Chapter 4 - The Patriarch's Ultimatum
I picked up the satellite receiver, pressing the speakerphone button so the audio echoed through the quiet study.
"Frederick," Marcus Vance’s voice rasped through the speaker—smooth, arrogant, and dripping with venomous authority. "I hear you’ve taken in a pair of stray birds at your Greenwich estate."
"You're trespassing on my operational airspaces, Marcus," I said coldly, leaning my palms flat against the mahogany desk. "Your mercenaries were intercepted at Terminal B. If I see another one of your men in Connecticut, I won't send them back in one piece."
Marcus let out a dark, dry laugh over the line.
"Always the dramatic patriarch, Frederick," Marcus sneered. "You threw away a three-million-dollar Chicago distribution contract for a woman you met an hour ago. You're getting soft in your old age."
"I don't need Chicago to dismantle you, Marcus," I countered. "I have Arthur Bennett's laptop sitting on my desk right now."
A long, suffocating silence fell over the line. The arrogant tone vanished from Vance's voice, replaced by a cold, deadly malice.
"Listen to me very carefully, Frederick," Vance growled softly. "That laptop contains proprietary data belonging to Vanguard Logistics. If you attempt to access those files or deliver them to the federal prosecutor in San Francisco, I will launch a full-scale assault on your Greenwich estate."
"Try it," I challenged. "My perimeter defenses will turn your men into ash before they reach the treeline."
"I don't need to break your treeline, Frederick," Vance chuckled darkly. "Check your estate's main power grid frequency."
Marco immediately tapped his tablet, his eyes widening in horror as he looked at the security readouts.
"Boss," Marco whispered, his voice shaking. "Our external power lines were severed thirty seconds ago. We're running on local backup generators. And... Vance's tech team has initiated a localized cellular jammer within a two-mile radius."
"You have until eight o'clock tonight, Frederick," Vance announced through the phone. "Hand over the laptop, the woman, and the kid, or I will turn your Greenwich paradise into a war zone. You have three hours."
The line went dead with a sharp, static CLICK.
Laura stood up from the armchair, her hands trembling violently. "Frederick, no... you can't fight him for us! He's going to attack your home! Your daughter is here!"
"Daddy?"
We turned to see Sophia and Kylie standing in the doorway of the study. Sophia was holding a pair of wooden drumsticks, while Kylie held a small plush bear.
Sophia looked at my face, sensing the dark, heavy atmosphere in the room instantly.
"Is something bad happening, Daddy?" Sophia asked quietly.
I walked across the room, dropping to my knees in front of both girls. I took Sophia's hand in my right palm and Kylie's in my left.
"Nothing is going to happen to either of you," I said, looking into my daughter's eyes with absolute conviction. "I promised you I would protect this house, Sophia. And I promised Kylie I would help her find her mom's second chance."
Kylie looked down at her plush bear, then up at Laura. "Mommy, are you crying because of your story?"
Laura wiped her tears, dropping down beside us, pulling Kylie into her arms. "No, baby. Mommy's just... trying to remember a song."
Kylie tilted her head, her brown eyes bright with innocence. "The song from the hospital? The one with the yellow flowers on the radio?"
Laura froze. She grabbed Kylie's shoulders, her heart hammering against her ribs. "Kylie... do you remember the song?"
"You hummed it to me every night before I went to sleep, Mommy," Kylie said simply, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "It's the song about the silver bell."
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Laura gasped, her eyes flying open in shock. "'Chime of the Silver Bell'... by the Cambridge Quartet!"
I jumped to my feet, turning to the laptop on the desk. "Laura! Type it in now!"
