Chapter 6 - The Viper's Strike
While peace had finally settled inside the walls of the Graves Estate, a storm was brewing four miles away in the penthouse office of Graves Energy Corporation.
Julian Graves—Nathaniel’s younger brother—stood behind his massive glass desk, staring furiously at a bank of security monitors displaying the front gates of Nathaniel's estate.
Julian was fifty years old, impeccably groomed in a tailor-made gray suit, but his face was contorted in a mask of pure, venomous rage.
Standing across from him was his personal security chief, a brute of a man named Boris.
"How did this happen, Boris?!" Julian slammed his fist onto the glass desk, shattering a crystal glass filled with scotch. "I gave you one simple job twelve years ago! You were supposed to make sure Maya Lin never set foot in this city again!"
"Boss," Boris said in a low, gravelly voice, "we tracked her to Oregon eleven years ago. She was using fake IDs, living in poverty, working cash jobs. We kept tabs on her. When she moved back to Seattle four years ago, she was a nobody sleeping in a slum on Aldridge Street. She wasn't a threat!"
"She wasn't a threat?!" Julian shrieked, his face turning bright red. "Her brat walked into Nathaniel's lobby today holding his wallet and an eviction notice! Do you know what Nathaniel did?! He canceled the board meeting! He cleared the liens! He brought Maya and the child to his estate!"
Julian began pacing the room rapidly, his fingers digging into his palms.
"If Nathaniel runs a DNA test on that girl," Julian whispered, terror creeping into his voice, "he will prove she is his legitimate heir. Under the original family charter, if Nathaniel has a direct blood descendant, sixty percent of the company's master voting shares automatically transfer to a irrevocable family trust upon his death or retirement!"
"What does that mean for us, Mr. Graves?" Boris asked, frowning.
"It means I lose everything!" Julian screamed. "The forty million dollars I skimmed from the clean-energy development foundation over the last decade will be discovered during the trust audit! The forged offshore accounts in Zurich will be exposed! Nathaniel will put me in a federal prison for the rest of my life!"
Julian stopped pacing. He walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking out over the Seattle skyline toward the distant hills where Nathaniel's estate sat.
A dark, sinister calmness slowly replaced the panic on Julian's face.
"We have twenty-four hours," Julian murmured coldly. "Nathaniel hasn't officially registered the child's DNA with the corporate court registry yet. The emergency board meeting to vote on my motion to strip Nathaniel of his CEO authority is scheduled for tomorrow evening at eight."
"What do you want me to do, Boss?" Boris asked, stepping closer.
Julian pulled an encrypted black satellite phone from his desk drawer and tossed it to Boris.
"Nathaniel thinks his estate is an impenetrable fortress," Julian said, a cruel, cold smile spreading across his face. "He forgets that I helped design the security grid twelve years ago. I know every blind spot in the thermal perimeter camera system."
Julian leaned forward, his voice dropping into a lethal whisper.
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"Tonight, while they are sleeping, you will bypass the eastern gate sensor," Julian commanded. "I don't just want Maya silenced this time, Boris. I want the girl, and I want the original clean-energy files Maya kept. Make it look like a tragic house fire caused by a gas line leak. Burn the east wing to the ground."
Boris caught the satellite phone and gave a slow, ominous nod. "Consider it done, Mr. Graves."
