The cold rain continued to lash against the glass facade of the Grand Crest Hotel, but inside, the atmosphere had frozen completely.

"Do it," Isabella rasped, staring into the cold, dark eyes behind the assassin's mask. "Shoot me."

The assassin’s finger tightened on the trigger.

BANG!

The heavy metal door slammed open as Security Chief Daniel Vance lunged into the room, tackling the gunman to the floor. The suppressed pistol flew out of the assassin's hand, skittering across the concrete floor toward Isabella's feet.

A fierce, brutal fistfight erupted in the dim red emergency light. Daniel slammed the assassin against the table, but the operative countered with a combat knife, slicing Daniel's arm. Daniel grunted in pain, managed to draw his own sidearm, and fired point-blank into the assassin's body armor.

The assassin stumbled back, kicked Daniel away, smashed through the glass observation window, and escaped into the chaotic hallways of the blackout-plagued federal building.

Daniel dropped to one knee, bleeding heavily from his arm. He whipped out a key ring and quickly unlocked Isabella’s handcuffs.

"Miss Vance! We have to move NOW!" Daniel shouted over the blaring alarms.

"Daniel?! How did you get in here?" Isabella asked, rubbing her bruised wrists.

"Your father anticipated this," Daniel said, helping her up. "When Marcus died, Arthur knew it was a setup to get you isolated. The entire prison system was compromised. I have a vehicle waiting in the basement."

Isabella looked down at Victoria Cross, who lay lifeless on the table. "Victoria... she tried to tell me something."

"She’s dead, Isabella," Daniel urged, pulling her toward the door. "If we don't leave in sixty seconds, federal agents will lock down the perimeter and pin her murder on you too!"

They sprinted through the dark, chaotic corridors of the federal holding facility. Smoke grenades had been thrown into the security hub, blinding the guards and disabling the primary power grid. Daniel led Isabella through a service stairwell down into the subterranean parking garage.

A black armored SUV sat waiting with its engine running.

Daniel threw Isabella into the back seat, jumped into the driver's seat, and slammed the accelerator. The heavy SUV smashed through the parking garage’s automated wooden security barrier and sped out into the rainy night streets of the city.

Inside the back seat, Isabella wiped blood from her cheek—Victoria’s blood. Her mind was spinning at high speed.

Marcus was poisoned in his cell. Victoria was executed inside an FBI interrogation room. The Solokov Syndicate holds a twenty percent stake in Vance Global.

"Daniel," Isabella called out, her voice cold as steel. "Take me to my father."

"I can't do that, Miss Vance," Daniel replied, watching the rear-view mirror closely.

Isabella’s eyes narrowed. "What do you mean you can't?"

"Arthur isn't at the estate," Daniel said grimly. "Two hours ago, right after you were processed by the FBI, Arthur suffered another severe medical emergency. He was taken to the private vault facility under the Vance Medical Center. He’s in a coma."

Isabella felt her heart drop into a dark abyss. "No... no!"

"Someone is systematically dismantling your entire life, Isabella," Daniel said softly. "Your money, your father, your freedom—they are taking it all in less than forty-eight hours."

"Who?" Isabella hissed. "Who has that kind of power?!"

Daniel took a sharp left turn, entering a dark, abandoned industrial district along the docks.

"There is only one person who benefits if both you and Arthur disappear," Daniel said, bringing the heavy SUV to a sudden stop inside an empty warehouse. "The person who inherits the absolute voting rights of the Vance Trust by default."