The Masked Tycoon

CHAPTER SEVEN

“Move!”

The shout cut through the hum of the lobby as security scattered toward the glass doors. Leonard was already standing, calm but alert. His aide, Adrian, hurried to his side.

“Stonecliff just made their move,” Adrian said. “Two vans, masked men, armed. They’re not here to talk.”

Leonard’s jaw barely moved. “Get Elena out. Level three protocol.”

“What about you?”

“I stay. This is my building.”

Upstairs, Elena was in the conference room when the first alarms sounded.

“What’s happening?” she demanded.

Adrian appeared at the door. “Stonecliff attack. We need to leave. Now.”

Her eyes widened. “Attack? Here?”

“They want Kane,” he said, gripping her arm. “And if they can’t get him, they’ll take you. Let’s move.”

Downstairs, the glass shattered. Three masked men stormed in.

“Where is he?” one barked.

Security drew weapons.

“Sir,” Adrian’s voice crackled through Leonard’s earpiece, “they’re inside.”

Leonard’s tone didn’t change. “Seal the east wing. Channel them toward the loading bay.”

“Why the loading bay?”

“They think they’re hunters,” Leonard said. “Let’s make them prey.”

Victor Westwood was watching from his car across the street.

“Are you seeing this?” he hissed into his phone.

“Yes,” came the cold reply of the Stonecliff rep. “This is a warning. Kane needs to know he’s not untouchable.”

Victor grinned. “A warning? It looks like more than that. If they drag him out, your war is over.”

The rep chuckled. “You think he’s that easy to take?”

Back inside, Elena’s heels clicked fast against the polished floor.

“This is insane,” she said, breathless. “They’re treating this like war.”

Adrian pushed open a side door. “It is war. You just didn’t see it coming.”

They rounded a corner and froze. A masked man was there, gun raised.

Elena gasped.

Adrian shoved her back. “Run!”

The man stepped forward. “You’re coming with us.”

Elena’s voice shook. “Why me?”

“You’re the leverage.”

Before he could move, a single sharp voice came from behind.

“Put it down.”

The man turned. Leonard was there, coat off, eyes cold.

“You think you walk into my house and take what’s mine?”

The man hesitated, gun wavering.

“Shoot him!” a voice crackled from his earpiece.

But Leonard stepped closer, unblinking. “Go ahead. See who falls first.”

For a tense second, no one breathed. Then the man backed away slowly.

Leonard’s gaze didn’t soften. “Tell Stonecliff this is their only free warning. Next time, I won’t be this polite.”

Minutes later, the attackers fled, leaving shattered glass and shaken guards.

Adrian exhaled. “That was too close.”

Leonard turned to Elena. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head but stared at him, something unreadable in her eyes. “You were ready to kill them.”

“They came for my wife.”

“They came for you,” she corrected.

Leonard didn’t answer.

Across the city, in a dim boardroom, Stonecliff executives watched the failed extraction on a grainy feed.

“Interesting,” one murmured. “He didn’t run.”

Another leaned forward. “No. He waited for them. He wanted them to come.”

The leader’s lips curled. “Then we’ll stop playing polite. If he wants war, we’ll burn the ground under him.”

That night, Victor paced his room, phone to his ear.

“This was sloppy,” he snapped. “You sent amateurs!”

“They weren’t amateurs,” the Stonecliff man said calmly. “They underestimated him. It won’t happen again.”

Victor’s voice dropped. “Then make sure it doesn’t. I want him broken. I want him begging.”

The line went dead.

Elena found Leonard on the balcony, city lights stretching behind him.

“They could have killed you,” she said softly.

“They didn’t,” he replied.

“What are you becoming?”

He turned to her, eyes hard. “What I’ve always been. You just didn’t look closely before.”