SILENT SCARS BENEATH THE VELVET CAGE

"Marcus! Get the elevators locked down!" Julian roared, kicking Viktor unconscious with a swift blow to the jaw.

Julian stumbled toward Clara, extending his uninjured hand. She took it without hesitation, letting him pull her up against his chest. Even covered in blood, bruised, and bleeding, his presence felt like an unshakeable fortress.

"Are you alright?" he asked, checking her face.

"I'm fine... but your shoulder—"

"It can wait," Julian cut her off. He retrieved the velvet-bound ledger from the safe and handed it to Marcus. "Upload every scanned page to the international press servers immediately. If we don't make it out of here, the truth still burns them all."

"Understood, boss," Marcus said, working rapidly on an encrypted laptop.

From the lobby sixty floors below, a massive shockwave rattled the entire skyscraper. The elevator shafts screamed with the sound of snapping steel cables. The Bratva had detonated the main elevator bank to trap them on the upper floors while their assault teams moved up the service stairs.

"They're coming up the emergency shafts," Julian analyzed, racking the slide of a fresh sidearm with his teeth, his left arm hanging limp. "Marcus, take your team and Clara to the helipad on the roof. My chopper is on standby."

Clara shook her head vehemently, clutching his lapel. "No! I am not leaving you behind, Julian! You're bleeding out!"

"Clara, this isn't a negotiation," Julian said, his eyes fierce. "You are the last Morozov. If you die, everything we fought for tonight dies with you."

"Then we fight together," Clara demanded, her hazel eyes burning with an undeniable fire. "I spent seven years running from these monsters. I'm not running anymore."

Julian stared at her, stunned by the raw courage radiating from the delicate woman who had been trembling over soup bowls only hours ago. A slow, prideful smile touched his lips.