Chapter 4 - The Extraction.
Clara dropped the crystal lamp onto the thick carpet, letting out a choked, desperate sob as she ran across the room and threw her arms around her father.
Thomas dropped his weapon to its sling and wrapped his massive arms around his little girl, holding her tighter than he had in years.
I've got you, sweetheart, you are completely safe now, he whispered fiercely into her hair, his own eyes burning with unshed tears.
He gently pulled back to examine the heavy makeup covering her swollen eye, his jaw tightening so hard it looked like it might shatter.
I am going to completely destroy him for this, Clara, I am going to tear his entire world apart piece by piece, Thomas promised in a low, deadly rumble.
Clara shook her head quickly, wiping her tears and finding a sudden, intense well of strength she didn't know she still possessed.
We have to leave right now, Dad, Richard could check the security cameras from his phone at any moment, she urged him frantically.
Thomas nodded, signaling to his men who immediately began sweeping the room to ensure they left no trace of their tactical entry.
Grab whatever you need in exactly two minutes, because you are never stepping foot inside this house again, he ordered her softly.
Clara didn't bother packing clothes or expensive jewelry, instead heading straight for a hidden floorboard in her massive walk-in closet.
She pulled out a small, encrypted hard drive that she had spent the last six months secretly loading with Richard's highly illegal financial transactions.
She had always known Richard was involved in insider trading and offshore money laundering, and she had meticulously gathered the evidence as an insurance policy.
I have everything we need to ruin his life right here, she said, slipping the hard drive securely into the pocket of her heavy winter coat.
Before they left the bedroom, Thomas pulled a large, terrifyingly sharp combat knife from his tactical vest.
He walked over to the expensive silk bedsheets, driving the blade deeply into the center of the mattress and leaving it buried to the hilt.
It was a universally understood message in his world, a clear and undeniable warning that Richard Sterling was now a marked man.
The team escorted Clara swiftly down the staircase, slipping back out into the rainy night like shadows dissipating in the wind.
They reached the armored SUVs in complete silence, and the moment Clara climbed into the backseat, the heavy doors locked shut like a vault.
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As the vehicles sped away from the Greenwich estate and disappeared into the dark highway, Clara looked back one last time.
The gilded cage that had held her captive for two years was finally behind her, and a brutal, beautiful war was just about to begin.
