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Chapter 211: Dynamic FeelingThe feeling in the room was different from anything before it. Liam paced by the window while Jackson buttoned his shirt, hands steadier than they had any right to be after a night with no sleep."You need him to believe you are actually about to sign," Liam said. "If Marcus smells anything off, he calls Voss, and Voss panics. A panicked man with a gun in that warehouse is the last thing we need, especially when Avery is still there.""I know how to stall a room full of board members," Jackson said. "I have been doing it my whole career.""This is not a budget meeting, Jackson.""No," Jackson said, pulling on his jacket. "It is worse. But the principle is the same. Keep them talking about anything except the one thing they actually want."Liam caught his arm before he reached the door. "Buy us as much time as you can. The second Mackenzie gives the signal at the warehouse, we move. Until then, you keep that room spinning in circles.""How long do you think

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Chapter 212Marcus Jefferson's face went hard the second the word got out. "You have been bullshitting me this entire meeting.""I learned from the best," Jackson said, closing the folder in front of him without a hint of shame.Marcus's phone buzzed in his pocket before he could respond. He stepped to the side of the room and answered it low, his back turned, but Jackson watched his shoulders stiffen with every word he heard. Whoever was on the other end- an escape driver from the warehouse crew, by the sound of the panic in Marcus's voice- was telling him something he clearly did not want to hear.Marcus lowered the phone slowly and turned back to the room, his face pale under the fluorescent lights. He understood now, plain as anything, how badly he had been played. There was no version of this morning where Jackson Maddox was ever going to let go of the company, and every minute Marcus had spent waiting in that room had been wasted on purpose."This meeting is over," Marcus said,

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Chapter 213: Beginning of a DoomMarcus Jefferson had not had a moment's rest since the officers left his office. Every sound in the hallway made him flinch; every buzz of his phone sent his stomach into his throat. By that afternoon, the fear had settled into something permanent, a weight sitting on his chest that would not lift.The receptionist called up to his office a little after two. "Mr. Jefferson, there is a delivery package down here for you. It does not have a return address. Should I send it up?""Send it up," Marcus said, though something in his gut told him not to.A few minutes later, one of the junior staff knocked and set a plain brown box on his desk. Marcus waited until the door closed before tearing it open, and the second he saw what was inside, the air left his lungs completely.A photograph sat on top, his wife and two children tied to chairs in a bare room, fear frozen on all three faces. Beneath the photograph, wrapped in newspaper, sat a burner phone.Marcus'

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Chapter 214: Holiness / DirtMackenzie pulled the car into a tight spot outside the coffee shop, Jackson climbing out right behind him. The place was half full, quiet enough for a real conversation, loud enough that nobody would pay attention to three men in a corner booth.Marcus was already there when they walked in, hunched over an empty table, looking smaller than Jackson had ever seen him."Can I get you two something?" Marcus asked as they sat, half standing like he wanted an excuse to move, to do anything with his shaking hands."No," Jackson said flatly, sliding into the booth across from him. He did not trust a single thing this man might hand him, not a coffee, not a napkin, nothing.Mackenzie waved off the offer too and leaned forward, elbows on the table. "Let us skip the small talk, Marcus. We do not have time for it, and neither do you.""Fine," Marcus said, hands folding tight in his lap."Nobody in this booth is holy," Mackenzie said. "Not me, not him, and sure as hell

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