flash
The silence in the grand ballroom was deafening. Thousands of dollars' worth of champagne glasses remained suspended in mid-air as eyes shifted from the slick, dark-suited lawyer to the frail old man holding a single crushed white rose. / Chapter 7 / 8

Chapter 7 - THE MASTER’S TRAP

"Did you really think I didn't know your father was alive, Julian?" Thomas asked, taking a slow step toward the panicked young man.

"You... you knew?"

"I built the vault," Thomas said, pointing his shotgun at the floor. "I built the key you stole from my pocket today. Did you really think a billionaire’s security system could be stolen by a simple push?"

Evelyn stepped out from the shadows, a smug grin playing on her lips. "The biometric key you stole was a Trojan horse, Julian. The moment your father plugged it into the vault door, it didn't open the AI core. It bypassed the Black Vanguard’s encrypted firewalls and drained every single penny from your father’s offshore accounts."

Down in the basement, Victor Vance stared in horror as the main terminal screen turned bright red.

[SYSTEM OVERRIDDEN] [ACCOUNT BALANCE: $0.00] [LOCATION TRANSMITTED TO INTERPOL]

"No... NO!" Victor screamed, slamming his fist onto the steel console. He grabbed his radio. "Julian! It's a trap! Get out of there—"

Before Victor could finish, the heavy blast doors behind him slammed shut automatically, locking him inside the airtight security bunker. Red emergency lights began to flash as a synthetic voice echoed from the ceiling:

"Containment initiated. Local law enforcement dispatched."

Upstairs in the ballroom, Julian dropped the useless detonator. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto his knees, right in the center of the muddy, white-petal-covered floor—the exact spot where he had shoved Thomas hours earlier.

The remaining mercenaries, realizing they hadn't been paid and were now surrounded by Interpol units approaching the estate grounds, dropped their weapons and raised their hands in surrender.

Julian looked up at Thomas, his arrogance completely shattered, replaced by a pathetic, weeping terror.

"Please..." Julian sobbed, clutching at the hem of Thomas’s dirty trousers. "Uncle Thomas... please... I was confused! My father forced me to do it! He threatened me! You raised me! You loved me!"

Thomas looked down at the boy who had tried to ruin him. There was no anger left in Thomas’s eyes—only a cold, final judgment.

"I gave you every chance, Julian," Thomas whispered. "I put you in the highest tower, and you chose to jump. I put you in the dirt, and you refused to learn."

Thomas gently stepped back, pulling his trousers from Julian’s trembling grasp.

"Harrison," Thomas said without looking back.

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