Chapter 10
"Don't move another inch, Marcus," a cold, familiar voice commanded from the back of the hall.
Marcus squinted against the blinding glare of the flashlight, slowly rising to his feet while clutching the safety deposit box key in his fist. As the beam lowered slightly, the figure stepped out of the shadows near the entrance.
It wasn't one of the hired guards. It was David Vance, his father.
His father wore a tailored overcoat, his silver hair neatly combed, looking completely unaffected by the midnight hour or the illegal entry into the venue. He walked slowly down the central aisle, his leather shoes clicking rhythmically against the floorboards.
"Dad," Marcus said, his voice entirely devoid of warmth. "You had me followed."
"Of course I did, Marcus," David replied calmly, stopping a few feet away from the altar. He looked around the ruined wedding venue with a look of mild distaste. "You're my only son. I couldn't let you ruin your entire life and career over a manipulative fraudster who was already sinking our firm."
"I heard the recordings, Dad," Marcus said, holding his ground as he stared down the man who had raised him. "I know about the shell accounts. I know you and Julian engineered the entire embezzlement scheme and planned to frame Maya from the very beginning."
David didn't flinch. He didn't even look surprised. Instead, a slow, condescending smile touched the corners of his mouth.
"And you believed her?" David asked, shaking his head with quiet disappointment. "A woman you knew for less than a year versus a family that built your entire legacy. Marcus, business at our level requires difficult choices. Maya was ambitious, but she was careless. She was going to bring us all down with her reckless spending. We simply redirected the liability where it belonged."
"You ruined an innocent person's life," Marcus hissed, stepping forward. "You had her arrested on false pretenses just to protect your own stolen money."
"She’s not innocent, Marcus," David said sharply, stepping closer with a sudden flash of steel in his eyes. "She signed the contracts willingly. She played the game for the payout, and she lost. Now, give me the key."
Marcus closed his fist tighter around the small metallic key hidden in his palm.
"What key?" Marcus asked, his jaw tightening.
"Don't play games with me, son," David warned, gesturing toward the altar where the bouquet lay dismantled. "The key to Maya’s safety deposit box at the downtown central bank. The master ledgers are inside that box, and if they fall into federal hands, our entire firm goes down. Give it to me now, and we can sweep this under the rug. You can take a sabbatical, travel abroad, and pretend none of this ever happened."
Marcus looked at his father, seeing the cold, calculating stranger hiding behind a familiar face.
"No," Marcus said clearly.
May you like
Before David could signal the guards waiting outside the broken window, Marcus turned on his heel, vaulted over the altar rail, and sprinted toward the emergency exit door located at the back of the stage.
***
