2025-04-30 00:50:38Frank sat in a quiet hospital corridor, elbows on knees, his heart still racing. Outside the ER doors, doctors worked furiously to stabilize Winston Wrenford. Blood still stained Frank’s shirt, but he didn’t feel it. All he could think about was the moment Winston was shot—and the cold, hollow look in Corbin’s eyes before he was dragged away by security.
“Frank.”
He looked up.
Ella stood before him, her hands trembling slightly. Her eyes were red, not from fear—but fury.
“He’s going to be okay,” she said. “The bullet missed anything vital. The doctors say he’s lucky.”
Frank nodded, relieved—but only for a second. Because something still didn’t sit right.
“This wasn’t just about power,” he muttered. “Corbin had something else planned.”
Ella hesitated. “What do you mean?”
Frank glanced around, lowered his voice. “I think he was working with someone… maybe outside the company. The hit—it was too clean. The sniper vanished. And when I caught up with Corbin, he didn’t seem surprised. He was prepared.”
Ella looked at him. “You think there’s more coming?”
Frank’s silence was her answer.
Three blocks away, in a dimly lit hotel room, the sniper stood by the window, cleaning his rifle. His gloves were crimson red—an odd flourish for someone so calculated, so surgical.
The TV played silently in the background. News footage from WrenTech Tower: board members escorted out, Winston loaded into an ambulance, police swarming the scene.
He muted the screen.
Then opened a second folder: Frank Sutton – Level 2 Priority. Eliminate Quietly.
A text lit up his burner phone:
“Failure is not an option this time.”
– R
The man cracked his neck, zipped his case, and slipped on his coat. He walked out without a sound, merging into the crowd.
At WrenTech HQ, police finished sweeping the premises. Officers questioned employees, pulled surveillance footage, and catalogued Corbin’s electronics.
Frank was brought back in under heavy security. He had gone from janitor to national headline in twelve hours.
Winston was recovering, but still unconscious.
The boardroom had been transformed into a crisis command center. Agents in dark suits swarmed the halls. Federal eyes were now watching.
Agent Mia Caldwell approached Frank. Tall, sharp, with an expression that didn’t blink.
“You’re Frank Sutton?”
“Yes.”
“I’m with Internal Security Liaison. We’ve been monitoring threats to tech firms. This incident isn’t isolated. There’s a pattern.”
Frank’s stomach twisted. “Pattern?”
“Three other tech CEOs in the last year—‘accidents.’ All happened right before sensitive mergers, key inventions, or massive IPOs.”
“And you think WrenTech is next.”
“I think,” Caldwell said, “you’ve just stepped into something much bigger than you realize.”
Back in the hospital, Ella sat beside her father’s bed. His hand twitched slightly.
“Dad,” she whispered. “Frank… he saved everything.”
Winston’s eyelids fluttered, and for a second, she saw life return to his face. He tried to speak—but a tear rolled down instead.
Ella gripped his hand tighter.
That night, Frank couldn’t sleep.
He paced his one-room apartment, surrounded by files, charts, and code sheets. The excitement of cracking the T9Space code had evaporated into dread.
He knew Corbin’s arrest didn’t end this.
The moment the sniper tried—and failed—something shifted.
They would come again.
He stared at his wall. A formula he’d sketched out weeks ago seemed to shimmer in a new light. He picked up a pen, circled two fragments, and frowned.
“T9 wasn’t just about stocks,” he muttered. “It’s a gateway.”
Suddenly, his phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
He hesitated, then answered. “Hello?”
A low, gravel voice replied:
“Tick-tock, Mr. Sutton. You shouldn’t have touched the code.”
Click.
Frank froze.
He turned, instinctively checking his window—nothing.
But across the street, from the rooftop opposite, a small red light blinked once, then disappeared.
Frank rushed to grab his bag—his instincts screaming.
But as he reached for the doorknob, he paused.
Under the door…
No address.
No writing.
Just one thing inside:
And a note scrawled beneath it:
“You unlock secrets. We unlock people.”
Previous Chapter
Related Chapters
The Next Billionaire Chapter 5: A Date with Fire
Frank stared at the photo in his trembling hand. Ella’s image, captured from a distance—her walking to her car, unaware she was being watched. The message below it wasn’t a warning. It was a promise.“You unlock secrets. We unlock people.”They were watching him. And worse—they were watching her.Frank's heartbeat thundered in his chest. He grabbed his phone and dialed Ella, his fingers shaky.“Pick up… come on, pick up—”She answered on the third ring. “Frank?”“Ella, listen carefully. Don’t go anywhere alone. Lock your doors. Call security at the hospital and stay with your dad.”Her tone shifted instantly. “What happened?”“They left a message. They're threatening you.”There was a pause. Then Ella replied, calm but firm. “Where are you?”“At my apartment—”“I’m coming to get you.”“No—”But she had already ended the call.Frank paced in tight circles, trying to figure out the next step. He scanned the envelope again, but it was clean—no fingerprints, no identifiers. These people w
The Next Billionaire Chapter 6: Smoke and Shadows
The flashlight beam glared directly into Frank’s eyes. He squinted, heart hammering in his chest.“Hands where I can see them,” Mr. Red Glove said, his tone calm but lethal.Beside him, the estate’s head of security, Mr. Lenton—a man Frank had seen every day for weeks—held his gun steady, aimed squarely at Frank’s chest.Ella stepped protectively in front of Frank. “Lenton? What the hell are you doing?”“I’m sorry, Miss Ella,” Lenton said, jaw tight. “Orders.”“From who?”Mr. Red Glove answered for him. “From someone who doesn’t believe in wasting talent. Frank Sutton has what we want. We simply want him to come with us... willingly.”Frank’s mind raced. He counted three visible men, possibly more in the shadows. The boat waiting behind them was no accident. This was a planned extraction, not an ambush.“You don’t need her,” Frank said, stepping beside Ella. “Let her go. You want me, right?”Mr. Red Glove nodded. “Astute, as always. But letting her go would be... unwise. Insurance mat
The Next Billionaire Chapter 7: The Shadow Who Knew Him
The dim light from the warehouse’s broken windows cast eerie shadows across the room, making every creak of the floorboards sound like footsteps. Frank wiped the sweat from his brow, his heart still racing from their narrow escape. He glanced at Ella, whose face was pale, but her determination remained sharp despite the pain.“We need to move,” he said, his voice urgent. “I don’t know how long we’ll be safe here.”Ella nodded, clutching her arm. “What’s next? You said Valkyrie was the key?”Frank paused, staring at the ground. His thoughts were a whirlwind. The implications of what he had uncovered were too vast to ignore. A global AI system capable of predicting human behavior was one thing—something that could control markets, politics, and entire governments—but the fact that someone was trying to activate it was a different matter entirely.“We’re not just dealing with WrenTech,” he muttered, pacing back and forth. “Valkyrie... it’s bigger than that. Whoever controls it can manipu
The Next Billionaire Chapter 8: The Woman Who Knew Too Much
The world around Frank seemed to slow, as if time itself had paused, the tension in the room thickening with every breath. The darkness was creeping in. The cold metallic click of Corbin’s voice echoed through Frank’s mind like a death sentence. But just before the room swallowed them whole, the woman at the door moved.She reacted faster than Frank had anticipated. With a flick of her wrist, she pulled a sleek black device from her belt and hurled it onto the floor. There was a brief, high-pitched whine, followed by a loud pop. The lights flickered once, then died completely.For a moment, the room was plunged into complete darkness. Frank’s heart hammered in his chest as he fumbled for his bearings.He heard the woman’s voice, barely a whisper, but it cut through the silence like a knife. “Run.”Frank didn’t hesitate. Grabbing Ella by the arm, he dragged her toward the back door. The confusion and fear clouded his thoughts, but survival instinct kicked in, overriding the chaos.He d
The Next Billionaire Chapter 9: The Choice of Betrayal
Smoke curled from the crushed hood of the car. The metallic scent of burnt rubber and oil filled the air as Frank shoved the door open and stumbled out, his legs shaky from the impact.Ella groaned beside him, clutching her side as she crawled from the wreckage. “What the hell just happened?” she gasped.Frank didn’t answer.His eyes were fixed on the woman standing a few feet away. She was calm, unscathed, and watching him with unnerving precision—as if she had planned this.“You did this,” Frank said, his voice low but edged with fury. “Why?”The woman didn’t flinch. “Because if I hadn’t stopped you, they would’ve found you. Corbin already has a tracker on the car you stole.”Ella coughed, her eyes wide with disbelief. “Then why didn’t you just say something?”“I didn’t have time,” the woman snapped. “And I don’t trust you enough to explain everything—not yet.”Frank helped Ella to her feet. “Then why help us at all?”“Because I need you alive,” she said bluntly. “And because, wheth
The Next Billionaire Chapter 10: Triggered Loyalties
Frank froze.The Ella standing before him looked the same—but something in her expression had shifted. Her once-soft gaze was replaced with something sharp, calculated, almost mechanical.“Ella?” he said cautiously.She tilted her head slowly, eyes unfocused. “Awaken protocol initiated… validating sequence.”Frank’s heart pounded as he backed a step away. “What are you talking about?”She blinked rapidly. “No… no, this isn’t real,” she whispered, clutching her head. “What’s happening to me?”“Ella, listen to me,” Frank said, moving toward her, “you’re okay. Whatever this is, fight it.”But she suddenly shoved him back—hard. He slammed into the wall, groaning from the impact.“I said stay away!” she cried, breathing heavily, her voice layered—one part her, one part... someone else.Frank's mind raced. He grabbed the phone and studied the screen.Awaken.A second message appeared beneath it:"Sleeper protocol unlocked: Subject E-17 active."He looked up at her in disbelief. “You’re E-17
The Next Billionaire Chapter 11: The Ghost from the Past
Frank’s breath caught in his throat.He hadn’t seen that face in a decade. A face etched into his earliest memories—a face that haunted his dreams.“Adrian…” Frank whispered.The man standing in the doorway stepped forward, half his face cloaked in shadow. Older, hardened, eyes colder than Frank remembered.“Hello, little brother,” Adrian said, voice smooth and cutting.Ella’s eyes darted between them. “You have a brother?”“I thought he was dead,” Frank muttered, barely able to comprehend it. “You disappeared. They said you died in that fire.”Adrian smiled. “I did disappear. But death? That’s a story the company wanted you to believe. Just like everything else.”Frank took a cautious step forward. “Why? Why fake your death? Why leave us?”Adrian’s smile faded. “Because I was recruited, Frank. Pulled into something bigger. Something you weren’t ready for.”“You’re one of them?” Ella asked.“No,” Adrian said. “I’m worse.”Frank stepped in front of Ella protectively. “Why are you here?
The Next Billionaire Chapter 12: Bloodlines and Betrayals
“CASEY!”Frank lunged forward just in time to catch his friend as the red dot vanished and a sharp crack echoed down the hallway. Casey’s body went limp in his arms, blood soaking through his jacket.Ella spun toward the direction of the shot, weapon raised. “Sniper—moving fast!”Adrian darted to the wall, yanking open a concealed maintenance panel. “Emergency shaft, now!”Frank dragged Casey, heart pounding. “Stay with me, man. Stay with me!”Casey coughed, blood at the corner of his mouth. “Vest… got most of it... I think…” He winced, his breathing shallow.“You're not dying on me,” Frank growled. “Not after coming back from the dead.”They shoved into the maintenance tunnel just as bullets sprayed the metal walls behind them. Sparks erupted. Frank kicked the hatch shut, panting, his hands soaked in his friend's blood.“Who the hell was that?” Ella asked, wide-eyed.Adrian looked grim. “I was afraid they’d deploy her. That shot came from Subject Nine.”“Who is she?” Frank demanded.
Latest Chapter
Chapter 18: Shadows of the Clone
The server room was shrouded in complete darkness, save for the faint green pulse of a backup generator. Frank’s heart hammered in his chest. Corbin’s voice still echoed in his mind.“You were never just a janitor… You were a contingency plan.”Ella lit her phone’s flashlight, casting an eerie glow across the room. Adrian stood still, jaw locked, staring at the last frame frozen on the screen: a scarred version of Frank floating in a tank, as if kept in stasis alive, preserved, and possibly aware.Ella finally whispered, “Frank… is that really… you?”Frank couldn’t answer. He was too busy trying to breathe through the weight of the truth pressing down on him.He took a slow step back. “This doesn’t make sense. How could I be… that? How could I not know?”Adrian narrowed his eyes. “Unless your memories aren’t yours.”The room turned colder.Frank shot him a look. “What do you mean?”“Ever heard of memory implantation?” Adrian replied. “They’ve been experimenting with it for years in ce
Chapter 17: Zero Hour
The wail of the alarm echoed through the archive room like a death knell.Red lights flashed violently along the walls, signaling the start of something far more dangerous than just a security lockdown.Frank’s breathing was ragged as he backed away from the blood-scrawled warning on the floor.Protocol Zero.The name alone sent chills down his spine.Ella’s voice snapped him back. “Frank, we have to move. The building’s sealing itself!”Frank turned, grabbing her hand. Adrian cursed under his breath as the steel blast doors began slamming shut, one section at a time, booming like thunder.“What the hell is Protocol Zero?” Adrian demanded as they sprinted through the corridor.Frank didn’t slow. “It was a failsafe mentioned in one of Corbin’s blacksite documents. A full-scale purge. Erase data, destroy evidence, and eliminate threats. We’re the threats now.”Ella paled. “Are we locked in?”Frank stopped abruptly as the hallway trembled. A thick metal door slammed shut inches from his
Chapter 16: The Masked Hunter
Frank’s heart raced. The figure in the silver suit moved with deadly precision, faster than anyone Frank had encountered in the field. A split second was all it took for him to assess the situation.The man was armed—both hands gripping sleek, black blades that shimmered ominously in the low light of the archive room. He didn’t speak, didn’t even flinch. Just advanced.Frank reacted first. He grabbed a nearby steel rod, swung it wildly to knock the blades away.The masked figure parried with ease, his movements almost surgical, as if trained to kill without hesitation. Frank's chest tightened. This wasn’t an ordinary assassin.Ella grabbed Frank’s arm and yanked him back. “We need to move—now!”But Frank, already slipping into fight mode, shook his head. “We don’t run. Not this time.”He lunged forward, aiming to disable the masked hunter.Frank's strike was fast, calculated. His opponent blocked it, and in the same motion, the masked hunter spun, launching a kick that knocked Frank b
Chapter 15: The Woman in Black
Frank’s breath caught in his throat.The woman standing in front of them radiated control perfect posture, unflinching eyes, and a calmness that didn’t match the tension in the air. She stepped forward, flanked by a dozen black-clad soldiers bearing sleek weapons and a sigil of a phoenix engulfed in flames.“Subject Ten,” she said. “Or do you still prefer Frank Halloway?”Frank stepped in front of Ella and Adrian, voice steady despite his racing heart. “Who are you?”She smiled faintly, the kind of smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “My name is Commander Lin Seraphine. Division Chief of Phoenix Protocol. I’ve been watching you for a long time.”Adrian raised his gun. “You’re with Blackgate?”“No,” she replied. “We own Blackgate. And everything beneath it.”Frank narrowed his eyes. “Including Subject Nine?”Her smile faltered for a second. Just a second. “Nine was… an imperfect iteration. You were the objective. The codebreaker. The anomaly. The one we couldn’t erase.”Ella stepped forw
Chapter 14: Phase Two
The escape tunnel was pitch black except for the flickering emergency lights that lined the narrow ceiling. Frank led the way, gripping the data drive like it was his heartbeat. Behind him, Ella limped slightly but kept up. Adrian carried Casey with silent determination, sweat pouring down his forehead."Sector K is at least three miles underground," Adrian muttered. "We’ll have to cross two checkpoints and an abandoned operations wing."“Abandoned?” Ella asked. “Or ‘abandoned’?”“Depends who you ask,” Adrian said grimly.Frank’s mind was a storm of questions. Phase Two begins. What did that mean? Why hadn’t Subject Nine finished them off? Why let them escape?Unless… they weren’t the target anymore.“Adrian,” Frank said. “Is there any chance this ‘Sector K’ is a decoy?”“No. It’s real. That’s where Dr. Hensley kept all off-book operations. Bioweapons, surveillance AI, memory erasure trials you name it.”“And we’re going there why, again?” Ella shot back.Frank stopped at a sealed ste
Chapter 13: The Fall Beneath
The wind howled past Frank’s ears as he plunged into the black abyss, the shredded line whipping above him. Gravity yanked him down like a steel fist, air rushing, heart thundering.He caught a glimpse of Ella and Adrian falling beside him Adrian still gripping Casey’s limp body, Ella clinging to her cable, trying to slow her descent. Above them, a metallic shadow fell with lethal precision.Subject Nine.She didn’t scream. She didn’t flail. She simply dove like a guided missile, a killing machine locked on target.Frank’s mind raced.Think. Think!A faint green glow shimmered below—water. A river, rushing beneath the underground facility. But it wasn’t wide. If they missed…Frank twisted mid-air, arms out, tucking his body like a diver.He hit the water like concrete.Pain exploded across his chest, and darkness clawed at the edges of his vision. Cold. Crippling cold.He kicked upward, lungs burning, finally breaching the surface with a gasp. “Ella!”A splash nearby then another. Ell
Chapter 12: Bloodlines and Betrayals
“CASEY!”Frank lunged forward just in time to catch his friend as the red dot vanished and a sharp crack echoed down the hallway. Casey’s body went limp in his arms, blood soaking through his jacket.Ella spun toward the direction of the shot, weapon raised. “Sniper—moving fast!”Adrian darted to the wall, yanking open a concealed maintenance panel. “Emergency shaft, now!”Frank dragged Casey, heart pounding. “Stay with me, man. Stay with me!”Casey coughed, blood at the corner of his mouth. “Vest… got most of it... I think…” He winced, his breathing shallow.“You're not dying on me,” Frank growled. “Not after coming back from the dead.”They shoved into the maintenance tunnel just as bullets sprayed the metal walls behind them. Sparks erupted. Frank kicked the hatch shut, panting, his hands soaked in his friend's blood.“Who the hell was that?” Ella asked, wide-eyed.Adrian looked grim. “I was afraid they’d deploy her. That shot came from Subject Nine.”“Who is she?” Frank demanded.
Chapter 11: The Ghost from the Past
Frank’s breath caught in his throat.He hadn’t seen that face in a decade. A face etched into his earliest memories—a face that haunted his dreams.“Adrian…” Frank whispered.The man standing in the doorway stepped forward, half his face cloaked in shadow. Older, hardened, eyes colder than Frank remembered.“Hello, little brother,” Adrian said, voice smooth and cutting.Ella’s eyes darted between them. “You have a brother?”“I thought he was dead,” Frank muttered, barely able to comprehend it. “You disappeared. They said you died in that fire.”Adrian smiled. “I did disappear. But death? That’s a story the company wanted you to believe. Just like everything else.”Frank took a cautious step forward. “Why? Why fake your death? Why leave us?”Adrian’s smile faded. “Because I was recruited, Frank. Pulled into something bigger. Something you weren’t ready for.”“You’re one of them?” Ella asked.“No,” Adrian said. “I’m worse.”Frank stepped in front of Ella protectively. “Why are you here?
Chapter 10: Triggered Loyalties
Frank froze.The Ella standing before him looked the same—but something in her expression had shifted. Her once-soft gaze was replaced with something sharp, calculated, almost mechanical.“Ella?” he said cautiously.She tilted her head slowly, eyes unfocused. “Awaken protocol initiated… validating sequence.”Frank’s heart pounded as he backed a step away. “What are you talking about?”She blinked rapidly. “No… no, this isn’t real,” she whispered, clutching her head. “What’s happening to me?”“Ella, listen to me,” Frank said, moving toward her, “you’re okay. Whatever this is, fight it.”But she suddenly shoved him back—hard. He slammed into the wall, groaning from the impact.“I said stay away!” she cried, breathing heavily, her voice layered—one part her, one part... someone else.Frank's mind raced. He grabbed the phone and studied the screen.Awaken.A second message appeared beneath it:"Sleeper protocol unlocked: Subject E-17 active."He looked up at her in disbelief. “You’re E-17
