Chapter 10: The Architect
Chapter 10: The Architect
The museum was empty. The guests were gone, the FBI had finished their initial sweep, and the private security team was quietly packing up their gear.
Mara walked through the silent gallery. She paused in front of the Roman statue where Grant's friend had leaned, just hours before. She picked up a shattered piece of the crystal bourbon glass and tossed it into a nearby waste bin.
Her phone buzzed. She pulled it from her clutch and answered.
"Father," she said.
"It's done," the deep, calm voice on the other end replied. "Holloway Industries stock has completely collapsed. The board is filing for bankruptcy. The empire is ashes."
"And the foundation?" Mara asked, looking up at the vaulted glass ceiling.
"Secure. You executed the plan perfectly, Mara. You used their arrogance against them."
Mara gently touched the fading bruise beneath her left eye. It hurt, but it was a price she had been willing to pay. Grant's violent reaction had been the necessary catalyst, the final piece of leverage she needed to trigger the lockdown legally.
"He thought he was the predator," Mara said softly into the phone. "He didn't realize he was just the bait."
"Come home, Mara," her father said. "We have a city to rebuild."
"I'll be right there," she replied.
May you like
She hung up the phone. She took one last look at the pristine, unblemished marble of the Hawthorne Museum. She had entered this building a victim in the eyes of the elite. She was leaving it as the architect of their destruction.
Mara Vale turned on her heel and walked out the front doors, stepping into the bright, unyielding light of a new day.
