Chapter 13 - The Spider's Web
The relief in the pump room vanished instantly. Maddie and Christian locked eyes, the adrenaline surging back into their veins with cold fury.
""Who ambushed the convoy?"" Christian barked into the radio as they hurried back up the companionway to the open deck.
""Unmarked tactical vans, sir,"" the voice crackled through static. ""Precision strike with smoke grenades and spike strips. They took out four cruisers in thirty seconds without leaving a trace. We suspect private mercenaries from the Sterling-Vance European subsidiary.""
Maddie stepped onto the windy deck of the Empress Vance, the harbor breeze whipping her hair across her face. ""Victoria,"" she murmured.
Christian turned to her, his brow furrowed. ""Your stepmother?""
""Bradley didn't have the connections or the capital to hire high-tier international mercenaries,"" Maddie said, piecing the puzzle together with razor-sharp deduction. ""My stepmother Victoria came from an old French banking dynasty. When my father threatened to cut her out of the estate two years ago, she retreated to Paris. She wasn't brooding—she was recruiting.""
Christian led her back toward the waiting helicopter. ""If Victoria is running this extraction, she has a safehouse prepared. But where?""
Maddie paused at the foot of the helicopter skids. Her father's words from the handwritten will flashed across her mind with blinding clarity:
Do not trust Bradley. Do not trust my sister. And above all, never open Vault 42 alone.
""Vault 42,"" Maddie whispered, grabbing Christian’s arm. ""The private offshore repository beneath the old lighthouse on Blackwood Island. It was my father's ultimate failsafe—where he kept the physical ledger containing the offshore banking keys and encrypted private trusts.""
""If Bradley and Victoria get those physical ledgers, they can drain the Vance family overseas accounts before the courts can freeze them,"" Christian realized instantly.
""It's worse than that,"" Maddie said, boarding the cabin. ""Vault 42 requires a dual biometric scan. My father's was one. Mine is the other. They don't just want to break into the vault—they broke Bradley out to bring me there.""
As the helicopter lifted into the gray sky, Christian signaled his tactical team. ""We don't wait for the police. Marcus, scramble our three interceptor boats to Blackwood Island. Lock down every approach.""
Christian reached across the cabin and placed a small, sleek 9mm pistol into Maddie’s hand.
""Do you know how to use this?"" he asked gently.
May you like
Maddie checked the magazine, racking the slide with a crisp, practiced metallic snap.
""My father taught me to shoot before he taught me to ride a bicycle,"" she said, sliding the weapon into the inner pocket of her crimson jacket. ""Let’s end this.""
