Chapter 18 - War at Vance Manor – Midnight Siege
Outside the ancestral estate, heavy rain beat down against the stone walls as dark shapes dropped from stealth transports onto the muddy lawn. Over forty heavily armed Aegis mercenaries, equipped with night-vision goggles and silenced automatic rifles, breached the outer gates.
Inside the command room, Khloe watched the tactical feeds. “They’ve cut our main communications line. They think we are trapped.”
“Not all of us,” a deep, familiar voice echoed from the secondary access shaft.
Khloe turned around fast. Emerging from the shadowed corridor was Marcus Thorne. He had soot on his forehead, his shirt sleeves rolled up, carrying a heavy tactical rifle.
“Marcus!” Khloe gasped, rushing into his arms. He held her tight, kissing her brow deeply. “How did you break out of the ICC transport?”
“Arthur’s legal team proved the video evidence was deepfake within three hours,” Marcus smiled dangerously, sliding a fresh magazine into his rifle. “The magistrate dropped the charges. I decided to personally deliver my response to Lord Blackwood’s men.”
BOOM!
The main wooden doors of the manor splintered inward as Aegis mercenaries threw stun grenades into the grand foyer.
“Hold the perimeter!” Marcus shouted, firing over the marble balustrade as bullet fire ripped through the ancient oil paintings hanging on the walls.
Khloe didn't cower. She took a suppressed sidearm from the rack, taking defensive position beside her husband. Side by side, the billionaire CEO and the Vance heiress fired back into the storm of invaders, their movements synchronized like a deadly dance.
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For forty-five minutes, the ancestral estate became a battleground of iron and fire. One by one, the Aegis mercenaries were systematically neutralized by the combined force of Arthur’s elite guards and Marcus’s ruthless tactical counter-strike.
When the smoke finally cleared, Lord Julian Blackwood—the supreme commander of the Aegis Syndicate—was pushed out into the courtyard in handcuffs by Vance tactical officers, his expensive suit ruined with mud and blood.
