"Open up, Valerius!" Tinny taunting from the corridor, followed by the sharp clink of handcuff chains rattling against the handle. "I checked the ledger, and you owe me a new jacket to replace the one your goons ruined downstairs! Come out and let’s talk terms! I promise I’ll only knock you out halfway if you open up in the next five seconds!"Inside the sanctuary suite, Valerius pressed his back flat against the wall, his knuckles white as he gripped his gold-plated communication pad. His frozen frown was a pathetic testament to the sheer terror paralyzing his limbs."Don't just stand there!" Valerius hissed at the five house guards, his voice dropping to a panicked whisper. "Shoot through the paneling! Fire a suppression volley! Do something!"The lead guard shook his head, his rifle locked onto the center seam of the barricaded entrance. "Sir, the titanium alloy plating is grade-A ballistic defense. Standard rounds will only ricochet. We hold the choke point. If he breaches the f

"No," Tinny sighed, snapping back into his usual hyperactive, bored cadence. "Zarek has specific appointments for the Director, and murder is way too clean for the administrative errors your dad committed. Now, hold still."Before Valerius could process the words, Tinny lunged across the bed. With terrifying, mechanical efficiency, he grabbed the heavy, high-thread-count silk comforter from beneath Valerius, violently yanking it upward. He caught the heir by the ankles, spinning him around on the mattress like a top."Wait! What are you doing?! Let go of me!" Valerius shrieked.Tinny didn't answer. Working with the rapid speed of a seasoned operative, he wrapped Valerius inside the heavy comforter, rolling him over until the sheets tightly bound his arms and legs. He ripped down a set of high-tensile structural curtains, using the thick velvet cords to tie the bundle at the top, middle, and bottom.CRACK!Within thirty seconds, Valerius Vance, the proud heir to the corporate dynas

Zarek descended like a falling anvil. He drove his heavy combat boot directly into the helmet visor of the lead enforcer, the immense kinetic impact shattering the reinforced composite and sending the man crashing face-first into the floorboards. Before the remaining five guards could reorient their heavy shock rifles, Zarek was already inside their defensive perimeter.His movements became a fluid display of high-tier martial proficiency. He grabbed the barrel of the nearest shock rifle, twisting it violently to break the guard's wrist.CRACK.In the same continuous motion, he used the captured weapon to block a heavy knife strike from the third enforcer, parrying the blade downward and driving his elbow straight into the attacker's temple. The man’s legs turned to jelly instantly, his body collapsing into a limp heap on the ruined carpet.The remaining three enforcers tried to encircle him, their heavy exo-suits groaning as they unleashed a synchronized combination of short, bru

"All it took was a midnight structural audit threat from my godfather's enforcement division. We told them that if they didn't sign off on the fabricated debt logs, their high-sector operating license would be permanently revoked by sunrise. They signed the bankruptcy papers before the ink on our request was dry!"Zarek gripped the edge of a secondary monitoring console, his knuckles turning white as if he needed the physical support to keep from collapsing."But the backdated debt notices... you can't just inject those into the central banking mainframe. The cryptographic keys require a high-tier executive signature from the District Oversight Committee itself. Who authorized the override?""You really are blind, aren't you?" Vance chuckled, taking an arrogant sip of his drink, blind to the fact that he was being methodically hollowed out for information like an amateur. "Chief Administrator Sterling signed it. The man has a gambling debt to our offshore gaming subsidiaries that coul