All Chapters of Tell the World, The Hidden Magnate is Back : Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
109 chapters
On Your Order
Ethan stared at the satellite imagery of the estate, memories flooding back uninvited.Sixteen years old, walking into the study. Rebecca going through his father's safe. Her turning with knife already in hand like she'd been expecting him. The fight that followed—desperate, vicious, ending with Ethan's shoulder opened and Rebecca disappearing into the night.The same estate where his mother had died when he was twelve, wasting away from cancer in the east wing bedroom while his father worked and Rebecca watched from shadows wearing her sister's face.Every room held ghosts. Every hallway whispered accusations. The place was psychological warfare made architecture.Which was exactly why Rebecca had chosen it.The convoy assembled—six vehicles, forty operatives, enough weapons to outfit small army. They moved out in tactical formation, leaving the city behind for countryside that grew darker with each mile.Ethan sat in the command vehicle's passenger seat, watching the estate approach
I'LL MAKE YOU WATCH HER DIE
The secret passage opened behind a false panel Ethan's fingers found from muscle memory older than conscious thought.He'd spent fifteen years trying to forget this estate, but his body remembered every hidden door, every concealed corridor his paranoid father had built into the architecture like insurance policies written in steel and stone.The passage spat him out two floors above the fake cell, and he was moving before his eyes adjusted to emergency lighting that cast everything in shades of blood and warning.Cell fourteen. Victoria had said cell fourteen.He found it—steel door marked with faded numbers, lock mechanisms that suggested serious security for something that should have been storage.His lockpick made quick work of outdated systems. The door swung open.Empty.Just concrete walls and chains hanging from ceiling like accusations waiting for bodies that weren't there.Victoria had lied. Of course she'd lied. He'd given her everything and she'd sent him exactly nowhere,
A BUBBLE OF BLOOD
Ethan was already at Lily's side, fingers working the chains' locks with speed that came from knowing every second counted."I've got you. You're safe. I've got you."His hands shook despite every intention to stay controlled. The chains released with clicks that sounded like salvation. Lily collapsed into his arms, and he caught her, held her, felt her heart hammering against his chest in rhythm that meant alive, alive, still alive."Ethan—" Her voice was raw. "Behind you—"He turned.Rebecca was rising. Slower than should be possible with head injury, but rising anyway because hatred was fuel that burned hotter than pain.The knife was back in her hand.She lunged with last reserves of strength powered by thirty years of rage compressed into single moment of violence.Ethan moved to shield Lily, knowing he wouldn't be fast enough, knowing this was how it ended—saving her by dying first.The gunshot was deafening in enclosed space.Rebecca's forward momentum stopped like she'd hit in
I NEED SNIPER TEAM
The tunnel ceiling cracked above them with sound like bones breaking.Ethan had one arm around Lily, the other dragging Marcus whose weight was becoming dead weight in ways that made Ethan's chest tighten with possibilities he refused to consider. Behind them, the estate was devouring itself in sequence of explosions that sounded like thunder trying to catch up."Keep moving!" His voice came out raw from smoke inhalation. "Thirty more meters!"Lily stumbled, caught herself against the wall, kept pushing forward despite bruises and blood and everything Rebecca had done to break her. Marcus's head lolled against Ethan's shoulder, consciousness flickering like candle in wind.Then Ryan Fitzgerald appeared from a side passage, looking like he'd been through the same hell and survived by accident instead of skill."This way!" Ryan gestured frantically toward corridor that branched left. "I found another exit—underground garage. Cars are still there!"Ethan's eyes narrowed. "How do you know
UNTIL YOU'RE DEAD!
Harrison's voice came through immediately. "Sir, you're alive—""Thirty seconds. Disable helicopter. Non-lethal if possible." He hung up, looked at Lily. "Get us to service entrance. Back way up."She navigated through streets with precision that suggested she'd memorized this route during her company's brief partnership discussions. The SUV screeched into parking garage, and they were moving—Ethan supporting Marcus who'd regained enough consciousness to walk with help, Ryan following like lost puppy who'd finally found pack.Service elevator. Security codes still worked because Victoria didn't know about emergency backup systems. Seventy floors passed in mechanical hum that felt too slow.The rooftop access door opened to wind and helicopter noise and Victoria Blackwell climbing into passenger seat with briefcase handcuffed to her wrist.She saw them. Her face transformed from confidence to shock to fury compressed into single expression.The pilot was already lifting off, rotors scr
HE DESTROYED ME FIRST!
Vivian's gun trembled in her hands like it was fighting the same internal war she was—between sanity and the place beyond it where revenge became religion."You destroyed my life!" The words ripped from her throat raw and jagged. "Made me NOTHING! Turned me into criminal, into monster, into woman who'd hire assassins and watch people die just for CHANCE at getting back what you STOLE!"Her finger moved fractionally closer to the trigger, barrel aimed at Ethan's chest with intention that transcended threat into promise."Now I'll make you watch her die. Make you feel what I felt. Make you understand what it's like to lose everything while everyone watches and does NOTHING!"Ethan stepped in front of Lily without hesitation, his body becoming wall between her and bullet that had her name on it."You want revenge?" His voice was calm, measured, someone negotiating with bomb that had already started counting down. "Take it. I'm standing right here. But leave her out of this. Your fight's
BLEEDING AND TRAUMATIZED
Ethan moved closer, leaned down so only she could hear his response."So do I. We all have friends. And mine are way scarier."Victoria's smile faltered fractionally. "We'll see."They took her away under FBI escort, handcuffed to the stretcher, still smiling like she knew something no one else did.The rooftop finally went quiet except for wind and distant sirens and Lily's breathing behind him that meant alive, alive, still alive.Ethan turned, and she collapsed into his arms with weight that suggested every ounce of strength she'd been using to stay upright had just run out simultaneously."Is it..." Her voice was muffled against his chest. "Is it really...""Over. It's over." He held her like she might disappear if he loosened his grip. "You're safe. We're safe. It's finally over."Below them, Marcus was being loaded into ambulance by paramedics who worked with urgency that suggested stable wasn't the same as safe. Harrison stood beside the gurney, coordinating with medical team,
WE HAVE A PROBLEM!
Morning light crept through hospital blinds like it was apologizing for arriving at all.Ethan woke to the sensation of Lily's hand wrapped around his—gentle but present, anchor keeping him tethered to reality instead of the nightmares that had plagued what little sleep he'd managed. She sat in the chair beside his bed, head resting on folded arms, breathing steady with exhaustion that looked like peace if you didn't look too closely.He didn't move. Didn't want to wake her. Didn't want to break whatever fragile quiet had settled over them after everything that had exploded in their faces over the past seventy-two hours.Her eyes opened anyway, finding his immediately like she'd been waiting for exactly this moment."Hey." Her voice was soft, careful, testing whether speaking would shatter something."Hey." His thumb traced circles against her palm. "How long have you been awake?""Couple hours. Watching you sleep. Making sure you kept breathing." She sat up, wincing slightly from bru
FAKED HIS OWN DEATH
Marcus filled the silence with words that felt like detonating bomb. "Facial recognition can't confirm because of the angle. But gait analysis, body measurements, the way he moves—" He paused. "Sir, that's Victor Cross. Your father.""My father's dead." Ethan's voice was automatic, rote, something he'd been saying for so long it had become reflex. "Fifteen years ago. Plane crash. No survivors.""That's what the records say." Marcus pulled up more files—old investigation reports, crash site analysis, death certificate that looked official except for small details that didn't quite match. "But I've been digging since Rebecca's revelation. Following money trails. And sir... I think he faked it."Lily's voice cut through Ethan's spiral. "Why would your father fake his death?""Because he blamed me." The answer came out hollow, carrying pain that fifteen years hadn't managed to bury. "For Catherine's death. For not being able to save her. For being the reason Rebecca targeted her in the fi
DECIDED TO DESTROY
The invitation arrived on cardstock so expensive it felt like holding condensed wealth.Come alone. — FatherJust two words and a signature that belonged to dead man, delivered by messenger who disappeared before Ethan could ask questions that had no good answers.The address led to a private club where membership cost more annually than most people earned in lifetimes—the kind of place where world's most powerful people made decisions that toppled governments and built empires.Ethan walked through doors that opened without him touching them, past security that knew better than to ask questions, into dining room where only one table was occupied.Victor Cross sat like he owned the space. Maybe he did.Fifteen years had aged him—silver hair where there'd been black, lines carved deep around eyes that had always been cold but now looked frozen. But the power remained. The presence. The particular gravity that made rooms bend toward him whether they wanted to or not.He looked up as Etha