CHAPTER 68 PART 1
Author: Universeleap
last update2026-01-28 16:11:36

The Hartford Group boardroom felt like a pressure cooker ready to explode. Oliver Hartford stood at the head of the table, his face flushed with vindictive triumph as board members murmured their agreement with his assessment.

"Marcus Steel has brought disaster upon us all!" Oliver declared, his voice carrying across the room. "The Golden Eagle Group controls half the construction in Five-River Province! They can destroy our supply chains, block our permits, strangle our projects! And why? Beca
Continue to read this book for free
Scan the code to download the app

Latest Chapter

  • CHAPTER 323 PART 3

    It rolled sideways with a sound that was part metal, part glass, and part the specific noise that physics makes when it disagrees with the structural integrity of an object built to travel horizontally.The first roll crushed the passenger side roof against the asphalt. The second roll brought the vehicle to rest upside down in the center of the intersection, its headlights pointing at the sky, its undercarriage exposed like the belly of a dead animal.Inside, Austin Yarrow's training held. His body had locked into the correct position the moment the first tilt registered. His arms braced against the ceiling. His legs absorbed the rolling momentum. His head stayed tucked against his chest.Miguel Abbott was alive. His breathing was rapid and shallow and his hands were gripping the seat belt that had kept him from being thrown through the windshield. Blood ran from a cut on his forehead where something had struck him during the second rotation."Mr. Abbott." Austin's voice came out ste

  • CHAPTER 323 PART 2

    The first floor of the building erupted with a concussive blast that blew the corridor windows inward and sent a wall of heated air through the hallway like a fist made of pressure and noise.The lights went out. The emergency strips along the floor activated, casting thin red lines that turned the corridor into something that looked like the inside of a furnace."Gas line." Austin pulled both men toward the stairwell door. "That was deliberate. Someone blew the building's gas main to flush us toward the exits. Move. Now."They reached sublevel two in forty five seconds. Two armored vehicles sat in the emergency bay, engines cold but keys in the ignition. Austin put Miguel in the first vehicle and Stanislaus in the second. He took the wheel of the lead car and pulled out of the underground level into the street.The night air hit the windshield carrying the smell of smoke and something chemical that did not belong to a natural gas explosion.Austin reached for his phone. The screen sh

  • CHAPTER 323 PART 1

    Stanislaus Potter set his napkin on the table and leaned back in his chair with the satisfied expression of a man who had eaten well and was now preparing to think about something less pleasant than the food."He cancelled us, Miguel. That wasn't a tax compliance issue and we both know it."Miguel Abbott finished his wine and placed the glass on the white tablecloth with the careful precision of a man who agreed completely but wanted to hear the full theory before contributing to it. "Go on.""Marcus Steel cancelled us at the Hartford Group as a signal. We moved on Beacon Electronics shares without running it through him first. We made a decision that affected his territory without asking permission, and he reminded us, very politely, that permission is required." Stanislaus folded his arms and looked at the ceiling with the resigned acceptance of a man who had made a mistake and was now measuring the cost of correcting it."It wasn't impolite." Miguel allowed himself a small smile. "

  • CHAPTER 322 PART 3

    "The aircraft is already cleared." Bane's voice was patient but his eyes had changed, shifting from neutral to something colder and more focused. "My father arranged this personally.""I understand, sir. But protocol requires confirmation from the chairman's office directly. I'll need to make the call before anyone proceeds." The guard reached for the radio on his shoulder with the determined expression of a man who believed following procedure would protect him from whatever was happening around him."Don't make that call." Bane's voice dropped."Sir, I have to. The protocol is clear and I..."Bane Cross moved.The first guard dropped before his hand reached the radio. The second guard turned toward the sound and met Bane's elbow traveling in the opposite direction.The third guard reached for his weapon and found Bane's hand around his wrist and then found the concrete with his face.The movements were fast, precise, and carried the specific efficiency of a man who had been trained

  • CHAPTER 322 PART 2

    "Five-River Province. Tonight. If the Boulevard League's first priority is Miguel Abbott and Stanislaus Potter, then Five-River Province is where the next move happens, and I need to be there before it does."Marcus left the Meridian Premier Hotel through the service entrance and got into a vehicle that Aron Jackson had positioned at the loading dock.The drive across Grayson City took twenty two minutes at that hour, and he spent every one of them with his phone dark and his eyes on the road and his mind running the connections between the Boulevard League, the Lancaster family, the Kensington family, and the organizing intelligence he had been trying to identify for three weeks.The underground parking structure beneath the Willson Group International Building was empty except for one vehicle and one man.Bane Cross leaned against the hood of a black sedan with his arms folded and his face carrying the neutral patience of a man who had been waiting and did not consider waiting to be

  • CHAPTER 322 PART 1

    Marcus had the Meridian Premier Hotel locked down before Stanley Isolde finished dialing his second number.Aron Jackson moved his people through the building with the quiet efficiency of a man sealing a jar. Two men at the parking structure entrance. Two at the service dock behind the kitchen. One at each stairwell on floors twelve through sixteen. Three at the rooftop access point. The street level approaches on both sides of the building received a pair each, positioned in vehicles with clear sight lines to every door that opened onto the sidewalk."The building is sealed." Aron Jackson stood beside Marcus in the fourteenth floor corridor with his phone in his hand and his face carrying the focused calm of a man who had done this enough times that the mechanics no longer required conscious thought. "Whatever Stanley Isolde sends here walks into a structure where the exits have been quietly revised.""Good. Hold positions. Nobody enters or leaves without my knowledge."Marcus's secu

More Chapter
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on MegaNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
Scan code to read on App