Chapter 8 - THE COUNTER-ATTACK
The Maybach SUV tore down the desert highway at breakneck speed, its powerful engine roaring against the asphalt as Mateo pushed the vehicle well past the legal limit.
In the back seat, Preston sat upright in his wheelchair, his face hardened into a mask of cold, unyielding granite. The grief, shock, and disbelief had burned away, leaving behind something far more dangerous: the lethal focus of a wounded apex predator who had just realized his mate was a viper.
"How long until we reach the Malibu estate?" Preston demanded, staring fixedly at the digital dashboard clock.
"Two hours, boss," Mateo replied, his eyes locked on the road ahead while his fingers danced across his laptop. "If we hit the coastal bypass before the evening commuter rush. But walking right back into that house without a plan is suicide. Valeria has the local precinct in her pocket; the moment you set foot on the property, her private security will slap a straitjacket on you under a judge’s signature."
"I'm not going back to beg," Preston said quietly, his voice like grinding ice. "I'm going back to audit."
"Audit what?"
"The physical server room in my private study," Preston said. "Valeria is smart, but she's arrogant. She keeps all her personal communications, offshore wire receipts, and duplicate compliance logs in an encrypted secondary partition behind the master vault. A partition she thinks only she knows the master key for."
"And how do you plan on opening a biometric vault without your legs cooperating?" Mateo asked skeptically.
Preston turned his head toward the back seat, where young Leo and his father Thomas sat quietly amidst the cargo gear. Leo met his gaze without flinching.
"He's not going to walk for me, Mateo," Preston said softly. "Not yet. But he showed me the door. Now it's my turn to kick it open."
By 9:00 PM, the Maybach slipped past the electronic perimeter security of the Malibu estate using an old master override transponder Mateo had salvaged from the corporate vaults. They parked in the dense shadow of the eucalyptus grove near the cliffside guest house, entirely out of sight of the security cameras.
The sprawling mansion glowed with warm, golden light. Through the massive floor-to-ceiling windows of the second-floor living room, Preston could see Valeria moving gracefully across the marble floor, swirling a glass of red wine as she chatted animatedly on her smartphone—doubtless finalizing the Swiss transfer orders with her legal team.
"Alright," Mateo whispered, checking the clip of his suppressed pistol before handing a tactical lock-pick kit to Thomas. "We breach through the lower service corridor, disable the security relay in the basement, and secure the study. You two stay right here until I clear the coast."
"No," Preston said, gripping his wheelchair wheels firmly. "I'm coming with you."
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Mateo stared at him, stunned. "Boss, you can't even—"
"I told you," Preston interrupted, his eyes burning with an intense, internal fire. "Truth makes the body wake up. And I am about to deliver the biggest truth of my life."
