Chapter 12 - A Mother's Vengeance
The ruins of the Vance estate were evacuated within ten minutes. Arthur Sterling arrived on the scene accompanied by a convoy of armored SUVs, immediately sweeping Elena back to the fortress-like Sterling Estate in the mountains outside Capital City.
Inside the tactical command center hidden beneath the Sterling residence, wall-sized monitors tracked satellite imaging, street surveillance feeds, and high-frequency radio intercepts.
"The extraction was executed in ninety seconds," Arthur’s intelligence director briefed, pointing to a paused satellite image of a smoldering highway. "Professional work. Military-grade smoke charges, precision jamming, and no casualties among the transport officers—they were hit with stun charges. This wasn't local cartel work. It was Marcus Vance’s private vanguard."
Elena stared at the screen, her heart pounding with protective maternal fury. "Why would he rescue only Victoria? What about Diego?"
"Diego is in the high-security ward of the central penitentiary, undergoing surgery for his broken wrist," Arthur explained calmly, though his eyes burned with fierce intensity. "Breaking into a federal bunker takes preparation. A highway transport is child's play for Marcus's mercenaries. Victoria was the easier asset to recover."
"And now?" Elena asked.
"Now, Victoria will feed Marcus every detail about our operations, our vulnerabilities, and most dangerously, about you," Arthur replied.
Meanwhile, inside an abandoned shipyard warehouse on the southern coast, the door of a black utility van slid open. A disheveled, terrified Victoria was hauled out and shoved onto a metal chair.
She gasped for air, coughing from the smoke, before looking up into the face of a man who looked like an older, battle-hardened version of Diego. He wore tactical cargo pants, a black combat vest, and a deep scar slicing down from his left ear to his throat.
"Marcus..." Victoria wept, reaching out with trembling hands. "You came... you came back for us!"
Marcus didn't embrace her. He stood like a statue of stone, staring down at his mother with cold disgust.
"You and Diego are fools," Marcus said, his voice deep and raspy. "You inherited a functioning shipping empire and let a little girl and an old man strip you of everything like sheep in a slaughterhouse."
"You don't understand, Marcus!" Victoria cried hysterically. "She is Arthur Sterling’s lost daughter! They destroyed us! Diego is in prison, suffering! You must kill her, Marcus! You must kill Elena and tear that child out of her!"
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Marcus crouched down until his dark, unblinking eyes were level with his mother's.
"I don't care about the Vance name, Mother," Marcus whispered, a cruel smirk appearing on his scarred face. "I care about Arthur Sterling’s fortune. And that child in her belly... is the ultimate ransom key."
