Chapter 4 - The Takedown
“Move in! Move in!” Elias’s voice roared through the earpiece hidden beneath my hair.
As Calvin vaulted over the counter, his hands reaching for my throat, the front door of the lake house exploded inward.
A tactical team of state police officers swarmed into the room, their weapons drawn, tactical lasers slicing through the dim light of the cabin.
“State Police! Get on the ground! Show me your hands!”
Calvin froze mid-stride, his eyes widening in sheer, unadulterated terror. He looked at the laser dots trained on his chest, then back at me. I hadn't even flinched.
“Get on the ground now!” an officer screamed, tackling Calvin hard against the hardwood floor.
Calvin’s face smashed into the spilled, poisoned wine. He thrashed, screaming my name, begging me to call them off, but the officers quickly subdued him, snapping heavy steel handcuffs around his wrists.
Elias walked through the shattered front door, wearing a sharp suit and holding a tablet. He looked down at Calvin with absolute disgust.
“Calvin Harris, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit capital murder, wire fraud, and insurance fraud,” the lead detective read his rights as they hauled him to his feet.
“Brooke!” Calvin screamed, his nose bleeding, the wine staining his expensive sweater like a gruesome wound. “Brooke, please! It was Stephanie’s idea! She wanted the money! She forced me into it!”
I walked slowly across the room, stopping just inches from his face.
“Twelve years I loved her. Four years I loved you,” I said quietly, my voice ringing clear in the silent room. “And you both sold my life for a payout. Enjoy federal prison, Calvin. I hear they don't serve Silver Oak.”
As the officers dragged him out to the waiting cruisers, Elias tapped his earpiece.
“Status on the secondary target?” Elias asked. He nodded, looking over at me. “Stephanie is in custody. They raided her apartment five minutes ago. She was packing a suitcase. Looks like Calvin texted her that the plan went south before he lunged at you.”
A profound, overwhelming sense of peace washed over me. The adrenaline that had kept me standing for three weeks finally began to recede, leaving me with the quiet realization that I had survived.
“What happens now?” I asked Elias as we walked out into the crisp evening air.
May you like
“Now?” Elias smiled. “Now my forensic team officially guts his estate. Because of the attempted murder charge, the divorce proceedings will automatically default in your favor due to the felony dissipation of assets clause. You get everything, Brooke. The apartment, the investments, the business. He gets a concrete box.”
I looked at the police cruisers disappearing down the gravel road, their red and blue lights flashing against the trees. For the first time in almost a month, I took a deep, full breath of air.
