Chapter 7 - Confronting the Traitor
The heavy oak door of the nursery swung open, and Marcus stepped inside, flanked by two security guards. Between them walked a disheveled Arthur Vance, his silk bathrobe tied loosely around his waist, his face pale with sudden, panicked terror.
“Rory? What is the meaning of this?” Arthur stammered, casting a frantic glance at the guards holding his arms. “What are you doing dragging me out of bed in the middle of the night? Where is Susan?”
Rory stood up slowly from the floor, holding the mutilated teddy bear in one hand and the bloody hunting knife in the other. The expression on his face was so terrifyingly devoid of emotion that Arthur instinctively stepped backward, tripping over his own slippers.
“Look at this, Arthur,” Rory said quietly, tossing the dismantled toy onto the floor right at Arthur’s feet.
Arthur stared down at the exposed circuit board and micro-transmitter, his throat visibly tightening as he swallowed hard.
“I... I don't know what that is,” Arthur muttered, his voice shaking. “It's just a child's toy. Where did you get that?”
“You tell me,” Rory stepped forward, closing the distance between them with terrifying speed. He grabbed Arthur by the lapels of his silk robe, lifting him off the floor with a single hand and slamming him hard against the nursery wall. The wood paneling rattled under the impact.
“You gave this to my daughters two months ago,” Rory hissed, his voice dropping to a deadly whisper. “You and Susan. You told them it was a protector. But it wasn't protecting them, was it, Arthur? It was transmitting high-frequency sonic pulses straight into their brains every single night at three a.m., designed to break their minds and shatter their sanity.”
“Rory, please—you’re crazy! I didn't know anything about that!” Arthur shrieked, thrashing uselessly against Rory's iron grip. “It was a gift from a toy store in the city! Susan bought it!”
“Don't bring Susan into this,” Rory growled, his knuckles white with fury. “We found your server logs in Red Hook tonight, Arthur. We found the architectural scans, the security blueprints, and the financial wires linking your offshore accounts to the Morosco syndicate. You were selling me out from the inside. And when that wasn't enough, you decided to torture my little girls to break my focus.”
Arthur’s eyes widened in sheer horror. He realized there was no escape, no legal loophole or clever lie that could save him now.
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“They promised me a seat on the board,” Arthur wept, his composure completely dissolving into pathetic sobbing. “They said if your empire collapsed from internal chaos, I would take over the legitimate shipping holdings! I needed the money, Rory! My gambling debts—they were going to kill me!”
Rory stared at the man he had called family for over a decade, feeling only a cold, chilling emptiness.
