Chapter 9: The Deal
Silence settled over the ballroom.
No one spoke for several seconds after Victor's transmission ended.
Only the faint crackle of damaged speakers echoed through the darkened estate.
Then the FBI tactical commander broke the silence.
"Absolutely not."
He looked directly at Nathan.
"You're not leaving this building."
Nathan didn't argue.
Instead, he slowly handed the portable radio back to the agent.
"I know."
The commander frowned.
"Then why make the offer?"
Nathan looked toward the shattered windows.
"Because I needed him to believe I'd sacrifice myself."
Grandfather studied him carefully.
"You bought us ten minutes."
Nathan nodded.
"And ten minutes is longer than we've had all night."
The tactical command post came alive.
Maps of the estate were spread across a long dining table.
Drone images.
Thermal scans.
Architectural blueprints.
Blackthorn Manor had become a battlefield.
My father pointed to the surrounding woods.
"Twenty-three confirmed hostiles."
The FBI commander shook his head.
"Not anymore."
He zoomed in on a new thermal image.
Thirty-one.
Then another heat signature appeared.
Thirty-four.
"They're reinforcing."
The room grew quiet.
Victor had no intention of negotiating.
He was tightening the noose.
Meanwhile, the medic finished changing the bandages on my back.
"You shouldn't even be standing."
"I know."
"You've lost a dangerous amount of blood."
"I know."
"You need surgery."
I smiled faintly.
"I know."
The medic sighed.
"I've never had a patient this stubborn."
Grandfather looked at me.
"You remind me of your mother."
My smile disappeared.
He rarely spoke about her.
Nathan glanced toward me.
"I owe you the truth."
No one interrupted him.
"When I first met Evelyn..."
"I wasn't looking for money."
I remained silent.
"I genuinely loved her."
Celeste looked at him in disbelief.
Nathan laughed bitterly.
"I know you don't believe me."
"I barely believe myself anymore."
He stared at the marble floor.
"The first promotion changed me."
"Then the next."
"Then another."
"I became addicted."
"Every victory made me want a bigger one."
He closed his eyes.
"I convinced myself I deserved everything."
Grandfather answered quietly.
"Greed rarely arrives all at once."
"It grows."
Nathan nodded.
"And by the time I noticed..."
"...I couldn't recognize the man I'd become."
Across the room, Celeste had remained strangely calm.
Too calm.
The FBI investigator noticed.
"You seem remarkably composed."
She smiled weakly.
"I'm thinking."
"About what?"
"About Victor."
The investigator folded his arms.
"Tell us."
Celeste hesitated.
Then sighed.
"I met him once."
Every head turned.
Nathan stared.
"You said you never met him."
"I lied."
The ballroom became completely silent.
"When?"
"Almost a year ago."
"Where?"
"Prague."
Grandfather's eyes narrowed.
"I attended what I believed was a private investment conference."
"There were only twelve guests."
"I thought Victor was just another billionaire."
Nathan whispered,
"You never told me."
"He told me never to."
The investigator leaned forward.
"What did he want?"
Celeste's hands trembled.
"He asked about Evelyn."
I looked at her.
"What about me?"
"He asked..."
She swallowed.
"...whether you still wore your sapphire pendant every day."
The room fell still.
Grandfather's expression hardened.
"He knew."
Celeste nodded.
"He smiled."
"He said..."
"'Good.'"
My father looked toward the broken halves of the sapphire recording device resting inside the evidence case.
"That pendant..."
He frowned.
"...wasn't only a recorder."
Grandfather slowly nodded.
"It was also a key."
I looked at him, confused.
"A key?"
He looked at me apologetically.
"There was something we never told you."
My heartbeat quickened.
"What?"
He reached into his coat pocket.
From a small leather wallet...
He removed an old photograph.
Three young people stood together.
Grandfather.
My father.
And my mother.
Behind them...
A massive steel vault door.
"Your mother designed something."
I stared.
"What?"
Grandfather answered softly.
"The Sterling Archive."
Nathan frowned.
"What's inside?"
Grandfather looked toward him.
"Every confidential agreement."
"Every financial record."
"Every political negotiation."
"Every classified partnership our family has ever protected."
The FBI commander blinked.
"That's decades of information."
Grandfather nodded.
"And only two physical keys exist."
He looked at the broken sapphire.
"The first..."
"...was hidden inside Evelyn's pendant."
My father reached into his own pocket.
"And the second..."
He revealed an identical sapphire.
"...has never left my possession."
Nathan slowly understood.
Victor hadn't wanted Evelyn because of revenge.
He wanted access.
"The archive..."
Nathan whispered.
"...that's why he built my company."
Grandfather nodded.
"He needed a logistics network."
"He needed influence."
"He needed someone close enough..."
"...to reach my granddaughter."
Suddenly...
One of the Sterling cyber specialists shouted.
"I've got something!"
Everyone rushed toward his laptop.
"What?"
"The transmitter hidden in Evelyn's bandages..."
He enlarged a digital map.
"It wasn't sending audio."
"What then?"
"Biometric data."
The room fell silent.
Heart rate.
Blood pressure.
Body temperature.
DNA markers.
Nathan frowned.
"Why?"
The specialist looked horrified.
"I think..."
"...Victor wasn't tracking Evelyn."
"He was verifying her identity."
Grandfather closed his eyes.
"So."
"It begins."
My father looked at him.
"What begins?"
Grandfather answered quietly.
"The final protocol."
Before anyone could ask another question...
The estate's emergency generator suddenly roared to life.
Lights flooded the ballroom once again.
Everyone instinctively looked toward the windows.
The forest outside...
Was empty.
Every heat signature had vanished.
The drones.
The gunmen.
The snipers.
Gone.
As though they had never existed.
The FBI commander frowned.
"Where did they go?"
A radio on one agent's shoulder suddenly crackled.
"Command to Alpha Team!"
The voice sounded panicked.
"We have movement inside the manor!"
Every weapon snapped upward.
"What location?"
The answer chilled everyone.
"The underground level."
Nathan's face went pale.
"There shouldn't be anyone down there."
Grandfather looked at him.
"There is."
Nathan frowned.
"What?"
Grandfather's voice became heavy.
"The Sterling Archive..."
"...was never built beneath a bank."
He slowly looked toward the marble floor beneath Blackthorn Manor.
"It was built..."
"...under this house."
The entire ballroom froze.
Victor had never intended to attack from outside.
The assault in the forest...
Had only been a distraction.
May you like
Because the real objective...
Had already entered the manor from below.
