Chapter 34 - The broken hostage
"Garrett... please, boy, listen to them!" Arthur's voice whimpered through the wall speakers, broken by wet coughs and the distinct scrape of heavy steel chains. "They have me on the front lawn. If you don't bring the girl up within three minutes, they're going to burn the eastern wing down with the staff inside!"
Garrett took two steps toward the wall console, his knuckles whitening as he grabbed the mic. "Arthur, you sold out your own brother for four decades of blood money. You think sacrificing the estate staff will buy your freedom?"
A new voice displaced Arthur’s frantic pleading. It was the same chilling, modulated tone from the library telephone call. Smooth, educated, entirely devoid of emotion.
"Good evening, Mr. Weston. My name is Julian Vance. I am the managing director of the Apex Trust Group," the voice said calmly. "Your uncle’s emotional outbursts are tiresome, but his statement regarding the staff is accurate. Seven members of your domestic security team are currently restrained in the courtyard. Every sixty seconds that you delay delivering Miss Maya, my men will execute one of them."
Margaret gasped, her hands flying to her mouth. "Garrett, no... Mrs. Gable, the cook, she’s been with us since you were born!"
Maya stepped forward, gently moving Garrett’s hand away from the microphone. Her posture was straight, her jaw locked in absolute determination.
"Julian," Maya spoke directly into the grate, her voice ringing clear and authoritative through the damp stone chamber. "You want the living collateral? You want the blood signature on the 1984 sovereign indenture? You don't get a single drop of my blood if you harm those workers. You execute one person, and I will drive a utility knife through my carotid artery right here in this vault. Then you can explain to your European investors why forty billion dollars turned into worthless dust."
A brief, heavy silence fell over the radio frequency. Even Marcus looked at Maya with newfound awe.
"You have your father's spine, Miss Weston," Julian Vance finally chuckled, though the warmth in his voice was razor-thin. "A negotiation, then. You will emerge through the cliffside carriage gate alone. No weapons. No protective detail. Just you and the indenture documents."
Garrett immediately shook his head, mouthing the word 'No' with fierce desperation.
May you like
Maya met Garrett’s gaze, her eyes blazing with an unyielding fire. "We aren't running through the sea tunnel, Garrett. We run, and innocent people die for our name. It ends tonight."
👉 She turned to Marcus and whispered, "Give me your concealed ceramic derringer, and activate the tunnel's high-voltage emergency drainage grid on my mark."
