The news hit the media the next morning.“Unidentified Man Sparks Security Alert Outside Caldwell Executive Residence.” “Caldwell Death Triggers Board Emergency Meeting—Marcus Rosewell to Step In as Interim CEO.”They didn’t show Gregory’s face, but Marcus knew exactly who it was. And that meant the hunt had officially begun.Gregory wasn’t hiding anymore. He was daring them to come for him.Back in the safehouse, Gregory and Blake reviewed intel Crane had smuggled out from inside the company servers.There was a folder.Encrypted. Heavily.Labeled “Project Orpheus.”“You think this is the key?” Gregory asked.“I think Caldwell was holding onto this for a reason,” Blake said. “He never mentioned it in any legal files. Not even to Crane.”Gregory stared at the folder.“I want it opened.”Blake grunted. “It’ll take time.”“Then start.”While Blake worked on the decryption, Gregory took the elevator down into the panic room—converted into a personal war room. Walls lined with maps, tim

Gregory stared at the paused video frame. Jasper Caldwell, smug in his thousand-dollar suit, was shaking hands with Marcus Rosewell.This wasn’t a random meeting.This was an alliance.Jasper—the eldest Caldwell sibling. The one groomed for power. The one who led the charge in humiliating Gregory every chance he got, always reminding him of his “place.”But this… this was bigger.He hadn’t just been a bully.He’d been part of the machinery.“You okay?” Blake asked, stepping into the room, wiping sleep from his eyes.Gregory didn’t answer. He hit play.The video continued, audio crackling.“—make sure the old man doesn’t live long enough to sign anything,” Marcus was saying.“What about the boy?” Jasper asked.“He’s no threat,” Marcus replied. “He’s just a cleaner. No records. No rights. But we’ll eliminate him just in case.”Gregory clenched his jaw.They knew about him even then.Before Caldwell’s death.Before the inheritance.They’d planned everything.“Jasper was in on Caldwell’s

The safehouse was no longer safe.After the sniper attack, Gregory and Amelia vanished into one of Crane’s backup hideouts—an abandoned train station turned bunker beneath the city. Concrete walls. No windows. Triple firewalls on the network. Silent as a grave.Amelia sat at the far corner, legs pulled to her chest, eyes wide and sleepless.Gregory paced, fists tight. “They tried to kill you.”“No,” Amelia said softly, “they tried to kill you. I was just a witness.”Gregory turned sharply. “Don’t say that like you don’t matter. You do. They know it. That’s why they targeted us both.”Crane emerged from the shadows, holding a tablet. “I traced the shot’s trajectory. The sniper used military-grade equipment. Suppressed barrel. Infrared scope. Whoever it was, they were ex-military—possibly even current.”“Voss has soldiers now?” Gregory asked.Crane nodded grimly. “He has everything.”Blake stepped forward, pulling up a satellite map. He pointed to a speck off the coast—Black Rock Island

The world blurred around Gregory as the boat sped through the dark waters. The gunshot wound throbbed in time with the pounding of his heart, each beat a fresh jolt of agony.Amelia pressed a wad of torn cloth against his bleeding shoulder, her hands slick with his blood."Stay with me!" she shouted over the roar of the engine and the crash of the waves.Gregory gritted his teeth and forced his eyes open. He couldn’t afford to pass out. Not now. Not when they were so close.Crane steered the boat with deadly focus, glancing back every few seconds."We can't go back to the mainland," he barked. "They’ll have every port locked down within the hour.""Then where?" Amelia demanded.Crane's jaw tightened. "We hide deeper."They reached a forgotten cove miles away from the city, hidden by jagged cliffs and dense fog. An old smuggler’s cave—abandoned, or so Crane claimed.Gregory stumbled off the boat with Amelia’s help, collapsing onto the rocky shore.Blake, already waiting with supplies

Gregory stared at the dead phone line, his mind racing.Mrs. Dillard.She had been the one constant in his chaotic childhood—the only person who showed him kindness during the darkest years. She’d bandaged his scraped knees, snuck him extra food, told him bedtime stories when his “father” forgot he existed.And now they had her.He slammed the phone down and stormed out of the room.Crane looked up from a terminal. “Something happen?”“They got Mrs. Dillard,” Gregory said, breath ragged. “They’re using her against me.”

Last Updated : 2025-04-29