2025-05-05 07:01:43The silence in the forest was deafening as they made their way through the dense foliage. The man—Gregory still had no name for him—moved with calculated precision, each step light but firm, his eyes scanning the darkness with practiced ease. Gregory, on the other hand, was struggling to keep up. The pain from his wound had reached a new level, and each step seemed to send a sharp jolt through his body. But he wasn’t going to slow them down. He couldn’t.
The world felt surreal. He had just learned that he was the heir to an empire, a legacy he never knew existed. And now he was running from men who would kill him if they knew who he was. All he had were fragmented pieces of a life he had never known, and one man—a stranger—who was his only guide.
Gregory’s thoughts swirled as they pushed through the underbrush. He couldn’t shake t
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Chapter 230: Gladius Protocol
Gregory’s hands shook as the video continued. “There’s a reason I didn’t come for you sooner. If I had, you’d have grown soft. Entitled. Like the rest of them.” Marcus sneered. “Instead, I let the world beat you into something sharper.”The video ended abruptly, Gregory sat frozen. Cold sweat trickled down his spine. Midnight Meeting – Unknown Coordinates Across the city, in a fortified boardroom hidden beneath a fake foundation, a group of men and women sat in a circle.Each wore an insignia: a gladius sword embedded in a hawk’s talon. “The Protocol has been triggered,” one said. “Subject Hawk is awake.”Another slammed a fist on the table. “He must not be allowed to ascend.”A third leaned forward, adjusting her earpiece. “Too late. The blood unlocked the file. The test begins now.”Back in the Forest Gregory closed the laptop slowly. “We need to move.”Ethan groaned, struggling to his feet. “Can’t we rest an hour?”“No time. If this is real, then every step I’ve taken has been part
Chapter 229: Red Snow
The assailant rolled, flipping him, pinning him, But Gregory reached for a branch and slammed it into the mask The attacker fell back. Dazed, Gregory ripped the mask off, A woman. Early 40s. Cold gray eyes. Familiar.He froze. “You…”Her lips bled, but she sneered. “You’re just like your mother.” Before he could ask what she meant, she bit down on something in her mouth.Click.Gregory dove awayBOOM.A small explosion lit up the forest floor, incendiary. The woman’s body was engulfed. Nothing left to identify.Gregory stumbled back, coughing from the smoke. His ears rang. Bits of ash floated down like snow.Red snow.Back at the Camp Ethan stirred. Gregory rushed to his side, applying more pressure to the wound. “You okay?” he asked.Ethan nodded weakly. “Heard the boom. Don’t tell me you blew yourself up again.”Gregory cracked a smile. “Nah. Just cremated someone.” Then his face darkened.“She said I was like my mother…”Ethan blinked. “You don’t know her?”“I thought I didn’t. Bu
Chapter 228: Flight Over Steel
Behind them, the SUV skidded to a halt The agents didn’t try the jump. “Holy ” Ethan gasped. “We made it.” But there was no time to celebrate. Gregory yanked the wheel and continued on, disappearing into the winding mountain roads.An Hour Later They found a remote gas station nestled between pine trees. Gregory pulled behind it and killed the engine. The Jeep was a wreck battered, windshield cracked, one headlight gone.Inside the convenience store, they bought burner phones, water, and energy bars. Ethan grabbed a first aid kit and patched the gash on Gregory’s arm. Then they retreated to an old logging trail and checked the files again. One folder was still locked titled simply: “GLADIUS.”Ethan tried to open it. “Encrypted,” he muttered. “And not by Selene. This is high-level stuff. Military grade.”Gregory rubbed his temple. “Do you think it’s about my father?”“Could be. Or the real reason they wanted you gone.”The GPS pinged. Again. The coordinates for Silo 18 updated, now wi
Chapter 227: The Shot That Never Came
Gregory shoved the flash drive Selene had given him into the Jeep’s built-in media port. A password prompt appeared on the screen. “She gave me the code,” Gregory said, typing it in. MORNINGSTAR.The screen blinked and loaded a video, An old surveillance feed appeared. A hospital room. A woman, Gregory’s mother screaming as masked men barged in. A baby crying. A nurse fighting back before she was struck down. The baby was taken. His mother collapsed.Gregory’s face twisted with horror. “That’s me.”Ethan leaned closer. “They staged a disappearance. But this isn’t just about inheritance anymore. This was an extraction.”The next file loaded, board meeting logs, voice recordings, digital signatures. Every one of the five top executives including Maxwell Donovan had voted to “permanently displace” Gregory for “the continuity of power.”“Continuity of power,” Ethan repeated, disgusted. “They saw you as a threat from the beginning.”Then came a final file: a still image of Selene, standing
Chapter 226: The Woman in the Shed
“Name’s Selene,” she said smoothly. “I’ve been watching you, Gregory. Since the moment your name reappeared on the grid.”“My name never left the grid,” Gregory snapped.She smiled faintly. “Exactly. Someone made sure of that. But now you’ve cracked the surface, and a lot of very powerful people are panicking.”Ethan moved subtly, hand creeping toward his coat. Selene noticed and raised an eyebrow. “Relax, brother. If I wanted you dead, I would’ve just pulled the trigger.”Gregory blinked. “Wait brother?”Selene let the silence hang for a beat too long. “I’m not your sister,” she said finally. “But I knew your mother. I knew everything Maxwell kept from you. I was part of the original search unit back when your father still thought you might be alive.”Ethan frowned. “Why show up now?”Selene holstered her pistol. “Because you’ve officially drawn blood. The board’s activated Protocol Red. They’re scrubbing loose ends. And you two?” She nodded at Gregory and Ethan. “You’re the loosest.
Chapter 225: Project Exodus
Ethan didn’t wait for Gregory to ask questions. He turned back to the safe embedded in the wall and inserted the silver key. A hiss of air escaped as the metal bolts unlocked. Inside was a sleek, matte-black briefcase.“What’s in there?” Gregory asked.Ethan snapped it open. Inside were four USB drives, each labeled: Equinox, Genesis, Hydra, and Exodus.“Encrypted data,” Ethan said. “Each drive holds different layers of the company’s deepest secrets. Financials, blackmail, surveillance, off-the-record operations,stuff so nuclear it could bring down half the board.”Gregory stared, realization dawning. “This is why they want us gone.”Ethan handed him the drive labeled Exodus. “This one’s the dead man’s switch. The ultimate insurance policy.”Gregory’s fingers curled around the drive. He didn’t feel powerful holding it, he felt hunted. Suddenly, the security monitor flickered again.Now the men from the SUV were inside the house. “I know a way out,” Ethan said. “Back tunnel through the
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