Chapter 13 - The Mastermind Revealed
13 - 15
The gunfight in the grand foyer was fierce, loud, and mercifully short. Commander Vance’s elite security detail, fighting with the home-court advantage and superior positioning, systematically dismantled the mercenary team within six minutes. Four mercenaries were pinned in the west corridor, two were unconscious near the sweeping staircase, and the remaining operatives had thrown down their weapons and surrendered as tactical flashbangs blinded them in the enclosed space.
Ethan stepped out from behind the marble pillars, the acrid smell of gunpowder and ozone heavy in the air. He lowered his pistol, his boots clicking sharply against the glass-strewn marble floor as he walked toward the center of the foyer.
A single man stood near the shattered front doors, his hands raised slowly in the air, though he wore no tactical vest or combat gear.
He wore an impeccably tailored charcoal suit, dry and immaculate despite the torrential rain pouring through the shattered portico behind him. His silver hair was neatly parted, and his face bore a calm, chillingly polite expression that looked completely out of place in a war zone.
Jonathan Vance—senior managing director of Sterling Global Assets.
“Impressive security, Ethan,” Jonathan said smoothly, lowering his hands and adjusting his cuffs with casual arrogance. “I always knew your father had a flair for military-grade paranoia, but you’ve certainly outdone him.”
Ethan closed the distance between them in three rapid strides, grabbing Jonathan by the lapels of his expensive suit and slamming him hard against the charred wood of the shattered front door frame.
“You’re trespassing, Jonathan,” Ethan growled, pressing the cold steel barrel of his pistol directly against Jonathan’s jawline. “And you’re about three seconds away from joining Victor in a federal holding cell.”
Jonathan didn't flinch. He didn't even blink. He simply smiled—a slow, thin, mocking smile that made Ethan’s blood run cold.
“Federal holding cell?” Jonathan chuckled softly, his voice dripping with condescension. “Ethan, my dear boy, you really think a few indictments and local marshals can touch the Sterling global network? Victor was a pawn—a greedy, pathetic fool who couldn't manage his own debts let alone a multi-billion-dollar empire. But the foundation of this company was built on Sterling capital long before your grandfather ever laid the first brick.”
“You funded the hospital fire,” Ethan said, his voice trembling with murderous rage. “You paid Victor to kill my wife and child.”
“We didn't want them killed—we wanted them managed,” Jonathan corrected smoothly. “Amelia was an inconvenient complication from a rival banking family whose marriage threatened to dilute the Sterling voting block on the board. The fire was supposed to be a quiet relocation. Victor simply botched the execution by getting greedy and keeping her hidden in that wretched bunker instead of handing her over to our custody in Geneva.”
Ethan’s finger tightened on the trigger. The hammer of the pistol clicked back. “Why tell me this now, Jonathan?”
“Because,” Jonathan whispered, his eyes gleaming with dark triumph, “while you’ve been playing hero here in the mansion protecting your little family, my secondary extraction team has already bypassed the secondary servers in downtown Zürich. Every offshore account, every patent, every subsidiary, and every voting share belonging to Blackwood Global has already been legally transferred to the Sterling Foundation under emergency default clauses you signed away when you accepted the emergency board consolidation yesterday morning.”
Ethan froze. The pistol slipped a fraction of an inch from Jonathan’s jaw.
May you like
“What… did you say?” Ethan whispered.
“You didn't read the fine print on page forty-two of the restructuring document your own lawyers handed you yesterday, did you?” Jonathan laughed softly, a victorious sound that echoed off the ruined walls of the grand foyer. “You won the battle for the mansion, Ethan. But you just lost the entire empire.”
