The moment we arrived at Leon’s safe house, a heavy silence settled between us. The tension in the air was suffocating, thick with unspoken fears and the weight of what we had just learned. Alexa was gone. And Elise's father—the man who had been a phantom in the shadows of our problems—had finally made his move.I paced the length of the dimly lit living room, arms crossed over my chest. My mind raced, trying to piece together the possibilities of where Alexa could be and what they might be doing to her. Dorian stood near the window, his sharp eyes scanning the darkness beyond, while Leon leaned against the wall, his jaw locked tight.“We need to move,” I said, breaking the silence. My voice came out steadier than I expected, but my hands were trembling. “Every second we waste, Alexa could be—” I cut myself off before finishing the thought. I refused to let fear paralyze me.Leon pushed off the wall, his expression unreadable. “Dorian already has our people searching the perimeter of
The weight of the locket in my palm was heavier than I remembered. The last time I had seen it, I was a child—too young to understand the depth of what had been stolen from me. And now, years later, it had resurfaced in the hands of a man who had every reason to use it against me.Leon’s grip on my knees tightened. “We need to figure out why he has this.”I nodded, but my thoughts were elsewhere, tangled in memories I had buried long ago. My parents. Their deaths. The accident—or what I had been told was an accident.I took a shaky breath. “This locket... it was my mother’s. She gave it to me the day before she died.” My voice wavered. “When they found me after the accident, it was gone.”Leon’s eyes darkened. “Someone took it.”“Not just someone,” I whispered. “Elise’s father.”Dorian entered the room, his usual calm demeanor slightly frayed. “I just got word. Elise’s father left town hours ago. Whatever game he’s playing, he planned this move in advance.”Leon cursed under his breat
The room felt heavier now, as if the ghosts of the past had never truly left. My father’s study had once been a place of quiet authority, filled with the scent of polished wood and old books. Now, it was chaos—a graveyard of secrets waiting to be unearthed.Leon and Dorian moved swiftly, sifting through papers, searching for anything that might explain my father’s connection to Elise’s father. But my hands trembled as I flipped through the documents.My father’s handwriting stared back at me in sharp, deliberate strokes.Project Haven—Initiated 20 years agoI frowned. “Project Haven?”Leon peered over my shoulder. “That name mean anything to you?”I shook my head, but something about it felt... familiar. Like a memory I had brushed against in passing but never grasped fully.Dorian pulled a dust-covered filing box from beneath the desk. “We’ve got more.” He popped the latch and revealed stacks of old documents, some stamped with red ink.CONFIDENTIAL.I swallowed hard as I pulled out
The weight of the file in my hands was suffocating. The words blurred together, but the truth was undeniable—my father hadn’t just been a scientist. He had been a test subject. And Elise’s father had orchestrated it all.Leon took the file from me carefully, his jaw tight as he read through the documents. “This wasn’t just research. They were experimenting on people.”Dorian exhaled sharply. “And your father was one of them.”I clenched my fists. “But why? What were they trying to do?”Leon flipped to the last page, scanning the details. His eyes darkened. “Something about genetic resilience. Accelerated healing. They were looking for ways to manipulate biological responses to trauma.”My stomach churned. “You mean… like making people stronger?”“Stronger, faster, immune to certain injuries.” Leon met my gaze, his voice heavy. “Margarette, they weren’t just studying human endurance. They were creating something.”A chill ran down my spine. “Creating what?”Dorian shifted uncomfortably
The moment Elise’s father whistled, chaos erupted. Gunfire cracked through the air, sending dock workers scattering. Shadows moved between the containers—his men, heavily armed and ready.Leon pulled me behind a stack of crates as bullets ricocheted off the metal. “Dorian, how many?”Dorian’s voice came sharp through the earpiece. “At least eight. They were waiting for you.”I clenched my teeth. Of course, he knew we’d come.Leon checked his ammo. “We need to take them out before he reaches the cargo ship.”I exhaled, steadying my grip on my gun. “Then let’s end this.”Leon moved first, stepping out just long enough to fire three quick shots. A grunt of pain echoed through the night. One down.Dorian’s rifle cracked, taking out another.I kept close to the containers, listening—waiting. A figure rushed toward me. I ducked just as he swung a knife, feeling the blade slice the air above my head.Without hesitation, I drove my elbow into his ribs, twisting his wrist until the knife clatt
The night before our departure, I barely slept. The weight of the locket pressed against my collarbone, a silent reminder that my past was no longer buried—it was clawing its way back to the surface.Leon must have sensed my restlessness because he found me in the kitchen before dawn, staring into my untouched cup of coffee.“You’re thinking too much.”I let out a breathless laugh, shaking my head. “You always say that.”“Because it’s always true.” He leaned against the counter, arms crossed. “Second thoughts?”“No,” I said. “Just… doubts. What if I don’t find the answers I’m looking for? What if I’m just chasing ghosts?”Leon studied me for a long moment before stepping closer, his fingers grazing the locket at my neck. “Then we chase them together.”My chest tightened at the quiet intensity in his voice.Before I could respond, Dorian’s voice cut through the stillness. “Time to go.”The drive to the estate was long and silent. Alexa had insisted on coming, despite her injuries. She
Dorian smirked. “Relax, lover boy. I’m not saying she’s defenseless—I’m saying we need to be smart about this.”Leon’s glare didn’t waver, but he didn’t argue either. He knew Dorian was right.I exhaled, my fingers tightening around the locket that had started all of this. “So what do we do?”Dorian sighed. “You have two choices: disappear and hope they forget about you… or go after them first.”Leon tensed beside me. “You’re suggesting we take the fight to them?”Dorian shrugged. “Elise’s father had powerful connections. Some of them might scatter now that he’s locked up, but the smart ones? They’ll wait. Watch. See what you do next.”I swallowed hard. “Then we don’t give them time to plan.”Leon turned to me, his expression dark. “You’re sure about this?”I met his gaze. “I didn’t come this far just to hide.”Dorian grinned. “That’s what I was hoping you’d say.”Alexa shifted uncomfortably. “I wish I had your courage.”I reached for her hand. “You have more than you think.”She gave
The salty night air carried the hum of distant ship engines and the occasional murmur of dock workers. But this wasn’t just a routine shipment—this was a calculated exchange of power, a moment that could unravel everything Elise’s father had hidden for years.I crouched behind a stack of shipping containers with Leon beside me. Dorian’s team was spread out, positioned along the pier, watching, waiting. A dark van was parked near the edge of the dock, its back doors open. Men in suits moved between the van and the cargo, transferring crates that likely held more than just money.Leon’s voice was low in my ear. “Four men on the ground, two near the van. More could be inside.”I nodded, my gaze locked on the crates. “That’s not just cash, Leon. That’s leverage. He wouldn’t move it unless he was running scared.”Dorian’s voice crackled through our earpieces. “We take them now, we risk losing the files. We wait too long, we risk backup showing up.”I made the decision before anyone else co
The flight to Zurich was tense. Leon barely spoke, his eyes fixed on the dark horizon outside the private jet’s window. Dorian was on his laptop, going over the intel they had gathered, while I sat quietly, my mind racing.Everything felt like a trap, but it also felt like the moment I had been waiting for—the one where the past and present collided in a blaze of truth and revenge.I turned to Leon. “You’re sure about this?”His jaw clenched, a muscle ticking in his temple. “I’ve never been more sure. Vincent Leclerc won’t see us coming.”“And when we get there?” I asked, my voice low. “What then?”“We take the drive. We make him pay for everything he’s done. To you, to your family, to everyone he’s destroyed.” Leon’s voice was filled with raw determination, but there was something more in his eyes—a promise of justice that had been a long time coming.I nodded, but doubts swirled in the pit of my stomach. As much as I wanted to destroy Vincent, I couldn’t shake the feeling that he ha
The blast echoed like a thunderclap in my ears. For a split second, time fractured—the world slowing into broken shards of motion and sound.Leon shoved me to the side just before the bullet could hit.I hit the floor hard, my head spinning, as another shot cracked through the air. Dorian lunged forward, his gun raised, and Elise ducked behind the archway, vanishing into the dark like a phantom.“Leon!” I gasped, scrambling toward him.“I’m fine,” he grunted, crouching low. “You okay?”I nodded quickly. “Where is she?”“Gone,” Dorian snarled, checking the hallway. “But she won’t get far.”Blood. There was blood—just a scratch on Leon’s arm, but it was enough to ignite something wild in me. Elise hadn’t missed by much.“She’s trying to stall us,” Leon muttered, his jaw clenched. “She’s trying to buy her father time.”I stood, heart hammering. “We don’t have time to waste.”We pushed deeper into the estate, each creaking floorboard echoing under our steps. Every shadow seemed to stretch
The air in Paris was crisp, carrying the scent of blooming lilacs and freshly baked bread. Yet, as we approached the Société Générale bank, the city's charm was overshadowed by the weight of anticipation. Leon held my hand tightly, his grip a silent reassurance.Inside the bank, the atmosphere was sterile, the walls echoing with the soft hum of fluorescent lights. A stern-looking clerk led us to the vault, her heels clicking against the marble floor. She paused before a large steel door, inputting a code before turning to us."Box 1083," she said, motioning us inside.The room was small, lined with safety deposit boxes of varying sizes. She retrieved ours and placed it on the table before exiting, leaving us alone.Leon looked at me, his eyes searching mine. "Ready?"I nodded, my heart pounding.He opened the box.Inside, we found a stack of documents with Detailed records of offshore accounts, shell companies, and financial transactions linking my father and Uncle George to Justin
That night, I held Leon’s hand in bed as we discussed it.“It could be a trap,” he said, brushing hair from my face. “But if it’s real, it might be your last chance to speak to her.”“I’m not going for closure,” I said. “I’m going for answers. She’s the only one left who knows what Justin did in the early days—where the real money was hidden. If she talks… we might still uncover the offshore accounts tied to the foundation.”Leon nodded, jaw clenched. “Then I’m going with you.”“No,” I said, squeezing his hand. “You’re staying here. With the boys. With her.”I rested his hand gently on my belly.“I need to do this,” I whispered. “For me. For everything we’ve lost.”Three days later, I stepped off a plane in southern France with my passport tucked beneath my coat, wearing sunglasses and a scarf like a woman living someone else’s life.The hospital loomed like a fortress—gray stone walls and narrow windows, almost monastic.And in a small, dim room, Vera lay frail beneath white sheets,
The days that followed were a storm of documents, strategy meetings, and surveillance reports. Letty took over the kids for a while, treating them to trips at the museum and letting them nap in the sunroom of her new apartment. Meanwhile, I sat in rooms with lawyers and digital forensics experts, digging into everything Christian Vance touched.It was Letty who uncovered the link.She burst into the study one evening, a tablet in hand. “He’s planning a boardroom coup,” she said breathlessly. “I checked the recent proxy votes. He’s been buying small shareholder stakes under alias accounts and has enough to sway decisions at Kwartz Global.”Leon went rigid. “That’s impossible.”“It’s not,” Letty said. “He’s doing it through employees of a now-defunct hedge fund linked to Justin’s mother.”I felt ice crawl up my spine.Justin’s mother—Vera. A name I hadn’t heard in over a year. A name that had once held the keys to my family’s downfall.“She’s still alive?” I asked.Letty nodded. “Barely
The address came through at 3:14 a.m.A string of numbers. A location just outside Anacortes, where the city faded into the woods. The text had no name, no promise—just a timestamp, a photo of Marie looking terrified in a dimly lit basement, and a message:Come alone. Bring nothing. No cops. You want her alive.I didn’t wake Leon.Maybe because I knew he’d never let me go alone. Maybe because I needed to do this myself. Or maybe it was the cold certainty that this had always been about me, even when the players were different.I slipped into jeans, tied my hair into a messy knot, and left a note on the kitchen counter, my fingers trembling as I wrote it."If I don’t come back by dawn, don’t follow me. Find Marie. Get the truth out. Protect our kids. I love you."The drive was a blur of fog and nerves. The forest swallowed the road in twisted arms. The house was a crumbling thing, a relic from the 40s with its porch rotting and windows dark.I parked down the hill and approached on foo
He burst through the side door with Riley right behind him, guns drawn.Vance froze. But only for a second.He raised the pistol toward me.The shot came—but not from his gun.Riley took him in the shoulder. Vance spun, dropped his weapon, and hit the floor.Leon crossed the room in seconds and pulled me into his arms."What part of 'don’t follow me' did you not understand?" I sobbed into his chest."The part where you thought I’d let you face him alone."We found Marie in the basement, bound but unharmed. Her eyes widened when she saw us, and she broke down as Leon cut the ropes.That morning, we handed Vance to the authorities.The evidence he held? It was real.But so was everything we had.I would carry the truth of my father’s choices. But I would not carry his sins.Leon stood beside me when I addressed the press days later."My father helped build a corrupt empire," I said. "And I’ve spent my life dismantling it. My legacy won’t be silence. It will be justice."It wasn’t over. B
Letty’s phone rang just as we finished breakfast.Her hand froze above her coffee cup. The ringtone wasn’t her usual chirpy tune—it was that sharp trill reserved for emergencies. The moment she answered, her face went pale.“What happened?” Leon asked before she even hung up.Letty pressed the phone to her chest, like shielding it would make the words less real. “They suspended me. Without cause. Effective immediately.”I stared at her, stunned. “The university board?”She nodded. “The Dean said an anonymous complaint was submitted—allegations of academic misconduct. Plagiarism. Falsifying grades.”Leon’s voice was flat. “Bullshit.”Letty’s laugh was bitter. “Of course it is. But it’s timed perfectly, isn’t it?”My stomach twisted. “That was Christian.”“Who else?” she said, eyes wide with disbelief. “He’s not just attacking from the front. He’s eroding us piece by piece.”I reached out and gripped her hand. “He won’t win.”Letty nodded, but her fingers were cold.By midday, the secon
Back at the villa that night, I couldn’t speak.Leon sat beside me on the couch, watching the sea crash against the rocks below.“You okay?” he asked gently.“No,” I whispered. “But I’m not broken.”He took my hand. “Then we go after him. All of them.”I stared out the window. The darkness didn’t feel empty anymore. It felt full of purpose.“We burn their empire down,” I said. “Brick by brick.”***Letty cried when I sent her the files.“It’s worse than we thought,” she said. “And also exactly what we feared.”She and Riley got to work immediately—scrubbing every page, verifying every lead. Meanwhile, Leon began arranging an exclusive interview with one of the world’s most ruthless and untouchable journalists: Emilia Rhys.She had once exposed a royal arms dealer with nothing but a pen and a satellite phone.If anyone could launch this story into the stratosphere, it was her.“She’s agreed to meet,” Leon said a day later. “Tomorrow night. In Zurich.”“Then we go,” I said without hesit