Justice of the Supreme War God

CHAPTER 44 PART 1

Ryan Steel returned to the lounge after taking his call, only to find his cousin Liam sitting frozen in his chair, his face drained of all color and his hands trembling violently.

"Liam?" Ryan's irritation shifted to concern. "What's wrong? You look like you've seen a ghost."

Liam's mouth opened and closed wordlessly. Finally, he managed to croak out, "My money. All of it. Gone."

"What are you talking about?" Ryan sat down, his expression sharpening. "Explain clearly."

"Someone... someone drained my accounts. Every single one." Liam's voice was hollow with shock. "Two million dollars. Just... gone."

Ryan's eyes widened. "Two million? How is that possible? Your accounts have security—"

"I got alerts. Transfers. And then..." Liam fumbled for his phone with shaking hands. "I got a message. From him. From Marcus Hayes."

"What did it say?"

Liam pulled up his messages, scrolling frantically. His face went from white to gray. "It was right here. I saw it. It said the money went to his account, it was a warning, it—" His voice pitched higher. "Where the fuck did it go?"

Ryan leaned over to look at Liam's phone screen. The message thread was completely clean. No threatening text. No mention of Marcus Hayes at all. Just Liam's increasingly desperate messages to Detector Truth that had gone unanswered.

"There's nothing there," Ryan said slowly.

"It was THERE!" Liam insisted, his voice cracking. "I saw it! He sent me a message, taunting me, saying he took my money as payback for—" He stopped abruptly, realizing he'd almost revealed his own scheme.

"Payback for what, Liam?" Ryan's tone went dangerous. "What exactly did you do?"

"Nothing! I mean—" Liam's panic made him sloppy. "I need to call the bank. They'll have records. They'll know where the money went."

He dialed his private banker with fumbling fingers, putting the call on speaker as it rang.

"Mr. Steel," the banker's professional voice answered. "How can I help you?"

"My accounts!" Liam nearly shouted. "Someone drained them! I need you to reverse the transactions immediately and find out who—"

"Sir, I'm looking at your account activity now," the banker interrupted, his tone confused. "I show several large withdrawals made approximately fifteen minutes ago, all authorized by your personal credentials."

"I didn't authorize anything!"

"The transfers were authenticated with your security codes and biometric verification, Mr. Steel. Our system shows you initiated each transaction personally."

Liam felt like the floor was dropping out from under him. "Where did the money go? What accounts?"

There was a pause. The sound of typing. "That's... odd."

"What? What's odd?"

"The destination accounts appear to have been closed immediately after receiving the funds. The transfers went through, but now there's no trace of where the money ended up. It's as if the receiving accounts never existed."

Ryan leaned back in his chair, studying his cousin with new wariness. This wasn't just a hack. This was something far more sophisticated.

"You're telling me two million dollars just vanished into thin air?" Liam's voice was strangled.

"I'm saying we'll need to launch a full investigation, sir. This level of sophistication suggests—"

Liam ended the call, his breathing ragged. He looked at Ryan with wild eyes. "It was him. Marcus Hayes did this. I know it was him."

"You have no proof of that," Ryan said quietly. "No message. No trace. Nothing connecting him to your missing money."

"But I know!" Liam slammed his fist on the table, making their glasses jump. "That bastard hacked me the same way I—" He stopped again, but too late.

Ryan's expression went cold. "The same way you what, Liam?"

Liam's mouth snapped shut.

"You hired that hacker to go after Diana's accounts, didn't you?" Ryan's voice was deadly calm. "And now someone's done the same thing to you. Is that what you're saying?"

"I can't prove it was Marcus," Liam muttered, looking away. "But who else would—"

"This conversation is over." Ryan stood abruptly. "And if Father asks, I had nothing to do with whatever idiotic scheme you cooked up. You're on your own."

He left Liam sitting alone in the lounge, staring at his phone like it held the answers to questions he didn't dare ask out loud.