Chapter 7 - Shadows in the Master Suite
Carter’s chest heaved. For two seconds, the calculated predator looked like an animal caught in a bear trap. His eyes darted to the doorway, then to Clara, then to the red laser dots dancing across his black coat.
"You have no idea what you’re doing, Arthur," Carter said, slowly lowering his hands, though his fingers still gripped the syringe. "Do you think this ends with me? Evelyn knows everything. The board knows. If I go down, the litigation will tie this company in knots for the next decade. Blackwood Global will collapse."
"Drop the weapon," Hendricks barked, stepping forward with his rifle leveled. "On the floor. Now!"
Carter’s eyes narrowed into slits of pure venom. He looked directly at Clara, his voice dropping into a sinister hiss. "You think you’re smart, little secretary? You think Arthur’s going to protect you? You’re just a pawn in his game. When he dies, you’ll be left holding an empty bag, and my lawyers will tear you apart piece by piece."
"I’m not afraid of your lawyers, Carter," Clara said, her voice completely steady, her hands not shaking for an instant as she kept the revolver aimed at his chest. "And you won't be calling them from a corporate boardroom. You’ll be calling them from a federal holding cell."
Carter smirked, a grotesque, arrogant twitch of his lips. "Federal cell? For what? Entering my brother-in-law's bedroom? I heard a noise. I came in to check on him."
"With a syringe containing fifty milligrams of concentrated potassium chloride?" Arthur asked, gesturing to the surveillance camera mounted directly above the bed canopy—a hidden lens that Carter had failed to disable. "The entire room is being recorded on an encrypted remote server, Carter. Every word you whispered to that empty bed was captured. 'Nothing personal, Arthur. You lived twenty years past your usefulness.' A jury will find that particularly compelling during the opening arguments for attempted premeditated murder."
Carter’s face went pale. The arrogance evaporated, replaced by cold, visceral terror.
He opened his fingers. The glass syringe dropped onto the plush carpet with a dull thud.
"Cuff him," Hendricks ordered.
Two guards slammed Carter against the wall, wrenching his arms behind his back and ratcheting heavy steel zip-ties around his wrists. They searched him swiftly, pulling a burner phone, a set of master lock-picks, and the electronic jammer from his coat pockets.
"Where is Evelyn?" Arthur demanded, his slate-gray eyes boring into his captured brother-in-law.
Carter stayed silent, glaring at the floor.
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"Hendricks," Arthur said. "Bring my sister and my nephew to the grand dining room. Now. Clara, take the black ledger and the encrypted backup drives. It’s time to settle the family estate once and for all."
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