Chapter 18 - The Break-In at Midnight
At 2:15 AM, the silence of Evelyn’s house was shattered by a piercing electronic alarm.
Red strobe lights flashed along the perimeter corridors.
I bolted upright from bed, adrenaline surging through my limbs like liquid fire.
I grabbed the heavy brass flashlight from the nightstand and stepped into the upper hallway.
From the ground floor, the violent sound of shattering safety glass echoed through the stairwell.
"Security dispatched," the automated voice from the control panel droned steadily.
I moved quietly down the back servants' stairs, bypassing the main foyer.
Two figures dressed in dark tactical gear were moving quickly through Evelyn’s study, tearing through filing drawers with crowbars.
They weren't common burglars; their movements were clinical, methodical.
They were looking for the original paper deeds and Evelyn’s private ledgers.
"Looking for something?" I called out from the dark doorway, flipping the master switch for the floodlights.
Blinding white light flooded the room.
One of the intruders spun around, brandishing a heavy pry bar, while the second lunged toward me.
Before he could cross the threshold, the front door burst open.
Two armed private guards Marcus had stationed at the gate rushed in, service weapons drawn.
"Drop it! On the floor, right now!"
The intruders froze, caught entirely off balance by the immediate response time.
Within ninety seconds, both men were face-down on Evelyn’s Persian rug, zip-tied and disarmed.
From the pocket of the lead intruder, the guards pulled a burner phone.
On the glowing screen was an incoming text from a contact saved only as "J.T."
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"Burn the paper copies and clear the safe."
Julian Thorne had just sealed his own fate.
