Chapter 18 - Unmasking the Puppeteer
The sedan slammed onto the steel deck, its tires screeching as saltwater sprayed over the bow.
Michael kicked the driver's door open, stepping out into the howling wind and rain. On the upper bridge of the yacht, Damian stood behind the glass windows, steering the vessel out toward international waters.
Michael climbed the steel ladder to the bridge, kicking open the door.
Damian didn't turn around. He held the ship’s wheel with one hand and a remote detonator in the other.
"You really don't get it, do you, Michael?" Damian said, looking at him through the mirror reflection. "I didn't start this game. I was hired."
Michael leveled his gun at Damian’s head. "Hired by who? Eleanor? Veronica?"
"Higher," Damian smirked.
He pressed a button on the console. A large satellite monitor flickered to life. On the screen was a live video feed of a luxurious penthouse room in Dubai. Sitting in a leather armchair was a man with a gold cane—Victor Kane, the billionaire CEO of Kane Global, the primary corporate competitor of Sterling Enterprises.
"Hello, young Michael," Victor Kane spoke through the speaker, his voice smooth and ancient. "Your father Arthur betrayed our syndicate twenty years ago. I promised him I would erase his bloodline, penny by penny, child by child."
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"It was you," Michael realized, his knuckles turning white on the grip of his gun. "You funded Rachel. You gave Veronica the fake identity. You paid off the judges."
"And now, Damian will blow this yacht into a million pieces once he reaches three miles offshore," Kane smiled coldly. "The Sterling line ends tonight."
