Chapter 3 - The Shadow in the Nursery
Mark did not hesitate. He ripped the heavy brass letter opener from his desk and kicked open the connecting door to the nursery with a violent crash.
The bodyguard spun around, his eyes widening in shock. The glass vial slipped from his gloved fingers, shattering against the hardwood floor. A pungent, chemical odor rose instantly from the liquid, hissing faintly against the lacquer.
""Step away from the crib,"" Mark roared, lunging forward.
The guard threw a wild punch, but Mark ducked under the blow, driving his shoulder into the man's ribs and slamming him hard against the changing table. Baby Leo let out a piercing wail, terrified by the sudden violence.
Before Mark could subdue him, the second bodyguard rushed in from the hallway, drawing his taser and firing two electrified darts straight into the rogue operative's spine. The infiltrator convulsed violently and collapsed to the floor, gasping for air as the current locked his muscles.
Mark leaned over the crib instantly, lifting Leo with one arm while keeping his weapon trained on the downed man. ""Who paid you? Eleanor? Victoria?""
The rogue guard coughed up blood onto the floorboards, a twisted smile spreading across his face. ""You’re looking... in the wrong direction, Mark.""
""Give me a name!"" Mark snarled.
""The board... already voted,"" the man whispered hoarsely. ""An unstable CEO whose wife tries to kill his child... is an unfit CEO. Tomorrow morning... you lose everything.""
With a sudden, violent spasm, the guard bit down hard on his back molar. A second later, his eyes rolled into his head, and a thin line of black foam bubbled past his lips. Cyanide.
The surviving bodyguard knelt down, checking the pulse. ""He's gone, sir.""
Mark stood frozen in the middle of the nursery, the infant weeping against his neck. The conspiracy wasn't a domestic dispute over life insurance. It was a calculated, multi-layered assassination intended to dismantle his mind, remove his heir, and justify a hostile corporate takeover.
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Just then, Thomas’s voice came crackling through the hallway intercom, breathless and trembling: ""Mark! Turn on the financial news. Right now!""
Mark rushed back to his desk and flipped the television on. The ticker at the bottom of CNBC ran in bright red: STERLING ENTERPRISES BOARD CONVENES EMERGENCY MIDNIGHT SESSION TO STRIP FOUNDER MARK STERLING OF EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY.
