Chapter 9 - The Safehouse
We did not go back to my family’s estate. My father was a man who planned for every contingency, and he knew the media would swarm our gates within the hour. Instead, the SUV navigated through the winding streets of Boston and descended into the secure underground garage of a luxury hotel owned by a trusted family friend.
We were escorted up a private elevator to the penthouse suite. Waiting for us in the expansive, modern living room was Vivian Thorne, the most ruthless, brilliant prosecuting attorney in the state. She was standing by the floor-to-ceiling windows, reviewing a thick stack of documents.
"Vivian," my father said, shedding his suit jacket. "Is everything in place?"
"More than in place, Arthur," Vivian replied, turning around with a sharp, predatory smile. "The police have secured all his devices. The DA has officially filed the charges based on the evidence cache Clara provided us last week."
I sat down on the plush sofa, finally kicking off the agonizingly tight designer heels I had been forced to wear.
"Did they find the hidden cameras?" I asked, my voice steady.
"They did," Vivian confirmed, walking over to hand me a glass of water. "When the police executed the search warrant at his penthouse an hour ago, they found the covert cameras he had installed to monitor your movements. They also found the physical hard drives where he kept his... 'insurance' videos."
A shiver of disgust ran down my spine. Marcus had been obsessed with controlling every aspect of my life. When I had secretly hired a counter-surveillance expert three months ago, discovering those cameras was the turning point that sparked my vengeance.
"He thought those cameras made him a god," I said quietly, staring into my glass. "He didn't realize they were recording his own physical abuse every time he lost his temper."
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"And that arrogance is exactly what sealed his fate," Vivian said, sitting opposite me. "We have high-definition video of him striking you, Clara. We have audio of him threatening to ruin your family if you left. The criminal case is airtight. But that’s not the only war we are fighting today."
My father sat down beside me, his eyes narrowing. "It's time to talk about the money."
