Chapter 6 - The Freefall
Marcus Thorne had never understood the concept of "enough." In his world, if something was broken, you didn't fix it; you replaced it. But now, he was the one being replaced.
His mother had officially disowned him, terrified that his association with the embezzlement scandal would tarnish the family name further. His lawyers had abandoned him after the offshore accounts were seized, citing a conflict of interest. He was living in a luxury hotel suite that he could no longer afford, surrounded by the remnants of a life that felt like a museum exhibit.
His obsession with finding me had become a singular, toxic pulse. He didn't want the money anymore—he wanted to regain control. He needed to prove that he was still the man who held the power.
He managed to trace the last ping to Lisbon. He didn't fly commercial; he pulled in a favor from a disgraced private investigator, a man who operated in the gutters of the city.
"She's in Lisbon," the investigator said, dropping a folder on the desk. "She’s working under a pseudonym. She’s winning, Marcus. She just secured a major contract with the municipal government."
Marcus didn't speak. He stared at the photograph of me in the file—walking to a café, looking calm, looking... free. It enraged him. He snatched the photo and tore it in half.
"Get me a flight," he commanded. "And find a way to get those kids out of her custody. I don't care if I have to burn her reputation to the ground."
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He was a man walking toward a cliff, convinced that the wind would hold him up. He didn't know that I had already tipped off the local authorities in Lisbon that he was coming. I had provided them with a dossier of his harassment and his history of financial abuse.
He was walking into a cage, and he was the only one who didn't see the bars.
