The plan was simple and insane. Mark’s team would create a diversion, a minor security alert at the front gate that would draw the on-duty guard away from the house for the ten minutes. That was my window. Sarah would be my lookout.
That night, dressed in black, I felt a strange sense of the calm. The fear was still there, a cold knot in my stomach, but it was overshadowed by a fierce determination. I was no longer a bride in a fairytale. I was a survivor fighting back.
We slipped onto the estate under the cover of the darkness. Everything went as planned. The alarm at the gate blared, and we watched the guard’s flashlight beam bob away from the house.
I slid the library window open and slipped inside. The house was silent and dark, filled with the shadows that once seemed romantic but now felt menacing. I navigated to the office, my heart pounding with every step.
The painting was there. My hands trembled as I entered the combination. The safe clicked open.
Inside, there were not the piles of cash or the jewels. It was full of the documents and a few small, labeled vials. My eyes scanned the files. One had Catherine’s name on it. It was a faked medical report, detailing a heart condition she never had.
Next to it was another file. My file. It contained a similar, pre-written report for me. And then I saw it. A small vial with a chemical label. It was a potent, fast-acting drug derived from a rare plant. In small doses, it was untraceable and perfectly mimicked the symptoms of the cardiac arrest.
But that was not the biggest shock. Tucked at the very back of the safe was a thick ledger. It was not about his official company. It detailed a massive money-laundering scheme, implicating the powerful people, including his own mother, Eleanor, as the scheme’s architect.
This was bigger than me. This was bigger than Catherine. This was a criminal empire masquerading as a respectable family. The attempt on my life was just a business transaction to keep it all afloat.
I grabbed the files, the ledger, and the vial. Just as I closed the safe, I heard a sound. A car door slamming. They were back.
The panic seized me. I heard voices in the foyer. David and his mother. They had come home early.
Sarah’s voice crackled through the tiny earpiece Mark had given me. “Get out, Maya! They are home!”
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