Chapter 5 - The Digital Ghost
The silence in the bakery grew so heavy it felt physical. Marcus stared down at his phone, his thumb tapping frantically against the screen as he tried to reload the cloud backup, only to find every single folder wiped clean. The files hadn't just been deleted; they had been systematically purged by a remote override script running on a secure network frequency.
Officer Miller glanced at Marcus with a skeptical, hardened expression. "Well, sir? The screen looks blank to me. Do you have any physical proof, or are we dealing with a baseless accusation against a prominent member of our community?"
"She hacked my phone! You saw her—she had her hand in her pocket pressing a transmitter or a signal blocker!" Marcus protested, his voice rising in frustration as he stepped toward the officer.
"Step back, sir, or I'll place you under arrest for interfering with an official police inquiry," Miller warned, his hand resting closer to his holster.
Sarah pulled Lily tighter against her chest, tears of sheer helplessness spilling over her cheeks. "It's no use, Marcus. Maya’s reach in this city goes deeper than the police department. My husband's father tried to fight her corporate board thirty years ago, and within a week, he was declared legally incompetent and institutionalized. She controls everything."
Maya walked slowly toward Sarah, her heels clicking rhythmically against the tiled floor. She reached out, her manicured fingers brushing the edge of Lily’s blanket. "Now, Sarah, be a sensible girl. Hand the child over to me, come back home to the estate, and we will pretend none of this embarrassing little episode ever happened. Cross me again, and I promise you won't just lose your daughter—you'll lose your freedom entirely."
Elena stepped between Maya and Sarah, her baking apron dusted with flour, her eyes burning with righteous fury. "Get away from her, you vile, cold-blooded witch. You might own the cops, you might own the city council, but you don't own us."
Maya sneered, looking Elena up and down with absolute disgust. "A baker and a vagrant tech worker. How delightfully pathetic. Officer, remove these trespassers from the premises before I press charges for harassment and child abduction."
Officer Miller sighed, pulling out his handcuffs. "Look, folks, I'm just following protocol. Mrs. Sterling has legal custody, and without verifiable evidence of a crime on the scene, I have to enforce the custody arrangement. Ma'am, hand the child over."
Sarah backed away, shaking her head frantically. "No! I'll die before I let her touch my baby again!"
Just as the situation reached its boiling point, the front door of the bakery chimed again.
May you like
A tall, elderly woman with sharp features and a heavy woolen coat pushed her way through the glass door. She carried an old-fashioned leather briefcase in one hand and a thick manila folder in the other.
"Put those cuffs away, Miller," a sharp, commanding voice rang out across the shop. "Unless you want your badge stripped by sunrise."
