Jack laughed, low and untroubled. "You're dreaming if you think I'll abandon you." Juliet stared at him in the rearview mirror, visibly worried. The news of Johnny Bowman's arrival had clearly rattled her. She looked defeated and resigned to her fate. She leaned forward between the front seats, her fingers gripping the leather headrest tightly. "Jack, listen to me. You might be smart, and a good fighter, and you can knock down a dozen assassins. However, not even you can handle an army with tanks." "Johnny Bowman doesn't play romantic games. He is a military commander with private militias, heavy weapons, and enough money to buy an entire city." "If Johnny wants me, he will have me, and nobody can do anything about it. You need to leave while you still can." Jack turned towards her sharply and looked into her eyes. The soft glow of the dashboard lights cast shadows across his sharp jawline. "I'm not going anywhere when my fiancée is about to be abducted by a psycho. Period." Ju

"What are you talking about?" Ralph snapped. "I treat my clients like family! You're delusional!" "Ten million dollars from your own client?" Jack said with a scoff. "You're not just greedy. You're stupid." The room went very quiet. Selena stared at her longtime agent, doubt flashing across her face. Ralph's chair creaked as he stood up, backing towards the window. "This man is lying, Selena! Don't believe him!" Selena spoke up, her voice unsteady but protective of her agent. "Jack, don't be ridiculous! Ralph is trustworthy. He would never do something like this." "Your source must be mistaken. Maybe the blackmailer is someone else who hacked my cloud and is setting Ralph up. Please don't target him like that!" Jack didn't move, and his expression remained unchanged in the face of Selena's appeal. "My sources are infallible. Only his confession remains to be made." Ralph's face twisted from shock to pure rage. He slammed his fist on the desk, the sound cracking through the room.

Selena stepped forward quickly, her voice trembling as she turned to Ralph. "Please let us go. I will pay you the money. Ten million, twenty million, whatever you want. Just don't harm us. I will do anything. Please." Ralph leaned back against his desk, the cruel smile still in place. He crossed his arms, unhurried, enjoying the shift in the room's power. "Now I have finally tamed you, Selena Hart," he said. "I am merciful. I will let you go on one condition." "Anything!" she exclaimed. She just wanted to escape. And she feared that Jack might fight and get himself badly hurt—the threats were too many even for someone like him. "You will shoot a video with one of my men," Ralph said flatly. "I will record it and sell it to the highest bidder." "And going forward, you will be available to certain clients who have been asking about you for some time. They pay very well for the kind of company they want." "No way." Selena's voice was shaking but her answer was immediate. "I would r

The grand doors of the Forbes mansion swung open before Juliet reached them. Her grandfather, Donald, stood at the base of the sweeping staircase, his aging face and silver hair catching the light from the crystal chandelier above. Beside him were her father, Richard, looking pale and drawn, her mother, Lydia, with her arms tightly crossed over her chest, and her sister, Cathy, hovering nearby with a forced look of pity. "Juliet, you're back," Donald said, his voice edged with urgency. He led them all into the adjacent sitting room. "Things have escalated faster than we anticipated." She sank into one of the velvet armchairs, her fingers tightening around the strap of her handbag. "What is it? Any news about Johnny Bowman?" Richard cleared his throat, stepping forward. "He's arriving by sea on a massive naval ship — immense, from what our sources say. It will make landfall in a few hours at the private docks north of Redmont City." Donald continued. "From there, he'll take a helic

Bang! Bang! Greg froze, his hand halfway to Juliet where she lay on the cot. He hadn't told a soul which bunker they'd be using. There were six on the property, all identical from the outside, all rigged with different access codes. Only three people in the entire Forbes organisation knew the combination to this one, and two of them were currently absent from the estate. Who was this uninvited guest? Greg crossed to the reinforced panel and squinted through the peephole. A man stood too close to the door, in ordinary clothes—work boots, dark jacket. The viewing angle cut off everything above the shoulders. The maintenance crew, Greg decided. Or one of the gardeners who had wandered too far and gotten curious. His mouth twisted in annoyance. "Get lost!" he barked into the speakerphone. "This bunker is being used for urgent Forbes family business. You don't belong here. Scram!" The figure didn't move. The voice that came back was calm and almost mild. "Then let me in. I'm import