Chapter 6 - The Breach
In the grand foyer of the Vance estate, shards of expensive stained glass glittered across the polished marble like diamonds under the emergency lights. Two masked figures dressed in tactical black gear stepped through the broken side window, their heavy combat boots tracking melting snow across the pristine floor.
They weren't common burglars. Their movements were too calculated, their equipment too advanced. They carried encrypted comms and suppressors fitted to their sidearms.
Upstairs in his private study, Adrien Vance heard the glass shatter.
Adrien froze. He didn't reach for a phone; he reached into the locked drawer of his mahogany desk and pulled out a heavy steel-framed security tablet linked directly to the estate's hidden panic systems. The screen was a wall of red code.
Perimeter breached. Main server accessed. Power rerouted.
Someone was wiping the estate’s security logs. Someone inside Vance Global Holdings had sold them out, and they had sent professionals to finish what the boardroom and Eleanor Vance couldn't achieve through legal channels: breaking Adrien Vance by taking his daughter.
Adrien’s heart hammered against his ribs, but his tactical mind locked into hyper-focus. He didn't have his bodyguards—he had sent them to sweep the perimeter gates an hour ago based on a false alarm triggered by the hackers. He was entirely alone in the east wing.
Except for Cora and Lily down in the kitchen.
Adrien threw open his office door, moving with silent, lethal speed toward the grand staircase. But before he could take three steps down, a heavy footstep creaked on the landing below.
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A masked operative stepped into the dim hallway, raising a suppressed firearm directly toward the upper level.
Adrien didn’t hesitate. He lunged from the upper banister, tackling the operative over the wrought-iron railing in a gravity-defying collision that sent both men crashing down onto the carpeted landing below.
