Chapter 8 - Chloe's Revelation
At the county general hospital, prosecutor Thomas Reed sat by his daughter's bedside, holding her small hand with overwhelming relief.
Chloe had been medically cleared of physical trauma, though psychological shock still lingered in her wide, haunted eyes.
Detective Miller entered the quiet hospital room, nodding respectfully to the federal prosecutor before kneeling beside the bed.
"Chloe, can you tell us why those people targeted you?" Detective Miller asked gently, holding a digital notepad.
Chloe swallowed hard, her voice trembling as she recounted the terrifying details of her abduction outside her private school.
"They didn't want me... they wanted my dad's encrypted laptop from his home office," Chloe whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks.
"They said if he didn't drop the grand jury indictment against Sterling Global, I would never come home alive," she added.
Thomas Reed clenched his jaw so tightly his teeth ached, realizing his professional war against corporate corruption had endangered his family.
"Sterling Global is a front organization for an international human trafficking and financial extortion ring," Miller muttered grimly.
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The investigation had just escalated from a local suburban kidnapping into a massive national security threat spanning multiple states.
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