Chapter 14 - THE GREENWICH SIEGE
The jet landed at a small,
private strip in Westchester just as the first light of dawn began to grey the sky.
Greenwich was waking up,
the wealthy residents preparing for their morning jogs and their overpriced lattes,
oblivious to the war being fought in their backyards.
We drove toward the estate in silence.
Arthur was focused on a tablet,
watching the global markets open.
The "acquisition" was reaching its critical mass.
If the trade wasn't executed in the next two hours,
the house of cards would fall,
and the Vance name would be synonymous with the greatest financial fraud in history.
As we pulled up to the gates of my home,
I saw that the yellow police tape had been removed.
The FBI vehicles were gone.
Instead,
three black SUVs were parked in the driveway,
their engines humming.
"Where are the agents?"
I asked,
a knot of dread tightening in my stomach.
"They’ve been reassigned,"
Arthur said,
his voice devoid of emotion.
"The adults are in charge now,
Mark."
We walked through the front door.
The house was eerily quiet.
The smell of lavender was gone,
replaced by the metallic scent of gun oil and the cold draft from an open window.
"Lily!"
I shouted,
running toward the stairs.
"Stop,"
a voice commanded.
I froze.
Standing at the top of the grand staircase was Sarah.
She was no longer in the orange jumpsuit.
She was wearing a black dress,
her hair pulled back tight,
her face a mask of cold,
calculated resolve.
She held a folder in one hand and a small,
silver device in the other.
"Sarah?"
I whispered.
"Where is she?
Where is Lily?"
"She’s safe,
Mark,"
Sarah said,
her voice sounding like it belonged to a stranger.
"But she’s not here."
"What do you mean she’s not here?"
"She’s with Mother,"
Sarah replied.
"They’ve gone to the secondary location."
Arthur walked past me,
looking up at his daughter.
"Did you get the keys,
Sarah?"
"I did,
Father,"
she said,
descending the stairs.
"The offshore transfers are ready for the final authorization."
I looked between them,
the betrayal cutting deeper than any blade.
"Sarah...
you’re part of this?
After everything?"
"I’m a Vance,
Mark,"
she said,
standing in front of me.
"I tried to be a Miller."
"I tried to live your life,
your 'honest' life."
"But it was a cage."
"You don't understand what they would have done to us if we hadn't played the game."
"Lily is the only thing that matters."
"And this is the only way to keep her alive."
"By becoming a monster?"
I asked.
"By doing what is necessary,"
she snapped.
She held out the folder.
"Sign the documents,
Mark."
"Once the trade is confirmed,
Mother will bring Lily back."
"If you don't,
we leave."
"And you’ll never see her again."
I looked at my wife,
the woman I had shared a bed with,
the woman who had given me a child.
I saw the hunger for survival in her eyes,
a hunger that had swallowed her soul.
I realized then that the "bad men" hadn't just infiltrated the FBI.
They had lived in my heart.
They had been sitting at my dinner table.
I took the pen from her hand,
but as I looked at the paper,
I noticed a small,
smudged thumbprint in the corner.
A purple thumbprint.
The color of the jam Lily liked on her toast.
My daughter had touched this paper.
She had been here,
right here in this room,
only minutes ago.
She wasn't with Evelyn.
May you like
She was still in the house.
And she was hiding.
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