Chapter 12 - The Ultimate Trap Sprung in the Heart of the Syndicate
At 4:00 p.m. in the private dining salon of the Drake Hotel, Marcus Vance was sipping expensive champagne, laughing loudly with two sleazy defense attorneys.
Marcus was thirty-four, handsome in a superficial, oily way, dressed in a flashy designer suit bought with mafia blood money.
“I’m telling you,” Marcus laughed, waving his glass. “Claire was always soft. Once we file the emergency injunction, she’ll pay me two million just to walk away, and Vale will have to foot the bill!”
The heavy oak doors of the private salon were suddenly kicked off their hinges with a thunderous crash.
Adrian Vale strode into the room, flanked by Santino and six armed operatives.
The two attorneys instantly turned ghost-white, dropping their briefcases and raising their hands in terror. “Mr. Vale… we… we were just leaving!”
“Leave,” Adrian said in a low growl.
The attorneys scrambled out the door like terrified rats, leaving Marcus Vance alone, trembling in his chair.
“Who… who the hell are you?” Marcus stammered, trying to maintain his bravado.
Adrian walked over, pulled out a chair directly opposite Marcus, and sat down. He placed a thick, black leather folder on the table.
“I am Adrian Vale,” he said calmly. “The man who pays for your son’s private oncology recovery. The man who bought him his favorite dinosaur. And the man who is going to marry Claire Bennett next month.”
Marcus swallowed hard, his arrogance faltering under Adrian’s predatory gaze. “Toby is my blood! You can’t just buy my kid!”
Adrian opened the folder, revealing dozens of bank statements, tax evasion records, and wire fraud documents gathered by Santino’s intelligence unit.
“This is your complete financial history for the past seven years, Marcus,” Adrian explained with chilling precision. “Every fraudulent mortgage, every offshore shell company, every penny you hid while your son was vomiting blood from chemotherapy.”
Adrian pulled out a single fountain pen and a set of legal adoption surrender forms.
“You have two choices,” Adrian stated, his voice as sharp as a guillotine. “Option one: You sign these full relinquishment of parental rights forms right now. You take a one-way ticket to Singapore, and you never set foot on the North American continent again.”
Marcus sneered, trying to puff out his chest. “And what’s option two, tough guy?”
Adrian leaned forward, his dark eyes promising an eternity of torment. “Option two: I hand this folder to the federal prosecutor, and Santino ensures that your twenty-year prison sentence in ADX Florence is extremely… uncomfortable. You will not survive your first winter.”
Marcus looked at the documents, then looked at Adrian’s cold, unyielding face. He realized in an instant that this man was not a mere billionaire playing games. He was death incarnate.
May you like
With trembling hands, Marcus picked up the pen and signed every single page.
“Good boy,” Adrian murmured, taking the papers. “Santino, escort Mr. Vance to O’Hare. Make sure he boards the flight to Singapore.”
