Chapter 18 - THE FINAL HORIZON
The heavy oak doors of the Zurich boardroom were suddenly blown inward by breaching charges as Swiss federal police officers flooded the room with laser sights trained on Arthur's chest.
Claire sprinted out of the room, her encrypted satellite phone pressed tightly against her ear as she screamed into the receiver.
"Marcus! Respond to me right now!" Claire cried, her voice echoing down the marble hallway. "Secure Leo! Shut down the perimeter!"
Through the static of the satellite connection, Marcus's voice finally cut through, accompanied by the deafening roar of gunshots and wind noise.
"We have the boy secured in the underground panic room, ma'am!" Marcus reported breathlessly. "But the intruders didn't come to kidnap Leo—they came to drop off a package!"
Claire stopped dead in her tracks near the hotel glass elevator, her breath ragged as she gripped the phone with trembling fingers.
"What package, Marcus?" Claire demanded, her heart hammering wildly in her chest.
May you like
"A heavy iron chest bearing your father's crest," Marcus revealed, his voice shaking with profound shock. "And inside... there is a live satellite tracker broadcast showing Ethan Sterling didn't die in prison last week—he was broken out by Arthur's men and is currently standing on a private docks two miles from your house."
Outside the high glass windows of the Zurich skyscraper, a sudden blinding lightning strike illuminated the snowstorm, leaving Claire standing in terrifying silence as a mysterious text message flashed onto her phone screen: "SEE YOU AT THE HAMPTONS GATES, MY LOVE."
