Chapter 5 - The Ledger in the Floorboards
The silence that followed was heavy and suffocating. Outside, rain began to pelt against the glass, drumming a frantic, irregular rhythm that rattled the window sashes.
""You're lying,"" Marcus said, his voice dropping into a harsh rasp. ""You wouldn't burn it. You kept it as insurance. You always were the cautious one, David. The little brother who kept a spare key, a hidden exit, a back-up plan.""
""I have a family now!"" David shouted, the restraint finally cracking in his chest. Maya flinched at the boom of his voice, burying her face into David’s collarbone, her small hands clutching tightly at the cotton of his shirt. ""Look at her, Marcus! Do you think I would keep a loaded gun under the floorboards with a one-year-old in the house?""
Marcus didn't blink. ""Show me the fireplace.""
""Marcus, please,"" Elena pleaded, stepping closer, holding her hands open. ""Whatever happened between you two, whoever those people are, don't bring them here. We have nothing. Just let us leave.""
""Leave?"" Marcus let out a dry, humorless bark of laughter that died quickly in his throat. ""You think you can drive away from the Syndicate? You think three states and an ocean can hide a face that owes two million in vanished inventory?"" He pointed a blunt, calloused finger directly at David. ""They followed me here. I shook their tail outside the county line, but they know the zip code. You've got twenty minutes before headlights turn onto this street.""
David's eyes darted toward the ceiling, then down toward the cellar door beneath the kitchen stairs. The subtle flicker of his gaze didn't escape Marcus.
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""You lied,"" Marcus whispered, the realization cutting through his cold demeanor. ""It’s not burned. It's in the basement.""
Before David could take a step, the sound of heavy tires crushing gravel sounded in the driveway outside.
