He had faced down enemies from outside. The real test was facing the one who had always been inside. The call with my father had confirmed the chilling truth: Julian Cole, my own uncle, was the enemy. I didn't wait. I drove straight to the family estate, the place where all the Cole secrets were buried. I shoved the door open so hard the wood groaned. My father sat slumped at his desk, the air heavy with the weight of secrets. He looked smaller, weaker, like the walls of this study had been feeding on him for years. Me: “Julian. It’s him, isn’t it? Don’t you dare lie to me. Tell me everything—now.” He raised his eyes slowly, and the sadness in them made me want to smash something. Father: “Adrian… sit down. This isn’t—” Me: “Don’t say it’s not easy. Nothing about this is easy. Your brother is tearing down everything we built, with a terrorist AI you let crawl through our system. He’s been inside the whole time. And you? You’ve been protecting him. Why?” His shoulders sagged

He had walked into this building as a doormat. He would walk out as a king. The air in the former Hale Group headquarters was thick with the dust of old betrayal and the promise of new power. I walked into the building alone. Every step echoed through the hollow corridors, my pulse steady, not a hint of hesitation. This wasn’t the walk of the humiliated heir they once knew. This was the stride of someone who had already claimed victory.The penthouse doors opened. Julian was waiting for me, sprawled in my father’s old chair like he’d owned it his whole life. His glass of whiskey caught the light, his smirk sharp and poisonous.Julian: “You came, Adrian. I knew you would. Sentimentality—your family’s favorite weakness.”Me: “I’m not here to indulge you. Where’s my father?”Julian: [laughs] “Straight to business? Good. But you’ll have to earn that answer. First… the future.”He snapped his fingers. A massive screen slid down from the ceiling, alive with files, blueprints, data streams

The divorce was a lie. The betrayal was real. But the greatest lie was the man I called Father.I stood in his study, the leather-bound journal heavy in my grip, the words on its last pages drilling through my chest like bullets. My father—The Chairman—sat in his high-backed chair, staring at me with eyes emptied of fight.I raised the journal. “It’s all true, isn’t it?” My voice carried no rage, no theatrics—just the flat edge of devastation. “The Hales. Vanessa. The Genesis project. My entire life—nothing but a script you wrote.”His head bowed, a single slow nod. “The Nexus,” he whispered. The word left his lips like venom. “A cabal. Global. Ruthless. They demand a Cole heir to serve as shadow. A proxy. If we refuse, we’re erased. Dynasty gone.”I laughed once, short and sharp. “So you sacrificed me. My happiness. My life. For your dynasty.”“I sacrificed to save it,” he snapped weakly, voice brittle but defensive. “I chose the Dynasty. I chose to keep our name alive. I chose to sh

The locket burned in the dim light of the command center, its tiny engraving like a razor across my thoughts. The coordinates weren’t a mystery. They weren’t hidden. They were a challenge.Elena paced, her heels striking the steel floor. “Adrian, don’t look at it like that. It’s not an invitation—it’s a death sentence.”“They knew I’d crack it,” I said. My voice was flat, cold. “They wanted me to see.”She spun on me. “And you want to walk straight into it? Do you even hear yourself?”“Yes.”Her eyes widened. “Yes? That’s all you have to say? Yes?”“Yes,” I repeated. “I’m going.”She strode forward, jabbing a finger into my chest. “You think this is a movie, Adrian? You think you’re invincible because you’re angry enough? You’re not. You’re flesh and blood. And if you step into that vault, you’ll be nothing but another Cole they bury.”“I’m not my father.”“Exactly!” She shouted it so loud the console beeped, registering a voice spike. “You’re not him, so stop making his mistakes!”I

The board was set. The pieces were moving. And the new king was finally ready to make his checkmate.The moment I saw the vault’s network flicker, I knew the quantum virus—our Trojan horse—had breached the enemy lines. But I also knew the Curator was right. They always played three moves ahead.Elena stood beside me in the Cole command center, light from the holo-screens painting her face blue and gold. Cables ran everywhere, humming with heat.“They’re not happy, Adrian,” she said, fingers a blur across her console. “The virus didn’t just map them; it’s exposing their critical server clusters. They’re in chaos. Beautiful chaos.”“It’s a quantum slap to the face,” I muttered, eyes locked on the live data feed.Leo, our systems tactician, spun in his chair. “They’re counter-attacking. Massive breach attempts. They’re trying to sever our digital link to the Cole network. They want to frame you, Adrian—paint you as the rogue heir.”“Anticipate the firewall sequence,” I said. “Elena, pull