glove box?"
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Sarah’s eyes rolled back slightly before she forced them open, locking her gaze onto Jax. "The offshore accounts... Elena's signature is on every single transfer."
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