Chapter 9 - The Race Against Time and the Traitor Within the Inner Circle
The private elevator shot upward toward the penthouse at breakneck speed, carrying Dominic, Julian, and the tactical medical team.
Julian lay flat on the padded stretcher, a paramedic pressing a heavy pressure bandage against his bleeding shoulder to stem the crimson flow.
Dominic stood beside him, his phone pressed firmly against his ear as he barked rapid-fire commands to his security detail upstairs.
“Thomas, listen to me very carefully,” Dominic commanded into the secure line, his voice cutting through the mechanical hum of the elevator car.
“We have a security breach inside the penthouse suite. Someone is looking for a hidden flash drive inside the nursery.”
“Negative on visual contacts from the interior cameras, boss,” Thomas’s voice crackled back through the earpiece.
“All perimeter sensors are green, and the guards posted outside the master suite report absolute silence.”
“Then they bypassed the sensors using internal override codes,” Dominic growled, his dark eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.
“Only three people outside of myself and Hannah have the master clearance codes for the residential wing.”
Julian groaned softly from the stretcher, blinking heavily as the blood loss took a severe toll on his conscious state.
“The head of household staff... Sarah... she’s Marcus’s sleeper agent,” Julian managed to whisper, gripping Dominic’s hand tightly.
“She signed the transfer papers for the Newark shipping division... she knew everything.”
Dominic’s blood ran cold. Sarah Jenkins had served the Caruso family faithfully for over fifteen years, managing the estate with quiet efficiency.
She was the very person who had fetched teething rings for baby Lily just twenty-four hours earlier.
“Thomas, secure Sarah Jenkins immediately,” Dominic ordered with icy fury. “Do not let her step foot inside the nursery.”
“Copy that, moving in now,” Thomas barked over the radio before the connection dissolved into a flurry of static.
Up on the fiftieth floor, the heavy double doors of the private residential wing remained closed in an eerie, deceptive silence.
Sarah Jenkins stood silently beside the white-painted crib in the master guest nursery, her fingers gently sliding along the padded inner lining.
Her calm, maternal expression was completely gone, replaced by a cold, calculating look of corporate ruthlessness.
She felt the hard plastic edge of a hidden USB drive stitched securely into the cotton batting of the baby mattress.
A triumphant smirk touched the corners of her lips as she reached into her pocket for a seam-ripper to cut the stitches free.
Before the blade could touch the fabric, the heavy nursery door was kicked off its magnetic hinges with a deafening crash.
“Step away from the crib, Sarah,” Thomas Sterling roared, leveling the barrel of his assault rifle directly at her chest.
Sarah froze instantly, the small blade slipping from her fingers to clatter softly against the plush white carpet.
For a fraction of a second, panic flashed across her face before her expression hardened back into cold defiance.
“You’re making a terrible mistake, Thomas,” Sarah said smoothly, raising her empty hands into the air with chilling composure.
“Marcus Vance isn’t the only person with powerful friends in high places. If you arrest me, federal warrants will freeze every account you own by noon.”
“I don’t care about federal warrants, Sarah; I care about treason,” Thomas stepped forward, pressing the cold steel handcuffs onto her wrists.
“And right now, you’re going to explain why you’re stealing property from a nine-month-old child.”
Before Sarah could utter another word of defiance, the private elevator chime echoed down the hallway with a sharp ping.
The doors slid open instantly, revealing Dominic Caruso walking out with the grim, unstoppable aura of an executioner.
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Behind him, Julian was wheeled out on a medical stretcher, pale and weak, but alive and staring directly at the traitor standing in his home.
Sarah’s eyes locked onto Julian standing—or rather, lying—before her, the color draining entirely from her face as she realized her master plan had completely collapsed.
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