I DIVORCED HER TO KEEP HER SAFE—NINETY-THREE DAYS LATER, SHE WAS UNCONSCIOUS AND PREGNANT WITH MY CHILD

On the live feed, the camera angle widened, revealing that the hospital room was completely surrounded. Half a dozen syndicate operatives stood with automatic weapons trained on the doors, while Viktor Vorona held the gun steady against Elena’s side, a cruel, calculating smile twisting his scarred lips.

“Drop your weapons, Arthur, or I pull the trigger right now,” Viktor’s voice boomed through the subterranean vault. “Your son’s legacy, your unborn bloodline, your entire multi-billion-dollar empire—it all ends in five seconds.”

Arthur Mercer’s knees buckled. The mighty patriarch, who had manipulated governments, ruined families, and ruled Manhattan's underworld with an iron fist for decades, finally crumpled under the weight of his own monstrous hubris. He sank slowly to the concrete floor, clutching his chest, gasping for breath.

"Don't do it, Lucas," Arthur wheezed, tears pooling in the corners of his cold eyes. "It’s a trap... if you surrender to the syndicate, they’ll execute us all and take the keys to the global accounts..."

"I don't give a damn about the accounts!" I roared, whirling around to face Marco. "Marco! Status on the backup comms! Can we patch through to the tactical sniper team on the roof of the hospital?"

Marco was frantically working his encrypted tactical tablet, his fingers flying across the glass. "Boss, the signal is being jammed by a localized military-grade scrambler! We're completely cut off!"

Tick. Tock.

On the hospital monitor, Viktor slowly cocked the hammer of his pistol.

“Five...” Viktor counted down in a chilling, rhythmic monotone.

"Luke!" Elena’s voice rang out through the speakers, breaking through the panic in the room with a heartbreaking clarity. She wasn't crying. She looked braver than any soldier I had ever fought alongside. "Don't give them the keys! End this nightmare, right here, right now!"

“Four...”

I looked down at the master console. The self-destruct sequence Arthur had initiated was still counting down its final ninety seconds. If the vault core blew, the entire subterranean complex—along with every server, every hidden offshore account, and every record linking the Mercer family to the global underworld—would be incinerated into ash.

It would destroy my family's legacy forever. It would leave me penniless.

And it would bury the truth once and for all.

“Three...”

"Boss!" Marco shouted, ducking as the outer vault door finally gave way with a deafening screech of torn steel and hydraulic fluid. Three masked Russian operatives rushed through the breach, raising their carbines.

Marco didn't hesitate. He raised his pistol and dropped the first two operatives with two rapid, flawless headshots. But the third operative swung his rifle barrel around, aiming squarely at Marco’s chest.

Before I could raise my sidearm, a deafening crack echoed through the vault.

A single gunshot.

The third operative dropped instantly, a clean bullet hole drilled straight through his tactical visor.

I spun around.

Avery Bennett stood calmly with my backup sidearm extended, wisps of cordite smoke curling lazily from the barrel. She looked down at the dead mercenary, then turned her cold, unwavering eyes toward me.

"Your father’s empire is already dead, Lucas," Avery said quietly. "The only question is whether you want to die with it, or walk out of the ashes."

“Two...” Viktor’s voice echoed from the monitor.

On the screen, Elena closed her eyes, a single tear slipping down her pale cheek as her finger gently brushed over Viktor’s trigger hand.

I looked at Arthur, who lay wheezing on the floor, defeated and broken. I looked at Marco, bleeding from his shoulder but ready to follow me into hell. I looked at the countdown clock on the server monitor: 00:15... 00:14...

I made my choice.

I lunged forward, grabbed the master console keyboard, bypassed Arthur’s security lock with my own biometric thumbprint, and slammed my palm down onto the emergency override.