Chapter 10 - Elena's Panic
The screen populated with hundreds of offshore accounts, wire transfers, and shell company registries. It was a digital map of a massive criminal empire, detailing every stolen dollar Julian had hidden from Elena, the IRS, and his investors.
Before we could even begin downloading the data, Elena’s burner phone rang.
She looked at the screen, her face draining of all color. "It's the security company from my old house. The alarm has been triggered."
Chloe grabbed the phone. "This is Detective Park. What is the status of the Croft residence?"
Chloe listened for a moment, her jaw clenching tightly. She hung up and looked at Elena. "Julian just broke into your house. The security feed shows him smashing the cameras. He knows you're gone, and he's tearing the place apart looking for your passports and the girls' birth certificates."
Elena began to hyperventilate, clutching her chest. "He’s going to take my daughters. They’re at my sister's house right now. If he finds the address in my files, he'll go there next."
"He is not going to touch them," I said, slamming my laptop shut. I grabbed my car keys. "Chloe, call local PD and have a squad sent to your sister's house immediately. We are going to execute an emergency extraction."
"I’m coming with you," Sophia said, grabbing her briefcase. "I have the emergency custody orders signed by a judge this morning. If Julian goes near those kids, it’s a federal kidnapping charge."
We rushed out to Chloe’s unmarked police SUV. The storm that had been brewing over the ocean finally broke, unleashing a torrential downpour as we sped through the coastal roads toward the city.
Elena sat in the backseat, trembling violently, whispering prayers under her breath.
I reached back and placed my scarred hand over hers. "Look at my hand, Elena," I commanded gently.
She looked at the deep, textured burns across my skin.
May you like
"They can burn us. They can threaten us. They can try to take everything we have," I said, my voice cutting through the sound of the rain. "But they cannot un-break the chains once we shatter them. You are no longer his victim. You are his reckoning. We are getting your girls, and we are putting him in a cage."
Elena looked into my eyes, and for the first time, the panic receded, replaced by a spark of pure, protective fury. "Let's go get my daughters."
