All Chapters of The Disgraced Heir's Revenge: Chapter 61
- Chapter 70
144 chapters
The Assassination Attempt
POV: Ethan ColeI just know definitely that. Marcus was targeted because he's the financial genius keeping Cole Industries profitable despite Thomas's attacks. Remove Marcus, and our company becomes vulnerable to hostile takeover.My guts are never wrong.Adrian tracked the assassins to a hotel near Marcus and Lily's apartment, two former military contractors, hired through intermediaries that traced back to Cross Industries' security budget.Thomas was using corporate funds to pay for murder, buried through enough shell companies that proving it legally would take months.We didn't have months.The hit was scheduled for tonight when Marcus left work."I can eliminate them preemptively," Adrian said, his voice cold. "I’ll use the combat skills from the system. They won't see me coming.""No," I said immediately. "Killing them makes us murderers. We're setting a trap instead."***Victoria's security team staged the intervention.We evacuated Marcus and Lily to a safe house—Marcus prot
Emma's Choice
POV: Emma HartUncle Richard called asking to meet for coffee. I hadn't spoken to him since he confronted me at the Santos Justice Foundation months ago, screaming that I was complicit in his brother's murder. Now he wanted to reconcile."Family is more important than grudges," he said over the phone. "I was wrong to blame you. Can we talk?"I wanted to believe him.Richard was my mother's brother, the only relative who hadn't completely disowned me after everything with Daniel.But Ethan had warned me Thomas Cross was recruiting people to attack him legally.This felt like a trap."Coffee sounds good," I said carefully. "Where and when?"We agreed on an upscale café downtown, tomorrow afternoon.I told Maya where I'd be and when to expect me back.If this went wrong, at least someone would know.***Uncle Richard looked older when I walked into the café. Gray hair, tired eyes, wearing a wrinkled suit like he'd stopped caring about appearance. He hugged me when I arrived."Emma. Thank
The Custody Threat
POV: Maya SantosThomas filed for emergency custody of baby Catherine the next morning.The petition landed on Emma's phone via email from family court. Cross Family Estate vs. Emma Hart, Emergency Custody Petition.Emma called me crying so hard I could barely understand her."He's trying to take my baby."I drove to Catherine's cottage immediately. Emma was on the couch holding baby Catherine like someone might rip her away any second, tears streaming down her face."The petition claims I'm unstable," she said, voice shaking. "That I live in poverty. That I exposed Catherine to dangerous situations by meeting Thomas at that café."I read the filing. Complete bullshit.Thomas had zero legal standing to claim custody. He wasn't family, wasn't guardian, had no relationship to the child. But family court had to investigate any custody challenge. Even frivolous ones."Maya, can you represent me?" Emma asked desperately. "You know the law, you know what happened, you…""I can't. I'm not li
The Research Heist
POV: Ethan ColeLily tracked "the package" to a biotech research facility called NeuroDyne."Your father worked with them twenty years ago," she said, pulling up files on her screen. "They have archived research from his neural interface projects. The foundation technology for the Vengeance Protocol.""Those archives should be sealed," I said."Should be, but they aren't. Someone inside NeuroDyne is selling access."She showed me the transaction records.Thomas paid five million dollars for complete copies of my father's research notes, prototype schematics, and testing data.Everything needed to recreate the Vengeance Protocol independently."If Thomas extracts those files, he can sell the technology to foreign governments, military contractors, criminal organizations," Adrian said. "Your father's work becomes a product for the highest bidder."We couldn't let that happen."When's the extraction?" I asked."Tomorrow night. Eight PM."We had twenty-four hours.***NeuroDyne was a secu
Father's Final Message
POV: Ethan ColeThe encrypted message required three keys to decode.My birthday.My mother's maiden name.Coordinates of the hospital where I was born.Information only I would know.I told Lily everything and she ran the decryption.A video file appeared.My father's face filled the screen, speaking directly to the camera."Ethan, if you're seeing this, someone tried to weaponize my technology and you stopped them. I'm proud of you, son."I stopped breathing."The Vengeance Protocol was my gift to help you survive a world that killed me. But it's also a burden. People will always want to steal it. I built safeguards that prevent military weaponization, but determined enemies can find workarounds."Dad leaned closer to the camera."Here's what you need to know. The system can only be truly destroyed by its current user making an active choice to delete it. You can end the Vengeance Protocol permanently by accessing the core shutdown command I'm including in this message."He paused.
The Manhunt Begins
POV: Ethan ColeThomas Cross was somewhere in the city with shutdown codes that could destroy the Vengeance Protocol permanently. Adrian's system was tracking possible locations but Thomas had learned from his previous mistakes. He was using counter-surveillance, constant movement, and burner phones. We were hunting someone who knew he was being hunted and had prepared for it.Victoria's security team mobilized immediately, twelve operatives trying to get search patterns across the city. Lily hacked every traffic camera and security feed, running facial recognition software on thousands of hours of footage. Marcus traced financial transactions, trying to find where Thomas was getting resources after burning through his inheritance. There were cash withdrawals from ATMs scattered across three districts, purchases from convenience stores using prepaid cards.A pattern emerged. It was like the person was moving deliberately, avoiding detection, staying mobile.Four hours of coordinated s
Catherine's Relapse
POV: Maya SantosWe rushed to the hospital immediately. Catherine suffered a stroke. She was stable in ICU by the time we got there, but weak, speaking slowly with her left hand trembling slightly."The stress of recent events triggered a neurological event," Dr. Chen explained, pulling up brain scans on the monitor. "Your ex moving in with her, the Thomas Cross saga, constant security concerns. Her brain is still healing from the coma. This much stress was too much too fast."Ethan looked like he'd been punched."This is my fault," he said quietly. "I brought danger to her home. Made her cottage a war room."Catherine grabbed his hand from the hospital bed."Don't be ridiculous. I chose to help Emma. And I'd do it all over again. That’s what mothers do."But her voice was weaker than before.Thinner."I do need to slow down though," she admitted. "No more emergency meetings at my cottage. No more hiding people from assassins. And no more making my home a base of operations for your c
The New Candidate
POV: Ethan ColeJennifer Reeves qualified for the Vengeance Protocol. Adrian's system confirmed it. Life-threatening betrayal, legitimate cause for revenge, character assessment positive.But I was hesitant."She's a cop," I said. "Even forced to resign, she thinks like law enforcement. Give her enhanced abilities and what if she goes vigilante?"Maya disagreed."Her law enforcement background means she understands consequences. She won't act recklessly.""You sure about that?""You didn't.""I almost did. Multiple times."Adrian cut in. "The system judges character before activating. If she's not suitable, it won't work. Your father built that safeguard deliberately."Fair point.We decided to tell Jennifer the truth.*****We found a secure location to talk. A private office in one of the buildings I just bought, soundproofed, no surveillance.Jennifer arrived wearing jeans and a jacket, off-duty cop posture even though she wasn't a cop anymore. She was looking around, suspicious."
The Auction
POV: Maya SantosThe Cross Industries International asset auction was public and of course, competitive. Even though it has a long history of criminal CEOs.Multiple pharmaceutical companies wanted Thomas's assets, the ingredient supply chain he'd built was valuable despite the company failing spectacularly.Cole Industries showed up with a two-hundred-million-dollar budget that the board approved unanimously.Marcus led the bidding strategy while Ethan observed from the back row. I was supposed to be studying for the bar exam but I couldn't focus, so I watched the auction live-stream from Catherine's cottage instead.The bidding got aggressive fast. Major pharmaceutical corporations were fighting for control of Thomas’s manufacturing facilities and supply contracts. Cole Industries won the first lot, an ingredient manufacturing plant in Ohio, for twenty-five million dollars. Then a second plant in Pennsylvania for thirty million. A third in Virginia for twenty million. Seventy-five
The Hidden Enemy
POV: Ethan ColeTHE ARCHITECT had so many resources that made Senator Cross look like a small-time crook. Jennifer's system traced corruption patterns back forty years.Bribes. Coverups. Murders.All controlled and coordinated through someone nobody had identified."Whoever this is," Jennifer said, spreading files across the conference table, "they've been building a pharmaceutical monopoly for decades. Cross and Morrison were just proxies.""And now their proxies are dead or in prison," Maya said."Which means THE ARCHITECT is vulnerable for the first time in forty years."We had a window.Maybe the only one we'd get.Jennifer's investigation pointed to someone in the legitimate pharmaceutical industry, CEO, board member, maybe a regulatory official with power to control drug approvals and market access.We put a call through to Victoria, and she ordered her intelligence network to start investigating major pharmaceutical CEOs immediately. Marcus analyzed financial patterns looking f