Chapter 14 - THE BLACKOUTDarkness swallowed the ballroom.
Guests shouted.
Glass shattered near the stage.
Emergency lights should have activated immediately.
They did not.
Someone had disabled the backup system.
Ethan switched on his phone’s flashlight.
The silicone belly was still on the floor.
Vanessa was gone.
Damian had disappeared as well.
Nathan called Caroline’s name.
“I’m here,” she answered from behind him.
Hotel security ordered everyone to remain still.
Ethan moved toward the service corridor.
A door swung slowly at the end of the hallway.
He followed it into the hotel kitchen.
Workers stood confused beneath flickering emergency lamps.
A delivery exit had been forced open.
Outside, a black sedan accelerated into the street.
Ethan captured the license plate on his phone.
The vehicle belonged to Cross Consulting Holdings.
Nathan contacted the police.
Within minutes, the city issued an alert.
The sedan was found abandoned near the river.
Vanessa and Damian were no longer inside.
Investigators discovered two airline tickets in the glove compartment.
Both were for a flight leaving Chicago that night.
The names were false.
Caroline returned to the mansion with Ethan and Nathan.
They needed to secure the company’s remaining records before Damian accessed them remotely.
Ethan’s team suspended all executive accounts.
During the security review, they found an encrypted folder connected to Damian.
Inside were payments to Vanessa, the costume shop, the false medical-document designer, and the hospital driver.
There were also transfers to three board members.
Damian had spent two years preparing to take control of Cole International.
The fake pregnancy was only the final phase.
Nathan read the files with growing disbelief.
“He planned everything.”
Caroline shook her head.
“He created the opportunity.”
She looked directly at Nathan.
“You gave him the weakness.”
Nathan accepted the statement without defending himself.
Ethan traced the latest login attempt to an abandoned warehouse near the train yards.
Police surrounded the building.
They found computers, forged passports, and bags of cash.
But Vanessa and Damian were already gone.
On one monitor, Ethan discovered a live connection to Nathan’s mansion security system.
Damian had been watching them.
A message appeared on the screen.
THE COMPANY IS ALREADY MINE.
Seconds later, the mansion alarm began ringing.
A guard called from the east wing.
Someone had entered Caroline’s former bedroom.
Ethan, Nathan, and the police rushed upstairs.
The room was empty.
On the bed lay Caroline’s wedding ring.
Beside it was another small silver pin.
May you like
A note had been pushed through it.
THE NEXT LIE WILL COST A LIFE.
Related Stories
