Chapter 7 - The Siege
The black Escalades rolled through the heavy wrought-iron gates of the Beckett family’s primary shipping warehouse down at the Port of Savannah at 2:00 a.m. The cavernous building, usually bustling with crane operators and container ships, was eerily silent, illuminated only by the harsh glare of industrial overhead lights reflecting off wet asphalt.
Inside the rear office overlooking the dry docks, Tom Beckett stood by the reinforced glass window, swirling amber whiskey in a heavy crystal tumbler. His tailored suit jacket was draped over a leather chair, his sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms scarred from years in the family business.
The heavy steel loading bay doors rattled with a deafening screech as they were forced open from the outside.
Tom didn't turn around. He took a slow sip of his whiskey, a cold, confident smirk playing across his lips. "Took you long enough, little brother. I was beginning to think you got soft during your domestic sabbatical."
Footsteps echoed across the concrete floor—heavy, deliberate, and entirely unhurried.
Colton stepped into the office. He wasn't alone. Behind him stood Marcus Vance and four elite members of his security detail, their weapons drawn and locked on the half-dozen armed mercenaries Tom had stationed around the room.
But it was the man standing beside Colton that made Tom’s smirk falter: Jade Foresight.
Jade stepped out of the shadows, her tablet open in her hand. "The bank accounts in the Cayman Islands have been frozen, Tom. Your wire transfers to the Moreno cartel bounced forty-five minutes ago."
Tom slammed his whiskey glass down on the desk, the crystal shattering into a spiderweb of cracks. He whirled around, his eyes wild with sudden panic. "You arrogant bastard!" he roared at Colton. "You think you're untouchable, don't you? You think because father handed you the crown—"
"Father handed me the crown because he knew you didn't have the stomach for what it takes to protect this family," Colton interrupted, his voice cutting through the warehouse like a razor blade. He stepped closer, towering over his older brother. "You put a target on my wife. You endangered my newborn daughter."
"Your wife is a liability!" Tom snarled, lunging for the tactical SIG Sauer resting in the holster on his desk.
It was a fatal mistake.
Before Tom’s fingers could even graze the grip of the weapon, Colton moved with terrifying, blinding speed. He vaulted across the mahogany desk, tackling his brother to the floor in a brutal collision of limbs. The heavy oak desk groaned as they crashed against it, scattering paperwork and shattered crystal across the floor.
Colton pinned his brother down with a knee against his chest, grabbing Tom by the collar of his shirt and hauling him upright.
"You had a home, you had a seat at my table, you had unlimited loyalty," Colton breathed, his voice dropping into a low, terrifying whisper that echoed off the metal walls. "And you traded it all for a seat at a table that doesn't belong to you."
Tom gasped for air, blood trickling from the corner of his split lip, laughing hysterically. "You can kill me... but the Moreno cartel... they know where your safehouse is... they're coming for Lauren... they're coming for—"
"The Moreno cartel's elite squad was neutralized twenty minutes ago outside Paige’s townhouse," Jade Foresight coolly interrupted from the doorway, tapping her tablet screen. "Their communication lines have been scrubbed. Your syndicate allies are currently waking up in federal custody across three different states."
Tom’s face drained of all color. The bravado vanished, leaving behind a pathetic, trembling man staring into the eyes of the brother he had betrayed.
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Colton looked down at him for a long, silent moment. Then, with absolute disdain, he shoved Tom backward into the arms of waiting security guards.
"Lock him in the secure holding cells beneath the Savannah terminal," Colton ordered coldly, straightening his cuffs. "Let him rot down there until he forgets what sunlight looks like."
