Chapter 5 - The Siege
The building plunged into darkness. Emergency red lights pulsed, bathing the floor in the color of blood. The containment units began to hiss, the locks failing as the override code tore through the system’s architecture.
"What did you do?" Evelyn hissed, scrambling toward the controls.
"I shut off the profit margin," Jonathan growled, fighting his way out of the guards' grip. He slammed a heavy chair into the lead guard’s head and sprinted toward the cage.
He didn't need a key; he needed to break the bond. He smashed the glass with a fire extinguisher. Lily fell into his arms, but she was different. Her eyes weren't just blue—they were white, glowing with raw, uncontained energy.
"Papa," she said, but her voice was a chorus of a dozen others. "It’s time to burn the house down."
The floor erupted. The servers, overloaded by the override, began to overheat. The entire building started to shudder as the cooling systems were vented, releasing liquid nitrogen into the server room.
It was a cold, brutal, and swift destruction.
Jonathan shielded Lily with his body as the office walls began to buckle. Outside, the city sirens were screaming, but inside, there was only the sound of a billion-dollar empire turning into scrap.
"Get to the roof," Jonathan told her, his voice firm. "I’ll handle the security teams."
"No," Lily said, placing a small, warm hand on his chest. A surge of energy flowed through him, making his vision blur. "We leave together. Or we don't leave at all."
He realized then that he couldn't just walk away. To be free, he had to destroy the records, the prototypes, and the legacy. He reached for the master fire-suppression trigger—a manual lever that would dump volatile chemicals throughout the building.
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He looked at his mother, who was trapped behind a falling pillar, her face twisted in fear. For a moment, the old Jonathan wanted to save her. But the man holding the child knew better.
He pulled the lever.
