Chapter 5 - The Surveillance Trap
"You thought you were a mastermind, Julian," Arthur said, turning back to look down at the young man lying on the marble floor. "You thought you were breaking my daughter's spirit. But every time you raised your voice, every time you put your hands on her, you were signing your own arrest warrant. Clara knew. She endured it because she knew every second of her pain was being recorded to build a case you could never buy your way out of."
Julian struggled to his feet, holding his bleeding nose with one hand while grabbing the edge of the velvet sofa for balance. "You... you used your own daughter as bait?"
"She volunteered," Arthur snapped, his voice hitting like a hammer. "She came to me six months ago when she found out what your family was doing with the municipal pension funds. She told me she wanted to tear your empire down from the inside. The only thing I failed at... was calculating how fast your sickness would escalate to physical violence today."
Arthur’s jaw tightened, a flash of self-reproach crossing his features. "I was five minutes late. And for that, you are going to pay a price beyond anything your lawyers can comprehend."
Outside, the heavy hum of a helicopter began to vibrate through the floorboards of the mansion. A sleek, matte-black private chopper hovered low over the rear lawn, its rotors kicking up a storm of leaves and pool water.
"Commander, we have air package ready," the tactical operator reported. "Transport team is locked."
"Move Clara to the chopper," Arthur commanded. "Take her directly to the safehouse in Vermont. I'll meet you there after we finalize the sweep."
As two operators guided Clara toward the rear terrace leading to the helicopter, Arthur turned back to his team inside the foyer. "Secure the server room down in the basement. Pull every hard drive, every local back-up, every flash drive. Leave nothing."
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"Hey! You can't touch my servers!" Julian screamed, attempting to stagger toward the basement hallway.
A tactical operator instantly stepped into his path, placing a heavy, gloved hand squarely on Julian’s chest and shoving him backward onto the sofa. "Stay down, sir."
