Chapter 15 - The Resurrection of War
The heavy reinforced doors of the pier security station shuddered violently under the impact of a hydraulic ram. Alarms wailed across the harbor as tactical spotlights were extinguished one by one by precision sniper fire from outside.
"That's impossible," Marcus said, rising to his feet, his eyes wide with rare shock. "I buried Alexander two years ago. I stood over his casket at the family crypt."
"He faked his demise," Agent Miller said, checking the feed on her tactical device with trembling hands. "He used his terminal illness diagnosis to slip into the shadows, letting you purge his enemies and consolidate the corporate assets under one unified banner. He let you do all the dirty work of building an unassailable empire... so he could take it back along with Emma’s trust funds."
The windows of the office shattered inward in a shower of glittering tempered glass. Smoke grenades rolled across the floor, hissing thick, blinding gray smoke into the room.
Marcus pulled Emma behind the reinforced steel desk, wrapping his arms around her as suppressing fire tore through the office walls. "Stay down!" he roared over the deafening cacophony of automatic weapons.
Through the haze of the smoke, a figure walked slowly through the shattered entrance. He was an elderly man, yet his posture was immaculate, leaning on a polished silver cane that concealed an automatic rifle barrel. His silver beard was trimmed with military precision, his eyes possessing the exact same predatory sharpness as Marcus’s—but stripped of any humanity.
Alexander Vance stepped over the debris, flanked by six private mercenaries in unmarked heavy armor. Agent Miller attempted to raise her sidearm, but a mercenary struck her across the temple with the butt of a rifle, sending her crashing unconscious to the floor.
"Marcus," the old man’s voice rasped, cold and ancient like grinding tombstones. "You did an exceptional job cleaning up my ledger. You eliminated Julian, neutralized Victor Lucian, and even brought my sweet niece's daughter directly to me with the key to her vault."
Emma looked up from behind the desk, her heart pounding with deafening intensity. Marcus stood up slowly, stepping out from behind the barrier, placing himself entirely between Emma and the resurrected patriarch.
"You should have stayed dead, old man," Marcus said, his voice trembling with a terrifying, absolute fury.
Alexander chuckled softly, tapping his cane against the shattered glass on the floor. "Blood always answers to blood, my boy. Did you really think you were the master of this game? I gave you an empire. Now give me the girl, or I will bury you in the grave you dug for me."
May you like
Emma clutched the small brass key in her pocket, her fingers brushing against the ceramic knife Marcus had given her earlier. She stepped out beside Marcus, meeting the old tyrant's gaze with unwavering defiance.
Alexander smiled, raising his hand to signal his mercenaries. "Take them both."
