Chapter 6 - The Sister's Ultimatum
Ethan froze, his hand inches from the grip of his pistol. He slowly raised his hands, stepping between the armed mercenaries and the cabin door where Elena stood shielding Lily.
"Stand down," Ethan called out to the men, his voice carrying the cold steel of authority even as he faced two barrels.
The two mercenaries disarmed him swiftly, tossing his gun into the dark sea, before zip-tying his wrists behind his back. Elena screamed as a third operative stepped onto the deck, grabbing her arm and pulling her up toward the bow, while another operative lifted Lily into his arms.
"Don't touch her!" Elena fought violently, kicking at the operative, but he held her in an iron grip.
Lily didn't scream. Her little blue eyes were fixed entirely on Ethan, wide with terror, but her lips were pressed into a tight, brave line. "Daddy..."
The helicopter winch lowered a heavy metal harness. Victoria Pierce descended onto the deck like a bird of prey.
She looked remarkably like Ethan—the same aristocratic jawline, the same piercing blue eyes, but hardened by decades of ruthlessness and scarred along her left cheek from the explosion that had almost taken her life. She wore an expensive black shearling coat, her silver-streaked dark hair whipped by the rotor wash.
"Thirty years, Ethan," Victoria said, stopping two feet from him, studying his face with morbid fascination. "You have our father's eyes. And his terrifying arrogance."
"Our father was a monster who treated people like balance sheets," Ethan replied coldly. "You're doing the exact same thing."
"I am surviving what he created!" Victoria snapped, her composure cracking for an instant before she smoothed her coat. "The Leonidas cartel holds my debt. If I don't deliver the Pierce Global master access keys by tomorrow morning, they skin me alive in Marseille. So here is the arrangement, little brother."
She pointed toward the helicopter hovering above.
"Elena and the girl come with me to the secondary staging base. You fly to New York on my chartered jet. You enter Pierce Tower, unlock the vault on the fiftieth floor using your biometric profile, and transfer the sovereign bearer bonds to my account."
"The bonds were liquidated six months ago when I dissolved the board," Ethan said flatly.
Victoria pulled a knife from her boot and pressed the flat of the cold steel against Lily's cheek. Lily whimpered softly, tears finally rolling down her cheeks.
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"Then you had better figure out how to recreate four billion dollars out of thin air, Ethan. You have twelve hours before I start sending her fingers to your office."
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