Chapter 6 - The Private Study
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The darkness of the mansion was immediately pierced by the sweeping beams of tactical flashlights attached to the rifles of Silas’s men.
They moved with terrifying precision, herding Matthias and Fiona up the grand staircase. Silas kept one arm wrapped securely around Serena’s waist, supporting her weight as they hurried up the steps. She was out of breath, her heavy pregnant belly aching with every rapid movement, but the years in the ER had trained her to suppress panic.
They reached the top floor and rushed down the long corridor toward Matthias’s private study.
The study was a fortress. Heavy oak doors reinforced with steel, bulletproof glass windows looking out over the front driveway, and thick stone walls. Matthias’s father had built it as a panic room decades ago.
One of Silas’s men kicked the door open. They shoved Matthias and Fiona inside. Silas guided Serena to a heavy leather armchair in the corner before turning back to the doorway.
“Hold the corridor,” Silas ordered his two men. “If anything comes up those stairs that isn't us, kill it.”
The men nodded, taking defensive positions outside the heavy oak doors. Silas closed the doors, throwing the heavy steel deadbolts into place.
The study was dark, illuminated only by the faint moonlight filtering through the snow-covered trees outside the bulletproof windows.
Fiona was hyperventilating, backed into a corner by the bookshelves. Matthias was pacing frantically, pulling at his hair.
“We’re dead. We’re all dead,” Matthias babbled, his eyes wide and unseeing. “Vargas doesn't leave witnesses. He’s going to burn the house down with everyone inside!”
“Shut up,” Serena snapped. The authority in her voice surprised even her.
Matthias stopped pacing, staring at his wife as if he were seeing her for the very first time.
Silas walked over to Matthias’s heavy mahogany desk and turned on a small, battery-powered emergency lantern. The dim yellow light cast long, sinister shadows across the room.
He looked at Fiona. The terrified, crying woman routine had completely vanished from her face. Now that they were out of the public eye, her expression had hardened into something sharp and dangerous.
“You're the inside woman,” Silas said, leaning against the desk, watching Fiona closely. “Vargas doesn't send twenty men to a heavily populated estate just for revenge. That’s bad for business. He’s here for the money Matthias lost.”
Fiona glared at Silas, crossing her arms. “You're a smart man, Vance. Matthias is a moron. I tried to tell him to sell his shares, to liquidate the estate. But he was too proud. Now, Vargas is coming for the remaining twelve million in Matthias’s offshore accounts. And he won't leave without the digital keys.”
Matthias looked at Fiona in horror. “You… you knew they were coming tonight? You came with me to the party knowing they were going to kill everyone?”
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Fiona sneered at him. “I came to the party to make sure you didn't run, Matthias. You were always just a mark.”
Serena felt a cold wave of disgust wash over her. Her husband had destroyed their family for a woman who was actively plotting his murder.
