Chapter 8 - The Final Scheme
Elias unlocked the door, allowing Agent Marcus Vance inside. The agent was soaked from the storm, carrying a thick manila folder under his arm. He wasted no time, dropping the documents onto the kitchen counter.
"Ten minutes ago, Sloan Prescott’s attorney filed an emergency petition for protective custody," Vance said grimly. "She claimed that her father, Julian Prescott, has activated an offshore hit contract. Not just against her to keep her quiet, but against Willa."
Willa’s heart leaped into her throat. "Her father? Julian Prescott has been living in exile in Monaco for five years."
"He was," Vance corrected. "Until our international alert flagged his private jet touching down at a private airstrip in rural Virginia two hours ago. The man has landed on American soil. He’s liquidating all his remaining domestic assets through shell companies, and he blames Willa’s testimony for triggering the federal freeze on his billions."
Elias’s eyes darkened into twin pools of midnight rage. "Julian Prescott thinks he can set foot in my city and threaten the woman under my protection? Where is he heading?"
"Our wiretaps indicate he’s coordinating with a rogue mercenary unit to hit the Greenbrier Rehab Center at midnight," Vance warned. "He knows Sam is Willa’s pressure point. He intends to take her brother hostage to force her to recant her grand jury deposition before the formal indictments are unsealed tomorrow morning."
A cold sweat broke out across Willa’s forehead. "Sam! Elias, we have to get Sam!"
"Sam isn't at Greenbrier," Elias said with chilling calm. He turned to Willa, placing his hands firmly on her shoulders to ground her. "Remember the tactical extraction I ordered three days ago? Sam has been safe inside my private Annapolis bunker since Tuesday night. The boy at the clinic is a decoy—two undercover tactical agents posing as a patient and an orderly."
Wance nodded in approval. "We’ve laid the trap. But Julian Prescott is paranoid. He won't commit his strike team unless he confirms that Willa is physically on her way to the clinic to visit her brother."
Willa took a deep, steadying breath. She understood what needed to be done. "Then let me be the bait."
"Absolutely not," Elias snarled, refusing instantly. "I am not putting you anywhere near Prescott's crosshairs."
"Elias, listen to me!" Willa pleaded, grasping the lapels of his jacket. "Julian Prescott killed your sister. He orchestrated the corruption of your family. If he escapes back across international waters, we will spend the rest of our lives looking over our shoulders, waiting for his assassins. We end this tonight. With you and Agent Vance beside me, I am not afraid."
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Elias stared into Willa’s fierce, unwavering gaze. He saw the same unstoppable courage that had defied Sloan’s thugs in the locked boathouse. He knew he couldn't break her spirit; all he could do was protect it with his very life.
"Fine," Elias growled, pulling his phone to summon his personal strike team. "We go. But the second shots are fired, you stay behind my back. If anyone gets hurt tonight, it will be Julian Prescott."
