The Masked Tycoon

CHAPTER NINE

“Victor, you need to leave. Now.”

Miranda’s voice was cold, urgent. She paced the Westwood estate’s marble foyer, phone to her ear.

Victor’s tone was sharp. “What’s happening?”

“They’re coming for you. That video Leonard sent? It’s already circulating in private groups. If it leaks publicly, you’ll be finished.”

Victor swore under his breath. “I can fix this.”

“No, you can’t. Kane is dismantling Stonecliff piece by piece, and he’s coming for you next. Your only chance is to disappear.”

In Leonard’s penthouse, Adrian stepped into the study, face grim.

“They’ve moved,” he said. “Stonecliff just pulled funds from three dummy accounts. They’re hiring outside contractors people who don’t care about laws.”

Leonard didn’t look surprised. “Desperation makes men stupid.”

“This isn’t stupid. This is dangerous. They’re bringing in someone named Vargos. Ex-intelligence, no conscience. He doesn’t come cheap.”

Leonard leaned back. “Good. Expensive men make expensive mistakes. Prep security for full lockdown.”

Adrian hesitated. “And Elena? Should she know?”

Leonard’s expression softened just slightly. “No. Not yet. Let her think it’s business as usual.”

But Elena already knew something was wrong. She found Leonard later that night, staring at screens filled with red alerts and shifting maps.

“You’re hiding something again,” she said.

“I’m keeping you safe.”

“By keeping me blind? They shot at your building last week. Now I see security doubled, cars checked twice, phones monitored. What aren’t you telling me?”

He met her gaze. “Stonecliff’s last play failed. They won’t make the same mistake twice. They’re coming harder, and they’ll use anything anyone to get to me.”

Her stomach turned. “Anyone?”

“Yes,” he said quietly. “Including you.”

Meanwhile, in a dim warehouse across town, Victor met with Stonecliff’s inner circle.

“We need to hit him where it hurts,” Victor insisted. “Money isn’t enough. He’s too clean, too fast.”

The Stonecliff chairman’s voice was dry. “Money was never the point. The point is leverage.”

Victor frowned. “What kind of leverage?”

The chairman’s thin smile answered. “Family. The wife, the child if there is one, even the illusion is enough. People like Kane bleed only when someone close bleeds first.”

Victor’s hesitation was brief. “Do it.”

Two days later, Elena noticed the car. Black, low, parked across the street from her usual café.

She mentioned it casually to Adrian as they walked back. “That car’s been there three mornings in a row.”

Adrian froze for a second too long.

“Elena,” he said carefully, “from now on, you don’t go anywhere alone. Not even a block.”

Her voice sharpened. “Why? Who’s watching me?”

“I told you, Stonecliff doesn’t bluff. They’re watching everything.”

The next move came fast. Leonard’s private server lit up at 3:00 a.m. a breach attempt, clean and surgical.

Adrian burst into the study. “They’re inside the network! They’re trying to mirror your financials, contracts everything.”

Leonard was already typing, his face calm. “Seal them out.”

“We can’t. They’re good.”

“Better than me?” Leonard’s hands moved faster. Lines of code, countermeasures, backdoors slammed shut. Then, suddenly, silence.

“They’re locked out,” Leonard said.

Adrian exhaled. “Barely.”

Leonard leaned back. “Good. Now trace the signal. Where did they sit when they tried to steal my world?”

A pause.

Adrian’s voice turned grim. “Victor’s townhouse. He’s not even hiding anymore.”

The fallout came at breakfast. Miranda confronted her son, voice like steel.

“You’re a fool, Victor. He’s giving you chances to stop, and you keep spitting in his face. Kane doesn’t forgive, and he doesn’t forget.”

Victor slammed his cup down. “I’m not afraid of him.”

“You should be,” she said quietly. “Because he’s not just fighting you. He’s studying you.”

That evening, Leonard made the first personal strike.

Victor opened his front door to find an envelope on the step. Inside: a single photo. Elena, taken from a long lens, laughing with a coffee cup.

A note beneath it: Next time, she won’t be laughing.

Victor’s hand shook as he called Stonecliff. “He knows. He’s watching her.”

The chairman’s reply was ice. “Then we accelerate. No more warnings.”

Back in Leonard’s office, Adrian placed a small black case on the desk.

“They’re moving assets again,” he said. “And we intercepted chatter. They’re not going after your accounts this time.”

Leonard opened the case: surveillance photos, threat reports, possible safe houses.

“They’re coming for her,” Adrian finished.

Leonard’s jaw tightened. “Then they’ll learn the cost of touching what’s mine.”

Elena walked in moments later, catching the edge of the conversation.

“They’re coming for me?” she asked.

Neither man answered.

“That’s it,” she said, voice rising. “You tell me everything now, or I walk out that door and deal with it myself.”

Leonard turned, eyes hard but steady. “They made you a target, Elena. And if they can’t reach me through money, they’ll try through you. But they won’t succeed.”

She stared at him, anger mixing with fear. “You think you can control everything.”

“No,” he said softly. “I just have enough control.”

That night, cameras caught two figures near the Westwood estate. A silent alarm tripped.

Leonard got the call at midnight. “Stonecliff’s testing your fences,” Adrian reported. “And Victor’s car was seen nearby.”

Leonard’s response was immediate. “No more games. They want war? We’ll give them one. But this time, it ends with a name crossed off.”