Chapter 48 - The Puppet Master’s Mask
Before Valerie could reply, the heavy terrace doors behind us shuddered as a hail of high-caliber rounds shattered the remaining glass panels, sending shards spraying across the flagstones.
Julian burst onto the terrace, smoke trailing from the barrel of his carbine, his shoulder armor streaked with concrete dust. "Serena! The front foyer is compromised. There are twelve armed operators pushing up the main staircase. We have two minutes before they flank the east wing."
I grabbed Valerie by the collar of her jacket, hauling her roughly to her feet. "Where is the extraction vehicle you promised Kane’s men?"
Valerie glared at me through the rain, her lips pulled back in a defiant snarl. "Why would I tell you? You just promised to lock me in a cage!"
"Because if Kane’s men breach this terrace, they aren't taking prisoners," I shouted over the thunderous roar of the surf and gunfire. "You know how Marcus Kane operated. You gave them the coordinates to my home—do you really think they planned to let a loose-end Montgomery heir fly off to Buenos Aires with seventy million dollars?"
The realization struck Valerie like a physical blow. The cold arrogance in her eyes flickered and died, replaced by the sheer animal terror of a manipulator who realized she had outplayed herself.
"The sea tunnel," Valerie stammered, her voice suddenly high and frail against the screaming wind. "The smuggler’s cove beneath the wine cellar. There’s a high-speed submersible tender moored in the subterranean dock. Kane’s extraction team isn't coming through the gates—the team at the front is a diversion! Their lead executioner is coming up from below!"
"Clara!" I tapped my comm unit, the link crackling with static. "Did you hear that?"
"Confirming thermal signatures in the sea cavern!" Clara yelled into my ear. "Two hostiles moving up the internal service elevator directly toward the master suite! Serena, they’re behind you!"
Julian spun instantly, raising his rifle toward the interior corridor, but the heavy oak doors leading from the study into the master suite were kicked inward with concussive force.
Out of the shadows stepped a towering figure clad in unmarked tactical black, an assault shotgun leveled straight at my chest.
Behind the ballistic visor, a voice boomed with chilling familiarity—a voice I hadn't heard since the day Daniel took his oath as CEO of Montgomery Holdings.
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"Hello, Mrs. Vance," the man said, raising his visor to reveal the scarred, weathered face of Victor Vance—Julian’s supposedly deceased uncle, the disgraced former chairman who had disappeared twelve years ago alongside Valerie. "It seems family reunions are always so terribly messy."
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