He Found His 6-Year-Old Son Scrubbing a Glass Roof—Then Realized His Wife Had Been Torturing Him All Along / Chapter 13 / 20

Chapter 13 - The WraithEvelyn Thorne sat in the leather chair of a penthouse suite at the Four Seasons, sipping a glass of scotch that cost more than most people's cars. The ankle monitor hidden beneath her designer silk trousers felt like a physical manifestation of her rage.

She stared at the blank screen of the encrypted laptop on the mahogany desk in front of her. The live feed from the park had just cut to static.

"He's resourceful. I'll give him that," a smooth, cultured voice said from the shadows near the balcony.

Evelyn didn't turn around. She took a slow sip of her scotch.

"I didn't pay you two million dollars to compliment my ex-husband, Elias," she said, her voice dripping with venom. "I paid you to erase him."

A man stepped out of the shadows. He was impeccably dressed in a tailored charcoal suit, his graying hair swept back perfectly. He looked like an investment banker or a diplomat. He certainly didn't look like an assassin.

But Elias Vance—known in the underworld as 'The Wraith'—was far more dangerous than his brutish, late brother, Marcus.

"Marcus was a fool," Elias said calmly, pouring himself a glass of water from a crystal carafe. "He relied on brute force and intimidation. David Miller proved that he can outsmart a brute. He used the house against Marcus. He used the media against you."

"Are you lecturing me?" Evelyn snapped, her eyes flashing dangerously.

"I am analyzing the target," Elias corrected smoothly. "You want David dead. You want the child dead. And you want to look completely innocent so you can beat these federal charges and access your offshore accounts. Doing that requires finesse."

"Then show some finesse," Evelyn demanded. "He smashed your toy drone. Now he knows we're watching. He's going to run."

"Let him run," Elias smiled, a cold, empty expression. "Running makes people tired. It makes them make mistakes. But more importantly, running confirms the narrative I have already set in motion."

Evelyn frowned. "What narrative?"

Elias walked over to the desk and turned the laptop toward her. He pressed a key, pulling up a news article from a local digital outlet.

The headline made Evelyn's breath hitch in her throat.

BREAKING: Star Witness in High-Profile Attempted Murder Case Suspected in ICU Poisoning of Key Suspect.

"What did you do?" Evelyn whispered, her eyes scanning the text.

"Marcus didn't die of a natural cardiac arrest," Elias said softly. "I paid a nurse at the hospital to inject a very specific, untraceable potassium chloride solution into his IV. But before she did, I had her plant a forged visitor log and a piece of David's torn jacket—retrieved from your house—in the hospital's laundry chute."

Evelyn's lips slowly curled into a wicked, triumphant smile.

"The FBI doesn't view David as a victim anymore," Elias continued. "They view him as a vigilante who murdered a defenseless man in a coma to ensure a conviction. By tomorrow morning, the federal prosecutor will issue a warrant for David's arrest."

"If he goes to the FBI for protection, they'll lock him in a cell," Evelyn realized, the sheer brilliance of the plan washing over her.

"Exactly," Elias nodded. "And if he's in a cell, he can't protect his son. The boy will be placed in state custody. And state custody facilities have terrible security. Accidents happen in foster homes all the time."