Chapter 6 - Shadows on the Lawn
Claire didn't flinch. She set her coffee cup down with zero noise and walked silently to the front windows, standing just behind the velvet drapes.
An unmarked black cargo van had parked across the street, its engine idling low. Two men in dark tactical jackets stepped out, surveying the darkened driveway. Mark hadn't even waited for the seventy-two-hour statutory notice to expire. He was sending thugs to force her out tonight, under the guise of an emergency private property recovery.
""Elena,"" Claire whispered, keeping her phone pressed to her ear. ""They’re here.""
""Call 911 immediately,"" Elena urged, her voice tightening. ""Tell them there’s an armed home invasion in progress!""
""No,"" Claire replied calmly. ""If local police come, they will look at Mark’s forged paperwork, call it a 'civil matter between spouses,' and tell me to get a hotel for the night while Mark’s men lock the doors.""
""Then what are you going to do?""
Claire stepped toward the security keypad mounted beside the kitchen entrance. The estate had been retrofitted with commercial-grade security shutters installed after her father’s passing. Every window and door was lined with reinforced steel plates designed to lock down during severe storms.
She keyed in an emergency override code that had never been shared with Mark.
With a low, motorized whine, heavy steel storm shutters slammed down over every first-floor window and patio exit. The front oak door sealed with three heavy titanium bolts sinking into reinforced concrete.
Outside, a sharp metallic curse rang out as one of the men attempted to test the kitchen door handle.
Claire picked up the estate’s external intercom receiver.
""You have thirty seconds to leave this driveway,"" Claire’s voice boomed through the exterior speakers, crystal clear and devoid of panic. ""Your vehicle’s plates have already been captured and transmitted to the New York State Attorney General’s Special Prosecutions Bureau. Every step you take on this lawn constitutes felony trespass on property subject to an active federal financial investigation.""
The two men froze. One of them immediately pulled a radio to his collar, speaking rapidly.
May you like
Claire watched through the high-definition perimeter monitors. But instead of retreating, the van door slid open wider, and a third figure stepped out into the streetlight.
It was Sophia Vance.
