Chapter 26 - Meeting the Monster|
I didn't have to wait very long to set the dangerous bait. Elias Thorne effortlessly found me first.
I was walking quickly to my car in the clinic's dimly lit underground parking garage incredibly late that evening. The armed security guard was waiting near the main exit ramp, but as I unlocked my car door, a sleek, dark gray town car pulled up completely silently, completely blocking my vehicle in the spot. The heavily tinted back window rolled down slowly, revealing the cold face of a man in his late fifties. He had dead, shark-like eyes and wore a perfectly tailored Italian suit.
"Mrs. Bennett," the man said smoothly, his voice dripping with faux politeness. "I firmly believe we have highly pressing mutual business."
My heart hammered violently against my ribs, but I stubbornly stood my ground, keeping my hand securely inside my purse, resting firmly on the handle of the pepper spray Marcus had strictly insisted I carry at all times.
"You must be Elias Thorne," I said, my voice remarkably steady and fearless.
Thorne smiled slightly, a terrifying, empty expression that didn't reach his dead eyes. "I truly appreciate a woman who gets straight to the point. Your pathetic ex-husband confidently assures me that you have finally located my missing property. I am here to securely collect it."
"Daniel is a pathological liar and a petty thief," I replied calmly. "But in this specific instance, he is entirely correct. I currently have the exact routing numbers and the encrypted access codes for the offshore accounts containing your fifty million dollars."
Thorne's eyes narrowed slightly, visibly intrigued by my complete lack of expected fear. "Then I highly suggest you hand them over right now, Rachel. Unless, of course, you want your lovely daughter, Sophie, to have a terrible, fatal accident on her way to school tomorrow morning."
"If you touch my daughter, you will never see a single dime of that money," I countered fiercely, leaning slightly toward his open window. "I have the secure drive. But I don't trust you, and I certainly don't trust Daniel. I want an absolute guarantee of my family's safety."
"What kind of guarantee?" Thorne asked, clearly unaccustomed to being brazenly negotiated with by civilians.
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"We meet tomorrow night. 9 PM sharp. At the abandoned shipyard on the South Side," I dictated coldly. "You bring your armed men, I'll bring the physical drive and a laptop to actively initiate the transfer. Once the massive amount of money hits your accounts, you leave Chicago instantly and never look our way again. Do we have a deal?"
Thorne stared at me intensely for a long moment before nodding slowly. "Tomorrow night, Rachel. Do not disappoint me." The window rolled up, and the car sped away into the darkness.
