Chapter 14
The mahogany study was a cavernous room filled with towering bookshelves, rich leather armchairs, and a massive oak desk that dominated the center of the space. Sunlight streamed through the tall arched windows, illuminating the swirling dust motes just as they had in the bridal suite hours ago—though the air here felt heavy with a different kind of history.
Julian rushed to the back of the room, pushing aside a heavy oil painting of their late father to reveal a small, biometric wall safe hidden behind the canvas.
"Hurry!" Elena urged, pressing her back against the heavy oak study door as frantic pounding echoed from the hallway outside. Someone was trying to force the lock with a crowbar. "They're breaking through!"
Julian didn't answer. His fingers danced rapidly across the mechanical dial of the safe, turning left, right, then left again in a precise, rhythmic sequence. He didn't use a fingerprint scanner; he used the old-fashioned combination lock that their father had installed decades ago, a sequence based on the coordinates of the old boathouse where the Perseid meteor shower had been watched four years ago.
Clack.
The heavy steel door of the safe swung open smoothly, revealing a glowing vintage terminal screen connected directly to the corporate mainframe beneath the estate.
"Got it," Julian breathed, dropping into the leather chair and slamming his fingers onto the mechanical keyboard. Lines of green code cascaded down the amber screen at lightning speed.
"Can you stop the transfer?" Elena asked, watching the wooden door splinter as the crowbar finally bit deep into the frame.
"I have to initiate a hard system purge," Julian replied, his eyes darting across the scrolling data. "It will wipe every asset the company owns—including our entire inheritance. We will be left with absolutely nothing."
Elena didn't hesitate. She looked at the wreckage of her wedding day, at the cream-colored letter clutched tightly in her hand, and then down at the man who had risked everything to expose the truth.
May you like
"Do it," Elena said firmly.
Julian slammed his hand onto the enter key just as the study door burst inward with a deafening crash, revealing three heavily armed mercenaries pointing assault rifles directly at his head.
