Chapter 15 - Malcolm’s Offer
Malcolm pressed his hand against the office camera.
“Open the door, Claire.”
“No.”
“Then Blake dies.”
On the hallway floor, Blake moved weakly. The gunshot had struck his shoulder.
Malcolm held the pistol calmly.
“Give me the amendment and the drive.”
“You’ll kill us anyway.”
“I have no reason to harm Emma if you cooperate.”
“You built this entire plan around controlling her.”
His expression changed.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Daniel whispered that deputies were six minutes away.
The office door would not survive six minutes.
Malcolm struck it with a fire axe taken from the garage.
Metal folded inward.
Marissa began crying.
“This is my fault.”
“No,” I said. “But you can help stop it.”
She connected her necklace drive to the office computer and uploaded the recordings to Daniel’s secure server, the sheriff’s department, and three news organizations.
Malcolm heard the notification tone through the damaged door.
“What did you do?”
Marissa raised her voice.
“I sent everything.”
He fired through the door.
The bullet buried itself in the wall inches from Daniel.
Emma did not scream this time.
She held my hand and stared at the door with wide, silent eyes.
I slid the original amendment into the office shredder.
Malcolm stopped swinging the axe.
“No!”
“You wanted this paper,” I called. “Now it’s gone.”
Daniel looked shocked, but I met his eyes.
He understood.
The document had already been scanned, witnessed, and secured digitally.
Malcolm did not know that.
For the first time, panic broke through his control.
Police sirens rose outside.
Malcolm dragged Blake upright and pressed the gun against his neck.
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“If I leave without the drive,” he shouted, “your husband leaves in a body bag.”
👉 Claire had destroyed Malcolm’s leverage, but he still held the man who had betrayed her at gunpoint.
