Chapter 4 - The Velvet Coat and the Extortion Note
The words hung in the air, paralyzing the room.
I’m sitting right across from Vincent at his own table.
Vincent slowly raised his eyes from the burner phone and scanned the thirty stunned guests sitting around his lavish dining table. The man on the phone was in this very room, watching this entire disaster unfold.
But before Vincent could single anyone out, a heavy chair scraped loudly against the hardwood floor at the far end of the table.
Arthur Sterling, Vincent’s most trusted business partner and the godfather to Vincent’s late brother, stood up. He was a distinguished man in his sixties, always impeccably dressed in a tailored velvet dinner coat.
He didn't look panicked. He looked terribly bored.
“Arthur?” Vincent said, genuine shock rippling through his normally stoic demeanor. “You?”
Arthur didn't answer. He simply reached into his pocket, pulled out a small remote control, and pressed a button.
Instantly, the heavy steel security shutters on all the dining room windows slammed shut with a deafening crash, plunging the room into shadows lit only by the chandelier. The electronic locks on the main doors clicked ominously.
“Marcus!” Vincent barked.
Marcus drew his weapon and aimed it at Arthur. But Arthur just smiled, slipping his arms out of his velvet dinner coat and draping it casually over the back of his chair.
“Put the gun away, Marcus,” Arthur commanded smoothly. “Or the remote in my hand triggers the localized EMP in the basement. It will wipe every financial server in this house, destroying Vincent’s offshore routing codes. The empire burns tonight.”
Marcus hesitated, looking at Vincent. Vincent gave a tight, almost imperceptible shake of his head. Marcus lowered the gun.
Daniel lunged forward, grabbing Arthur by the collar of his silk shirt. “Where is my son? Where is Leo?!”
Arthur brushed Daniel’s hands away with practiced disdain. “Your son is perfectly safe in a secure location, Daniel. Natalie was stupid enough to think she could use him to extort me for a larger cut of the embezzlement. She stole him from you, yes, but I took him from her.”
Natalie fell to her knees, weeping real tears for the first time. “Arthur, please! I got the diamonds! I have the money!”
“You are a liability, Natalie,” Arthur sneered. He turned to Vincent. “She’s been helping me siphon your shipping profits for three years. She married you to get the master security codes. But now, she’s made a mess.”
Arthur stepped away from the table, backing toward the hidden servant’s door that led directly to the underground garage.
“I want the three million, Vincent,” Arthur said. “And to ensure you don't follow me, I’m taking collateral.”
Arthur didn't point at Vincent. He didn't point at Natalie, or even Daniel.
He pointed directly at me.
“Bring the maid,” Arthur ordered his two private bodyguards, who had silently emerged from the shadows of the servant’s corridor.
“Me?” I gasped, backing into my mother. “I don't know anything about your money!”
“You don't,” Arthur agreed with a cold smile. “But yesterday afternoon, while you were cleaning the guest wing, you accidentally took something from my nightstand. I want it back, Elena. Now.”
Before Vincent’s men could react, Arthur’s bodyguards grabbed my arms, dragging me toward the hidden door.
My mother screamed. Daniel tried to stop them, but a bodyguard struck him hard across the jaw with the butt of a pistol. Daniel crumpled to the floor.
“Elena!” Vincent shouted, surging forward, but the heavy servant’s door slammed shut in his face, the deadbolt engaging with a heavy metallic thud.
I was dragged down the narrow stone stairs into the pitch-black underground garage, my heart hammering against my ribs. Arthur opened the rear door of a black SUV and shoved me inside.
May you like
He leaned into the car, his face inches from mine.
“Where is the wooden music box, Elena?” Arthur hissed. “If you tell me you threw it away, I will have your mother killed before midnight.”
