Chapter 6 - THE FLIGHT TO ZURICHThe Gulfstream G650 sliced through the midnight clouds high above the Atlantic Ocean, its cabin illuminated by soft, recessed amber lighting.
For the first time in forty-eight hours, the constant hum of danger felt distant. Lily and Owen had finally fallen asleep, curled up together on the plush leather divan in the back of the private jet, covered in a cashmere blanket.
I sat at the mahogany conference table in the middle of the cabin, the heavy silver key and the encrypted carbon-fiber flash drive laid out in front of me.
Nikolai, my old-school fixer and arms dealer turned intelligence broker, sat across from me, nursing a glass of neat vodka.
"You realize what you're walking into, Ryker, right?" Nikolai grunted, blowing on his drink. "Vanguard Global isn't just some board of corrupt executives. They are a shadow syndicate with ties to international intelligence agencies, corrupt foreign ministers, and private military contractors across three continents. Stepping into Zurich to open that bank vault is walking straight into the lion's den."
"Let them bare their teeth," I replied coldly, swirling my scotch. "They threatened children who were left defenseless. That crosses a line they can't uncross."
"And the kids?" Nikolai asked, glancing back toward the sleeping twins. "What happens when this is over? You're Ryker Steel. You don't do domestic life. You build empires, crush rivals, and live alone in a glass tower."
I looked back at Owen, who murmured something in his sleep, his little hand still clutching his battered teddy bear.
"Things change, Nikolai," I said quietly. "Some people spend their whole lives building wealth to prove something to the world. But looking at them... I realized I finally have something worth protecting."
Before Nikolai could respond, the plane's satellite communication console beeped softly.
Chloe’s face flickered onto the secure terminal screen from her underground bunker in Chicago.
"Boss, you there?" she asked, looking exhausted with dark circles under her eyes.
"I'm here, Chloe. What do you have?"
"I managed to bypass Vanguard’s secondary firewall using the decryption keys from Owen’s drive," she reported quickly. "And I found something incredible. The vault in Zurich doesn't just hold financial assets or research data. It holds the original incorporation papers of Vanguard Global—signed by David Vance’s grandfather, who founded the company before the current board staged a hostile takeover thirty years ago."
My eyebrows raised. "Go on."
"According to those documents, David Vance wasn't just an employee. He was the majority shareholder by bloodline," Chloe said triumphantly. "Which means Lily and Owen aren't just targets—they are the legal owners of Vanguard Global. If they reach that bank vault, they have the absolute legal power to dissolve the entire corporation, strip the board of all assets, and hand over every single criminal document to international war crimes tribunals."
The silence in the cabin was absolute.
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No wonder Vanessa tried to get rid of them. No wonder Vanguard sent a hit squad to my penthouse. Those two little children weren't just a loose end—they held the keys to destroying a multi-billion-dollar criminal empire.
And we were six hours away from landing right in Zurich.
