Chapter 7 - The Mastermind Revealed
“Drop it, Vale!” the second gunman shouted, his voice artificially distorted by a digital modulator inside his mask.
Richard froze, his finger hovering over the trigger of his pistol. He slowly lowered the weapon, his eyes narrowing into cold slits as he stared at the masked man holding him at gunpoint.
“You’re working for Julian,” Richard said, stating it not as a question, but as a chilling realization. “The COO.”
The masked man let out a harsh, mechanical laugh. He reached up, tearing the black balaclava off his face.
It wasn't Julian.
It was Marcus Vance—my cousin, and the supposed corporate general counsel of Vance Holdings whom my mother had supposedly kept locked away in a European subsidiary for the last decade.
“Julian is a corporate lapdog, Richard. He lacks imagination,” Marcus smiled, his eyes glittering with a manic, desperate greed. He gestured with his weapon toward the Maybach, where Madeline was staring out in absolute terror. “Besides, Julian didn't build this syndicate. My uncle built it, my aunt protected it, and I’m going to inherit the ashes.”
I shoved the gunman I had tackled off me, scrambling to my feet as my breath plumed white in the freezing air. I stared at Marcus in utter disbelief.
“Marcus?” I gasped, wiping dirt and frost from my bespoke shirt. “Mother told me you died in a plane crash in Zurich ten years ago.”
“Of course she did, Arthur,” Marcus sneered, keeping his gun locked on Richard. “Because I discovered she was siphoning the family trust to fund your rise. When I threatened to expose her, she staged my death, paid off a Swiss coroner, and exiled me to a shadow subsidiary in Hong Kong with a gag order and a restricted bank account.”
Marcus took a step closer, his eyes darting hungrily toward the black leather binder resting on the front seat of the Maybach—the very binder containing the asset transfers I had just signed over to Madeline.
May you like
“And now,” Marcus whispered, “you’ve hand-delivered every single cent of the Vance empire into a neat little package, ready for me to claim.”
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