Chapter 15: The Shadow of the Past
Chapter 15: The Shadow of the Past
Two weeks later, the dust had seemingly settled. I was sitting on the sprawling balcony of my newly restored penthouse, drinking black coffee and watching the sunrise over the city skyline. The media had a field day, dubbing the event the "Wedding Day Massacre." Dominic was facing massive federal fraud charges regarding his mishandling of company funds, and Brooke had vanished completely without a trace.
My secure phone buzzed vibrating on the glass patio table. It wasn't Leo. It was an encrypted, untraceable message from an unknown international number.
I unlocked the screen and cautiously tapped the icon. An audio file began to play.
It was Brooke's voice, but she wasn't smug anymore. She sounded frantic, breathless, and utterly terrified, recorded via what sounded like a hidden microphone in a moving car. “He found out, okay?! The wedding was a total disaster. The Sinclair woman took everything. Vance is ruined, he's going to prison. I don't have your money!”
A heavy, incredibly deep, heavily-accented man’s voice replied over the recording, the cold calmness of his tone chilling the blood in my veins. “I do not care about Vance, little bird. You carry my blood. And the Sinclair woman just seized the corporate shell I used Vance to launder my cartel's money through. Tell me where she is, or I will cut the child from you myself.”
The recording clicked off into dead silence.
A secondary text message appeared on the screen, illuminating the dark morning shadows on the balcony.
May you like
Look down.
I slowly stood up, my heart hammering against my ribs, holding my breath. I walked to the glass railing and peered over the edge of the penthouse balcony down to the street, forty stories below. The street was empty, save for one thing. A single, heavily armored black SUV was parked perfectly across the street. And standing beside it, staring straight up at my exact location, was a man in a black trench coat, holding a single, bright blue balloon.
