My brother sabotaged the construction site of the woman I loved, leaving her unconscious behind the glass of a Chicago trauma bay. Then he walked into the hospital, smiled at me, and threatened to make sure she never woke up again. What he didn’t know was that I had finally found the one thing capable of destroying his entire criminal empire. / Chapter 10 / 20

Chapter 10 - Marcus's BetrayalMarcus looked pale, his eyes rimmed with red, wearing an expensive wool coat that looked completely out of place in the muddy basement.

"Uncle Marcus..." Maya's voice trembled, her flashlight shaking in her grip. "How... how could you?"

Marcus took a slow step forward, raising a hand in a placating gesture. "Maya, please. Put the drive down and step away from the panel. You don't understand how these things work."

"I understand that you altered my structural calculations!" Maya shouted, her voice ringing off the concrete walls, tears burning her eyes. "I understand that you let three workers get crushed under concrete! You framed me, Marcus! You framed your own brother's daughter!"

Marcus's face twisted in a flash of ugly, defensive rage. "Your father left this firm with six million dollars in hidden debt, Maya! Six million! I spent five years drowning, trying to keep Vance Architectural from going under while you were off playing visionary architect!"

"So you sold out to Julian Sterling?" Maya asked, her tone laced with bitter disgust.

"Julian offered a clean slate!" Marcus spat. "He paid off the creditors! All he wanted in return was a front company to clear his real estate holdings! It was supposed to be a simple paper transfer, Maya! But then Derrick Sterling showed up with his righteous guilt, trying to blow up the whole system!"

Behind Maya, the server screen chimed quietly:

UPLOAD PROGRESS: 45%... 52%...

One of the armed men behind Marcus glanced at the screen. "Sir, the file is uploading to a federal server. We need to shut that box down right now."

"Step aside, Maya," Marcus said, drawing a small revolver from his coat pocket, his hand trembling slightly. "Don't make me do this."

"You won't shoot me, Uncle Marcus," Maya said, taking a step back, positioning her body directly in front of the server panel. "You're a coward. You hire men to break buildings because you don't have the stomach to break things yourself."

Marcus's jaw tightened. "Get her out of the way," he ordered the two guards.

Before the men could move, a blinding glare cut through the basement darkness from the opposite end of the corridor.

Two sharp, suppressed gunshots shattered the air—pt-pt!

The two guards crumpled to the concrete floor instantly, dropping their weapons.

Marcus gasped, dropping his revolver in sheer terror, spinning around.