“Secure the office,” Adrian ordered. “Take everything.”

Two more security guards entered the small room, carrying heavy-duty plastic bags.

They immediately began clearing Marcus’s desk.

They swept paper manifests, ledger books, and three external hard drives into the bags.

One of the guards opened a filing cabinet in the corner, pulling out folders labeled with maritime shipping codes.

“This is illegal search and seizure,” Marcus snarled, his chest rising and falling rapidly.

“I don’t care,” Adrian said.

Adrian walked over to the desk and picked up a black leather-bound ledger.

He flipped through the pages, his eyes scanning the columns of numbers and foreign names.

“This is the physical evidence the federal prosecutors have been looking for,” Adrian said. “The customs fraud, the human smuggling, the syndicate payouts.”

He handed the ledger to Carter.

“Keep this safe,” Adrian said. “It goes directly to my legal team.”

Marcus watched them strip his office, his jaw clenched so tight a muscle twitched in his cheek.

He looked like a caged animal, searching for any exit.

“You can’t hold me here,” Marcus said.