Chapter 22 - The Alleyway Trap
The alleyway was a suffocating cavern of damp concrete and rotting cardboard boxes, illuminated only by a flickering orange sodium streetlight. Rain dripped in steady, rhythmic drops from the rusted fire escapes overhead.
My boots clicked sharply against the pavement as I stepped deeper into the shadows, holding my weapon close to my chest.
"I know you're here," I called out, my voice cutting through the damp air like glass. "Show yourself!"
A slow, mocking clap echoed from the dark corner near a row of metal dumpsters. Step by step, a tall figure emerged from the gloom, wearing a tailored black trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat that cast a shadow across his face.
As he stepped under the amber light, my blood ran cold.
It was Richard Sterling—Thomas Sterling’s estranged younger brother, a brilliant cyber-security engineer who had supposedly been working abroad in Zurich during the entire corporate coup.
"Impressive, Elena," Richard drawled, a sick smile playing on his lips. "You disposed of my brother like he was a broken circuit board. But Thomas was a fool. He played the physical game. I play the digital one."
"You think you can finish what your brother started?" I raised my pistol, locking my sights squarely on his chest.
Richard didn't even flinch. Instead, he raised his own smartphone, tapping the screen twice.
May you like
My pocket vibrated violently. My phone screen lit up, displaying a live video feed of my estate’s nursery—where my son Leo was sleeping soundly, surrounded by two armed intruders in tactical black gear.
"Drop the gun, Elena," Richard whispered, his smile vanishing into pure, venomous malice. "Or your son meets the same fate you narrowly escaped on that mountain."
