Chapter 16 - The Ransom Video
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Nathaniel looked at the blood running down the side of my face and the tiny silver shoe crushed in my fist. He didn't waste a single second arguing.
"Consider the city sealed," he said grimly, raising his satellite phone.
Ten minutes later, as the Whitaker security apparatus brought New York’s underworld to a terrifying halt, my phone violently buzzed in my pocket. It was an unknown number.
A video file appeared on the screen.
I clicked play, my heart stopping in my chest.
The shaky footage showed Maisie sitting on a filthy wooden chair inside what looked like an abandoned shipyard. Tape covered her small mouth, and her wrists were tightly bound. She was crying silently, her eyes wide with sheer terror.
Brooke stepped into the frame. She looked completely unhinged. Her designer clothes were stained, her makeup was smeared down her cheeks, and her eyes were manic. In her right hand, she held a sharp, industrial box cutter, resting the blade right against my daughter’s cheek.
"Five million in untraceable cash," Brooke hissed into the camera, smiling like a woman already damned to hell. "Old Staten Island shipyard. Sector 4. Come completely alone, Evelyn. No cops. No brothers. Or I swear to God, I will mark her pretty little face forever."
The video abruptly ended, plunging the screen into darkness.
A deadly, freezing calm washed over me. I walked over to the tactical crate Nathaniel’s men had brought, reached inside, and calmly chambered a round into a sleek, black 9mm pistol.
Nathaniel stepped in front of me, his eyes dark with lethal intent. "You are absolutely not going in there alone, Evelyn. That woman is highly unstable."
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I slid the heavy pistol flat against my spine, concealing it beneath my long coat. I gently wrapped Maisie’s silver shoe in a piece of cloth and placed it in my pocket.
"Yes," I said softly, looking him dead in the eye. "I am."
