Chapter 9 - The Ashes of TomorrowSilence rushed back in, heavy and suffocating, broken only by the soft, terrified whimpers of the twins.
I set Maisie and Rosie down gently on the plush carpet of the safe room, immediately checking them over from head to toe. Aside from being terrified and covered in a light layer of dust, they were miraculously unharmed.
I collapsed against the reinforced steel wall, my lungs burning, the adrenaline finally crashing out of my system and leaving my limbs shaking uncontrollably.
Across the room, Elena dropped Vance’s limp body onto the floor near the communications console. She stood over him, wiping a smear of soot and sweat from her forehead, her chest heaving as she caught her breath.
“He’s waking up,” Elena said coldly.
I pushed myself up to my feet, walking over just as Victor Vance groaned, his eyes fluttering open as he coughed against the stagnant air of the bunker. He tried to move, but his limbs remained sluggish from the taser shock.
“Julian...” Vance wheezed, managing a weak, bloody smile. “You think... you think this bunker saves you? My team... outside... they have the demolition codes. This entire hill... is going to crater.”
“Your team isn't coming, Uncle,” Elena said, stepping into his line of sight and holding up the encrypted tablet she had recovered. “While you were busy playing warlord, I used your master bypass to transmit your entire financial ledger, the offshore Swiss account numbers, and the audio confession of Sarah Caruso’s hit straight to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Interpol, and every major news network on the planet. The servers are decentralized. Even if you blow this hill to atoms, your empire is already dead.”
Vance’s eyes widened in sheer, unadulterated terror. The color vanished entirely from his face. For the first time in his life, the untouchable billionaire looked like a trapped rat.
“You... you little bitch,” Vance choked out.
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Before he could say another word, the heavy exterior security monitors flickered to life. On the main screen, we watched in silence as a convoy of black federal tactical vehicles swarmed the burning ruins of the courtyard, sealing off every exit and arresting the remaining mercenaries before they could detonate the secondary charges.
The siege was over.
