Chapter 5 – The Hidden Safe
Victor raced up the curved staircase two steps at a time.
Behind him, deputies shouted for him to stop, but panic had already taken control. He no longer cared about appearances, reputation, or excuses.
He cared about one thing.
The hard drive.
If Richard Bennett got his hands on it, everything Victor had spent fifteen years building would collapse overnight.
He slammed the bedroom door behind him and locked it.
"Break it down!" Sheriff Hayes ordered from the hallway.
Victor ignored the pounding.
He rushed into his private study, knelt before a built-in bookshelf, and pressed three hidden buttons beneath the lowest shelf.
With a soft mechanical click, the wall slid open.
A concealed safe emerged.
Victor pulled out a black duffel bag already packed with cash, passports, and a loaded laptop. His hands shook as he shoved the hard drive inside.
"Just get out," he muttered to himself.
"There has to be another way."
Outside the study, the pounding grew louder.
Boom!
The bedroom door splintered.
"They're inside!" a deputy yelled.
Victor glanced toward the windows.
The room overlooked the back gardens.
A twenty-foot drop.
Too high to jump safely.
Then he remembered the balcony.
He grabbed the duffel bag and sprinted through the French doors.
Rain lashed his face as he stepped onto the stone balcony.
For one brief second, he believed he had escaped.
Then a calm voice came from below.
"I wouldn't do that."
Victor looked down.
Richard Bennett stood in the garden despite the pouring rain.
He held a black umbrella, perfectly still, as though he had known exactly where Victor would appear.
Around him, Richard's security team had already surrounded the entire estate.
There was nowhere left to run.
Victor forced a smile.
"You planned this."
Richard's expression never changed.
"No."
"I prepared for the day my daughter finally asked for help."
Victor tightened his grip on the duffel bag.
"You think you've won?"
"I know you lost."
The study window exploded open behind Victor as deputies climbed onto the balcony.
"Don't move!" Sheriff Hayes shouted.
Victor looked from the officers behind him to Richard below.
His breathing became frantic.
Then, in one desperate act, he hurled the duffel bag over the balcony railing.
It landed in the rose garden with a heavy thud.
One of Victor's private bodyguards—who had been hiding near the hedges—darted from the shadows, snatched the bag, and sprinted toward the rear gate.
"Stop him!" Michael Grant shouted.
The man vaulted over a stone wall and disappeared into the darkness before anyone could intercept him.
Victor smiled for the first time that night.
"You'll never find it."
Sheriff Hayes snapped the handcuffs around Victor's wrists.
"We'll see."
As deputies led Victor back inside, Richard walked slowly to the spot where the bag had landed.
The roses were crushed.
Rainwater pooled in the muddy ground.
Something small glinted beneath the bushes.
Richard bent down and picked it up.
It wasn't the hard drive.
It was Emma's stuffed rabbit.
Tucked inside a torn seam was a tiny silver memory card.
Richard frowned.
He looked toward the ambulance pulling away with Laura and Emma.
A quiet realization settled over him.
May you like
His daughter had hidden something long before tonight.
And whatever was on that memory card might be even more dangerous than the hard drive Victor had just managed to send into the night.
