The rain outside the penthouse window beat a steady, relentless rhythm against the glass, matching the furious thrum of my own pulse. Just thirty minutes had passed since I sent that encrypted message to my private security team. Phase Two had officially begun.

Julian froze. He looked from the barrels of four assault rifles pointed directly at his chest to the smoke-filled hallway behind them. He knew the game was over. Slowly, deliberately, he let his suppressed pistol slip from his fingers, letting it clatter against the hardwood floor.

"You're too late, Samuel," Julian muttered, a dark, unsettling smirk playing on his lips as Marcus's men rushed forward and slammed him facedown onto the floor, slapping heavy steel zip-ties around his wrists. "The board has already triggered the final contingency."

I stood up slowly from behind the piano, lowering my weapon, my breathing heavy. "What contingency?"

Julian laughed, blood trickling from a small cut on his forehead. "You think cutting off Daria and me destroys the board? We are just a symptom, Samuel. The Kincaid legacy is built on a foundation of absolute control. And someone else is already taking over."

Before I could press him further, Marcus motioned to two operators. "Take him down to the armored transport. Now."

As they dragged Julian away, his manic laughter echoed down the private elevator shaft, leaving a chilling silence in the smoke-filled penthouse.

I turned quickly toward the master bedroom and punched the biometric code into the panic room keypad. The heavy steel door hissed open.

Catherine stepped out, clutching Penelope tightly against her chest, her eyes wide with terror as she looked at the shattered windows and bullet holes scattered across the room.