Chapter 10 - THE NOOSE TIGHTENS
“Bait...?” Chad whispered, the word trembling on his lips as the sheer magnitude of his catastrophic mistake finally crashed down upon him. “No... no, that’s impossible. You couldn't have known! You were just the CFO, you—!”
“I wasn't just the CFO, Chad,” I interrupted, leaning forward over the desk. “I am a Lindqvist. And you just robbed a federal infrastructure trust managed directly by my family.”
On the other end of the line, Chad let out a choked, terrified sob. The arrogant, triumphant man in the navy-blue suit at the courthouse had completely vanished, replaced by a pathetic, cornered criminal realizing he was facing twenty-five years in a federal penitentiary with zero possibility of parole.
“Gen... please,” he wept openly now, his voice breaking. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll sign whatever divorce papers you want. I’ll leave Phoenix, I’ll never come back, I’ll disappear! Just... just call off the feds!”
“I don’t make deals with thieves, Chad,” I said steadily.
“Gen, you can’t do this to me! They’re coming! I hear sirens—!”
Click.
I tapped the red end-call button on my screen, cutting off his frantic screaming.
I looked up from the desk. Marcus was staring at the tracking tablet, a satisfied grin spreading across his face.
“Agent Vance’s tactical unit just intercepted him outside the payphone,” Marcus reported smoothly. “Chad Miller is currently in handcuffs, wearing his silk bathrobe on a public sidewalk in downtown Phoenix. Total time elapsed from asset freeze to apprehension: four hours and twelve minutes.”
Christopher stood up slowly from his leather armchair, leaning on his cane, and walked over to place a heavy, warm hand gently on my shoulder.
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“Well executed, daughter,” my father said, his voice filled with genuine, hard-earned pride. “The empire is safe. And more importantly, your son is home.”
I looked out the grand window toward the sunlit lawn where Toby was still chasing butterflies with his nanny. The nightmare was over. The trap had snapped shut. And the true legacy of the Lindqvist family had only just begun.
