Chapter 9 - The Conspiracy Unfolds
Victoria rushed to Ethan's side, setting the lantern down on the changing table and reaching for the baby.
"Are you hurt?!" she cried, her hands trembling as she touched the dark blood stain spreading across his shoulder.
"It's just a graze," Ethan growled, pulling back slightly so she couldn't take the child from his arms.
He stared at her through the warm amber light of the lantern, his eyes cold and full of deep accusation.
"There's a micro-chip implanted in his chest, Victoria," Ethan stated coldly, watching her face intensely for any reaction.
Victoria froze instantly, her eyes widening in pure horror before she slowly lowered her hands back to her sides.
"You knew," Ethan said, the realization hitting him like a physical blow to his gut.
"You didn't hide him just to protect him from the cartel... you were waiting for the right time to extract the key!"
"No! Ethan, no! You're wrong!" Victoria sobbed, shaking her head violently as tears streamed down her cheeks.
"I didn't put that chip in him! Elena did it before she died in the hospital in California!"
"She knew the Rostov organization was closing in on her, so she surgically hid the primary key inside her newborn!"
"She called me three hours before she was murdered, begging me to save her son from her father's executioners!"
Ethan searched her face, trying to find any trace of deception in her desperate, tear-stained expression.
Before he could respond, the loud, rhythmic thrumming of heavy helicopter blades echoed from the clouds above the estate.
Powerful searchlights cut through the dark windows of the nursery, blinding them with intense white light.
A voice boomed through a high-powered loudspeaker, echoing over the sound of the rain and spinning rotor blades.
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"Ethan Vance! This is the Federal Bureau of Investigation!" the voice commanded sternly from the sky.
"Surrender the child immediately and step away from the windows with your hands above your head!"
