PART 7: THE VULNERABLE TARGET

The next morning, the financial world erupted into pure chaos.

Leaked documents appeared on every major financial news network, alleging that the Grace Carter Foundation was using its funds to launder money for offshore cartels.

It was a brilliant, devastating fabrication.

The documents were forged with such precision that it would take months of forensic auditing to prove our innocence.

By noon, Carter Global’s stock price had plummeted by thirty percent.

Shareholders were panicking, demanding my father's immediate resignation.

I walked out of the foundation building, surrounded by bodyguards as reporters shouted questions from behind the security barricades.

"Ava! Is it true the foundation is a front?"

"Did your mother know about the illegal accounts before she died?"

I ignored them, stepping quickly into the armored SUV.

As the vehicle pulled away from the curb, my phone buzzed with an urgent text from Leo's school security team.

Ma'am, there is a security anomaly at the front gate. We are initiating lockdown.

"Drive!" I screamed to the chauffeur. "Go to the school right now!"

The SUV tore through the city streets, its sirens wailing.

When we arrived, the perimeter was entirely surrounded by local police cruisers.

I burst out of the car, sprinting past the yellow tape toward the main entrance.

My father was already there, standing beside the school principal, his face rigid with terror.

"Where is he?" I choked out, tears blinding my eyes. "Where is Leo?"

Richard turned to me, his hands gripping my shoulders.

"He's safe, Ava. He's inside the vault room."

"But they didn't try to take him."

"Then what happened?"

My father handed me a small, stuffed toy lion—the one Leo always kept in his backpack.

Pinned to the lion's mane was a small, high-tech tracking device, its red light blinking rhythmically.

Beside it was a handwritten note:

We can touch him whenever we want, Ava.

Tell your father to sign the share transfer, or the next package won't be a toy.

I collapsed against my father's chest, sobbing uncontrollably.

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