Chapter 14 - THE NIGHT THE BILLIONAIRE LOST CONTROL|
Theodore saw the man before Rebecca did.
He sat in a booth near the rear exit, wearing a dark jacket and reading a newspaper that had not moved in several minutes. His right hand remained hidden beneath the table.
Theodore signaled Marcus.
“Get Nadia outside.”
Nadia immediately understood.
“No. We're not leaving Rebecca.”
“I'm not asking you to abandon her. I'm asking you to move.”
Marcus guided Rebecca toward the side door while Theodore remained near the table. The armed man stood as they passed, revealing a pistol beneath his jacket.
Everything happened quickly.
Marcus struck the man's wrist, sending the weapon skidding across the floor. A second attacker appeared near the kitchen entrance. Customers screamed and dropped beneath their tables.
Theodore pulled Nadia behind the counter.
“Stay down!”
A shot shattered the window.
Nadia covered her ears as glass rained across the tiles. Theodore leaned over her, shielding her with his body while Marcus struggled with the second attacker.
The first man escaped through the rear exit.
The second was restrained by a waitress and a delivery driver who had hidden behind the kitchen door.
When the police arrived, Rebecca was gone.
Nadia rushed outside, searching the parking lot.
“Rebecca!”
No answer.
Her phone lay on the wet pavement beside a dark stain of blood.
Theodore found her standing in the rain, staring at the empty road.
“We'll find her,” he said.
“You don't know that.”
“No. But I won't stop looking.”
Nadia turned on him.
“Everyone who helps me ends up threatened, hurt, or dead. My mother. My adoptive parents. Daniel Price. Now Rebecca.”
“Rebecca is not dead.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because if Victor wanted her dead, he wouldn't have sent men to take her. He would have done it quietly.”
Nadia stared at him.
Theodore's expression hardened.
“He needs something she has.”
“And what happens when he gets it?”
“Then we make sure he doesn't get away with it.”
She stepped closer.
“I don't want you to become him.”
The words stopped him.
“I won't.”
“You've spent your life believing fear is the only thing people respect. You've built an empire around it. How am I supposed to know you won't use the same methods when you're desperate?”
Theodore looked toward the road.
For years, he had convinced himself that ruthless decisions were necessary to keep his family safe. He had threatened competitors, destroyed reputations, and maintained relationships with men whose money came from places no one asked about.
He had never considered how much his father's legacy had shaped his choices.
“I can't undo everything I've done,” he said quietly. “But I can decide what I do next.”
Nadia's anger softened, though her fear remained.
They returned to New York before dawn. Marcus had recovered part of the attacker's phone, which contained an encrypted message thread.
One message had been sent thirty minutes before the shooting.
Secure the evidence. The woman is expendable.
Another had arrived afterward.
Bring the girl to the estate. The original inheritance must be settled before the board meeting.
Theodore read the second message twice.
“What girl?” Nadia asked.
He looked at her.
“Victor may be talking about you.”
Marcus opened the attached file.
It contained a scanned page from Richard Hawthorne's will.
The document named Nadia as the primary beneficiary of a trust established twenty-three years earlier.
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But the signature at the bottom did not belong to Richard.
It belonged to Theodore.
