The elite residential district of the Hamptons usually offered a luxurious kind of tranquility. But this morning, that calm was brutally torn apart. Three gleaming black Cadillac Escalade SUVs screeched to a halt in front of the wrought-iron gates of Carol Lane’s sprawling mansion.Without waiting for the security guard to open them, the first SUV slammed into the gates, forcing them open with a deafening metallic screech.Inside the second SUV at the center of the convoy, Viviane Lane sat uneasily. Her face was pale, her hands clenched tightly over her swollen belly.Matthew Thomas sat beside her, dressed in a pitch-black suit, radiating a cold aura that dominated the entire cabin."Matt... do we really have to do this?" Viviane asked anxiously, her voice trembling as she fought back tears. "No matter what... she is still my mother. I know what she did is unforgivable, but seeing her dragged out like this..."Matthew turned to her, his gaze soft in a way reserved only for her. He rea

That night, the lights in Matthew’s luxurious penthouse on the top floor of his apartment building were dimmed. Inside the sprawling black Italian marble master bathroom, spanning a hundred square meters, the sound of running water clashed with the harsh, tearing cough echoing through the space.Matthew stood in front of the sink. His expensive black suit had been tossed carelessly onto the wet floor. His white shirt was stained with bright red blotches. His trembling hands gripped the marble edge so tightly that the veins bulged like steel wires.He coughed again, this time expelling a mouthful of fresh blood directly into the white basin, creating a horrifying crimson pattern before it was swept away by the running water."Damn it," Matthew thought.The pain in his head was so sharp it felt as if his skull were being split from the inside. This was the worst backlash he had ever suffered from the ARC System.Synchronizing his brain with thousands of ballistic variables and London’s c

Deep beneath the Swiss Alps, hidden behind a two-meter-thick steel vault door, a secret medical facility glowed with harsh fluorescent light that stung the eyes. The air inside carried the sharp scent of antiseptic, mixed with the faint odor of aging flesh.Julian Vance lay on a medical bed. His emaciated body was connected to dozens of life-support tubes. The EKG machine beeped rhythmically, sustaining what remained of the man who had ruled the shadow economy of the world for decades.The door hissed open. A neatly dressed assistant, Silas Kruger, stepped inside on trembling legs. Cold sweat dampened the collar of his shirt."Mr. Vance..." his voice cracked. "We... we’ve lost everything. Wall Street has collapsed. Your shadow accounts in Cayman, Switzerland, and the Bahamas... all drained. We are at zero."Julian’s wrinkled eyelids slowly opened. His eyes, clouded by age and illness, radiated absolute darkness. There was no despair in them. Only pure fury, hatred so dense it seemed t

Matthew finally nodded, letting out a heavy breath. It was a bitter decision, but it had to be made. “Alright… but don’t die, Hector.”“I’ll do my best, Mr. Thomas.” A faint smile formed on Hector’s face, a rare expression that showed just how serious he was.“Come on… keep moving, Vie! Don’t look back!” Matthew shouted, his voice competing with the bursts of gunfire from the lower floors.Viviane sobbed loudly, her hand clutching her swollen stomach. “Matthew, I can’t! My stomach… it feels like it’s being torn apart! Our baby, Matthew!”“We’re only two floors from the roof! The helicopter is waiting!” Matthew’s jaw tightened. “Hold on, please! For me!”“Mr. Thomas, go! They’ve breached the third-floor barricade!” Hector reported, his voice heavy. “Julian Vance’s elite Archon mercenaries. They are not holding back!”“How many, Hector?” Matthew asked sharply.“A dozen… fully armed. Their captain, a bearded man with a scar, is leading from the front,” Hector replied. “You must get to th

That night, Matthew paced back and forth in the bunker’s waiting room, his breathing heavy, each step echoing the rising unrest in his mind.Time crawled forward, every second pressing down on him like a crushing weight. It had been more than two hours since Viviane had been taken into the operating room. Dr. Thorne and his team were still working, and Matthew had heard nothing from inside. The uncertainty began to suffocate him.The ARC System, which had always been the source of his strength and confidence, now issued a series of deadly warnings.[ARC System: Critical warning.][Level 3 neurological cellular damage detected.][Continuous system usage without rest has caused extreme strain on Mr. Matthew Thomas’s central nervous system.]Matthew ignored it. “What’s Viviane’s status?” he asked silently, directing the question to the ARC System, brushing aside the warning.[Medical data not directly available.][Based on medical team activity patterns, stabilization is indicated. Howeve