Chapter 13 - A Mother's Countermove
Elena felt a momentary wave of ice in her veins, but she forced her voice into a flat, steady iron tone. ""You're tracking this phone.""
""Of course I am,"" Marcus chuckled darkly. ""A woman with a newborn and an expensive stroller stands out like a beacon at a suburban electronics kiosk. But that doesn't matter now. What matters is that your beloved Julian is currently sitting in a private medical suite at Vance Tower.""
""Medical suite?"" Elena scoffed. ""You mean a torture chamber.""
""He's receiving just enough saline and antibiotics to keep him conscious,"" Marcus replied smoothly. ""A man cannot properly sign over his legal guardianship of a child if he is comatose, you see. And the board requires Julian’s living signature to transfer the inheritance to me.""
""He will never sign it,"" Elena said coldly.
""He will when I start breaking his fingers one by one. Or better yet, when my men bring you and little Leo into the room."" Marcus’s tone hardened, the veneer of civility dropping. ""You have ninety minutes, Elena. Bring the child and my father’s ledger to the executive penthouse at Vance Tower. Come alone to the freight elevator in the basement. If I see a single police cruiser within four blocks, Julian’s heart monitor goes flat.""
The line went dead.
Elena stared at the phone for three seconds, then smashed it beneath the heel of her boot, snapping the SIM card in half.
She wasn't a corporate lawyer, and she wasn't a ruthless cartel enforcer. But she was a mother whose family had been shattered by Vance greed, and she held the one thing Marcus feared more than Julian’s return: absolute exposure.
She quickly reached into her bag, pulling out her mother's notebook. At the back of the ledger, written in blue ink, was a direct private line for Federal Prosecutor Sarah Hayes.
Elena picked up the payphone mounted on the tiled subway wall and dialed the number.
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""Hayes,"" a sharp, professional voice answered on the second ring.
""Prosecutor Hayes, my name is Elena Vance,"" she said, using the surname for the first time in her life. ""I have the complete financial ledgers of the Vance Shipping cartel, the encrypted master keys to Marcus Vance’s private servers, and the murder confession of my mother. And I am going to deliver Marcus Vance directly into your hands within the hour.""
