Chapter 10 - MAYA
Colleen called Maya.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Robert answered Maya’s phone.
“Hello, Colleen.”
Colleen went cold.
“If you touch her—”
“Please.”
Robert sounded almost bored.
“Must every conversation with you begin with threats?”
“Where is she?”
“Somewhere comfortable.”
Maya screamed in the background.
“COLLEEN, DON’T LISTEN TO—”
The line muffled.
Colleen nearly crushed the phone.
“You want me.”
“I want Daniel’s evidence.”
“Let Maya go.”
“Bring me the drive.”
“And then?”
“Then your sister goes home.”
Jessica shook her head violently.
“He’s lying.”
Robert heard her.
“Jessica.”
His voice turned soft.
“You've embarrassed yourself enough.”
She grabbed the phone.
“You’re finished.”
Robert laughed.
“I created your entire life.”
“You stole it.”
A pause.
Daniel had been right.
Jessica continued.
“You married me for my father’s company.”
Robert’s silence confirmed everything.
Then he said, “Midnight.”
He gave an address.
An unfinished luxury tower on the river.
One of Langford Development’s projects.
“Come alone, Colleen.”
The call ended.
Ethan shook his head.
“No chance.”
“He has Maya.”
“He’ll kill you too.”
Daniel, pale from a bullet wound through his shoulder, sat against the motel wall.
“He wants the drive more than he wants revenge.”
Jessica looked at him.
“Can we copy it?”
“Already did.”
Colleen turned.
“When?”
“Years ago.”
Daniel smiled weakly.
“Survival makes you organized.”
By 11:45 p.m., Colleen approached the unfinished tower carrying the original drive.
A tiny microphone was hidden under her collar.
Ethan monitored from a van.
Jessica waited with him.
Daniel had been taken to a private doctor.
Inside the tower, concrete floors stretched beneath exposed beams.
Maya sat tied to a chair on the twentieth floor.
Robert stood behind her.
Two armed men nearby.
“Drive.”
Colleen held it up.
“Maya first.”
Robert smiled.
“You still think you're negotiating.”
He motioned.
A guard pressed a gun to Maya’s neck.
Colleen handed over the drive.
Robert inserted it into a laptop.
Files opened.
His smile widened.
“Daniel always was careless.”
“Let her go.”
Robert closed the laptop.
“No.”
Colleen’s heart sank.
“You promised.”
“I lie.”
Maya started crying.
Robert approached Colleen.
“You humiliated me.”
“At the hotel.”
“On television.”
“In my own house.”
Colleen stared him down.
“You did that yourself.”
He slapped her.
Hard.
Colleen stumbled.
Maya screamed.
Robert grabbed Colleen’s jaw.
“You’re just a maid.”
Colleen tasted blood.
Then smiled.
“And somehow you still needed three armed men to face me.”
Robert’s face twisted.
He drew back his fist.
A voice boomed from the stairwell.
“POLICE! DROP YOUR WEAPONS!”
Robert spun.
Dozens of officers poured onto the floor.
Colleen looked toward her hidden microphone.
Ethan had transmitted the entire exchange.
Robert’s men dropped their guns.
Robert didn’t.
May you like
He grabbed Maya, pulled a pistol from his coat, and dragged her toward the open edge of the unfinished tower.
“One more step,” he shouted, “and she falls!”
