Chapter 19 - Blood of Brothers
Michael froze entirely in his tracks, staring in absolute shock at the phantom standing in the center of the vault.
The man possessed the exact same dark eyes, the same sharp jawline, and the same terrifying, imposing presence.
"Hello, little brother," Vanguard smiled, his voice echoing coldly over the humming computer servers.
"Elias?" Michael whispered, his voice trembling with a mixture of horror and disbelief.
"You died in a car crash off the coastal highway fifteen years ago, I buried your empty casket myself!"
Elias laughed a slow, mocking laugh, keeping his weapon perfectly aimed at Michael's beating heart.
"The intelligence community faked my death because they recognized my unique talents for violence," Elias explained smoothly.
He gestured elegantly to the massive rows of flashing servers that controlled the global underworld.
"Our father built this digital empire, but he left it to the soft, sentimental brother who wanted to play the hero."
Elias looked at Emily with absolute disgust, sneering at her battered and bloodied appearance.
"I sent my best assassin to eliminate you so I could reclaim my birthright, but she decided to play house instead," Elias spat.
"You are going to hand over the master encryption keys to the servers right now, Michael, or I will put a bullet in your son."
Michael tightened his grip on Noah, his eyes burning with a fierce, protective hatred.
"You are not taking my son, and you are never getting the keys to this empire," Michael defied, standing completely tall.
Elias sighed dramatically, feigning a deep, theatrical disappointment.
"Then I will simply take them off your corpse," Elias whispered, his finger applying heavy pressure to the trigger.
Emily did not think, she did not hesitate, she simply reacted with pure, unadulterated instinct.
She launched herself directly across the open space between the two brothers just as Elias fired the suppressed pistol.
The heavy bullet tore violently through Emily’s side, shattering her ribs and sending her crashing painfully to the metal floor.
The sudden distraction gave Michael the exact fraction of a second he needed to act.
He lunged forward, tackling his older brother brutally into a massive rack of humming computer servers.
The two titans clashed violently, trading devastating blows that echoed loudly in the cavernous vault.
Elias fought with elite, military precision, but Michael fought with the primal, unstoppable fury of a father protecting his child.
Michael grabbed a heavy metal fire extinguisher from the wall and swung it violently against Elias’s skull.
Elias collapsed backward, completely stunned and bleeding heavily from a massive gash on his forehead.
Michael stood over him, breathing heavily and gripping the metal cylinder tightly in his bloody hands.
Elias looked up, a twisted, bloody smile still plastered across his arrogant face.
"You do not have the stomach to execute your own brother," Elias taunted, coughing up blood.
A deafening gunshot suddenly rang out, echoing perfectly in the enclosed steel vault.
Elias’s eyes went completely wide, and he slumped backward against the servers, dead instantly.
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Michael looked down in shock, then turned to see Emily lying on the floor, holding her smoking combat pistol.
"I do," Emily whispered weakly, dropping the gun before slipping entirely into unconsciousness.
