Chapter 5 - Unraveling the Conspiracy
Back in Brooklyn, the night was cold and silent.
I stepped into the basement storage room of my apartment building.
The air smelled of heated steel and ozone.
Mark was sitting on the concrete floor, tied securely to a heavy iron pillar with steel zip ties. His clothes were covered in gray dust, and his expensive mechanical drill lay shattered on the floor beside my pristine, untouched floor safe.
Viktor stood beside him, holding a heavy tactical flashlight pointed directly at Mark’s face.
Mark was sweating profusely despite the freezing air.
"David!" Mark stuttered, his knees shaking against the pillar. "David, thank God! Intruders broke in! I came down here to protect your belongings!"
I walked over slowly, pulling a pair of leather gloves onto my hands.
"You're a terrible liar, Mark," I said calmly. "You're an accountant. You don't even know how to use a hammer, let alone a diamond tipped safe drill."
"I swear! Eleanor told me—"
"I know what Eleanor told you," I interrupted, pulling a chair over and sitting directly in front of him. "She told you that if Maya died, Liam would inherit my estate, and as his legal guardians, you and Chloe would manage his trust funds."
Mark swallowed hard, unable to meet my eyes.
I pulled out my phone and held it in front of his face, showing him the photograph of the sealed pharmacy bag containing Maya's pain medication and antibiotics.
"Who hid her medicine, Mark?" I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
"Eleanor..." Mark wept, breaking down completely. "It was Eleanor! She took the keys to the medicine cabinet! She said if Maya took those antibiotics, her infection would clear up and she'd start asking questions about the fourteen thousand dollars you sent!"
My knuckles turned white inside my leather gloves.
"And the heating?" I asked.
"Chloe turned off the main circuit breaker before we left for the airport," Mark sobbed. "She said a cold room would speed up the fever. I didn't want to do it, David! I swear! They threatened to cut me out of the family business if I didn't help!"
"You stood in a warm room while my wife bled on a plastic chair," I said, rising from my seat. "You left my eleven day old son in the cold."
"David, please! We're family!"
"Family protects each other," I said coldly, turning my back on him. "You are just a parasite."
May you like
I looked at Viktor. "Hand him over to the federal authorities along with the security footage of him drilling into my safe. Charge him with grand larceny, conspiracy to commit murder, and breaking and entering."
"No! David, please!" Mark screamed as Viktor’s men dragged him toward the waiting police van outside.
