2026-01-12 23:12:36
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
The Choice
Silva's weapon remained trained on Chen, but her hand trembled. Twelve years old, standing between her and the twins, ready to die for a family that wasn't even his by blood. Her finger rested on the trigger, but pressure wouldn't come."Please," Chen said quietly. "You're not a monster. I know what it's like to be forced. To be used. But you don't have to do this.""They have my daughter," Silva said, tears streaming. "Emma. She's seven years old. They took her before São Paulo, before any of this. Helena has her somewhere, and she'll kill her if I don't bring the twins.""They're lying," Chen said, though his voice shook. "Your daughter's probably already dead. That's what the Consortium does—they use people, then eliminate loose ends. Don't make it worse by becoming the thing they are."Silva's weapon lowered slightly. Behind Chen, Elena stood with both twins in a carrier strapped to her chest, her own weapon raised with hands that should have been steady but weren't. Two mothers f
The Betrayal
Thirty minutes earlierChen sat in the safe house’s security room, monitoring camera feeds showing the property’s perimeter. 2:32 AM in Geneva—most of the house sleeping except for rotating security guards. William and Catherine were in their nursery with Elena resting in the adjacent room. James’s parents occupied the guest suite. Marcus worked in the office on Free Healers Network administration. Everything routine, everything secure.A delivery van appeared on the front gate camera at 2:35 AM. Unusual timing, but not unprecedented—medical supplies for the twins sometimes arrived at odd hours given international shipping schedules. Chen watched Marcus move to the gate security panel, checking identification.“Delivery for Thorne residence,” the driver said through the intercom. “Medical supplies. Signature required.”Marcus verified the shipping manifest displayed on the security screen. The signature looked legitimate—James’s electronic authorization for approved vendors. Everythin
The Villa Assault
The ocean was black glass under a moonless sky as James slipped into the water at 2:47 AM. Cole and Tanaka moved beside him, three shadows crossing the fifty meters between the resort’s private beach and Helena’s villa dock. The water was warm, silent except for gentle waves against volcanic rock.Victoria’s voice came through the waterproof earpiece. “Security systems looping in three, two, one. You’re invisible to cameras. Motion sensors disabled. Go.”They reached the villa’s beach access, climbing onto the dock with practiced silence. Cole led, weapon raised, scanning for guards. The shift change was happening on schedule—voices audible from the main building as outgoing mercenaries debriefed their replacements. Fifteen minutes of vulnerability. Fifteen minutes to infiltrate, locate the targets, and extract them before the resort became a war zone.James followed Cole up exterior stairs to the second-floor balcony. Tanaka picked the lock while Cole covered their approach. The door
The Infiltration
The coalition’s war room had relocated to the safe house’s converted garage, screens displaying satellite imagery of the Maldives resort where Helena’s team had established operations. Cole pointed to the luxury villa compound occupying a private section of the island.“Problem is context,” Cole said. “Two hundred civilian guests at the resort. Families, honeymooners, people on vacation. We can’t assault the villa with tactical teams—collateral damage would be catastrophic.”“So we go surgical,” Tanaka said, studying the layout. “Small team. Infiltration. Quiet extraction of Helena and her Council before they know we’re there.”Marcus frowned from his position at the video screen. “How small?”“Four people,” Cole said. “Any more draws attention. We pose as wealthy tourists, book rooms near the villa, establish surveillance, then strike when opportunity presents.”James stood at the back of the room, holding William while the baby slept against his chest. He’d been listening to the tac
The Revelation
Tanaka’s surveillance team had been tracking Helena’s location for three weeks, following encrypted communications and financial patterns Victoria had identified. The breakthrough came from a careless moment—Helena photographed at an outdoor café in Bali, her face visible despite the tropical setting that should have provided anonymity.But it wasn’t Helena that made Tanaka send an emergency encrypted message to the coalition. It was her companions.James stared at the photos Victoria projected onto the safe house’s main screen, his blood turning to ice. Two men sat across from Helena at that Bali café, faces clearly visible, postures relaxed like old colleagues reuniting.“Dr. Petrov,” James said quietly. “He’s dead. We watched him take a suicide pill.”“And Dr. Zhao,” Elena added, standing beside James with Catherine sleeping in her arms. “Killed in the Austrian facility explosion. We found remains.”“You found what they wanted you to find,” Victoria said, her voice tight with fury
The Escape
The armored vehicle carrying Helena Ashcroft to long-term detention never reached its destination. The attack happened on a service road three kilometers from the maximum security facility—two unmarked vehicles blocking the route, armed personnel overwhelming the transport guards with precision that suggested military training.Victoria showed James the surveillance footage twelve hours later. Professional operation, inside assistance confirmed when investigators discovered the transport guards had been bribed or coerced. Helena had walked away from the ambush scene without a trace."She's gone," Victoria said, reviewing the investigation reports German authorities had shared with Marcus. "No border crossings under her identity or known aliases, no financial transactions, no digital footprint. Professionally disappeared."James stood in the safe house's main room, holding Catherine while she slept against his chest, and stared at the surveillance images showing Helena's escape. One mo
You may also like
Son-in-Law: A Commoner's Path to Revenge
Naughty Snail122.7K viewsBuilding My Life
Anderson José145.8K viewsRags To Riches: The Riveting Tale Of Jason Smith
Chukwuemeka_101123.6K viewsBillionaire in Disguise
Faith123.8K viewsSON-IN-LAW BY DAY, UNDERGROUND KING BY NIGHT
M.U.D97 viewsRise Of The Broken Son In Law
Dhellymilly240 viewsEx Husband Returns: The Martial Arts Godmaster
Moody 9.4K viewsThe Lupine code
dbranch writes260 views