Chapter 7 - The Final Play
Marcus stared at his brother. "What are you saying, Julian?"
Julian picked up the leather briefcase and set it on the hood of the car. "Three years ago, when Victor framed me, I didn't go into hiding. I went undercover. I’ve been working as Victoria’s chief financial advisor under an alias."
"You worked for the people who ruined our family?!" Marcus shouted, grabbing Julian by his collar.
"I worked for them so I could build the backdoor into their mainframe!" Julian barked, shoving Marcus back. "Every illegal transaction, every bribe, every assassination order Victor Blackwood ever issued is logged on a hard drive inside Victoria's private safe at headquarters. But the safe requires two biometric keys to open simultaneously: Victoria’s thumbprint... and Elena’s."
Anna stepped forward immediately. "I have my mother's DNA and her thumbprint profile. That’s why Victoria needed me to sign the digital tablet!"
"Exactly," Julian said. "The tablet didn't just transfer your shares. It duplicated your thumbprint data to their local server. If we can breach the server room during the board meeting tomorrow, we can trigger the leak, wipe their authority, and expose the Blackwood family on live television."
"And if we fail?" Marcus asked grimly.
Julian drew a breath, looking at the sleeping baby in the back seat. "If we fail, none of us see the sun rise tomorrow."
The night passed in a blur of tactical preparation. By 8:00 AM the following morning, the rain had stopped, leaving the glass tower of Blackwood Conglomerate gleaming under a gray sky.
Dressed in a sharp black dress provided by Julian, Anna walked through the towering glass atrium of the headquarters, her heart pounding in her ears. Marcus was disguised as her private security detail, carrying a concealed radio comms unit.
As they stepped into the high-speed elevator heading for the 80th-floor boardroom, Marcus reached out and gently touched Anna’s shoulder.
"Your mother would be so proud of you, Anna," he murmured.
May you like
She looked at him, a faint, sad smile appearing on her lips. "Let's finish what she started."
Chapter 7 Cliffhanger / Hook: The elevator doors chimed and opened onto the executive floor. Standing at the end of the long mahogany corridor was Victor Blackwood himself—an old man with cold, predatory eyes—surrounded by twenty armed guards. And sitting in a chair beside him, smiling sinisterly, was Julian.
