Chapter 19 - The Fall of the King
The air in the vault suddenly felt incredibly thin, heavy with the weight of my fatal miscalculation.
The Blind King stepped forward, his cane tapping rhythmically against the stone floor.
"Did you really think my security could be hacked by a billionaire playing spy?" he mocked softly.
"I let Mr. Vance loop the cameras. I wanted you down here."
I kept my gun aimed squarely at the center of his chest.
"Let my brother go, Caelum," I said, using the real name Julian had uncovered.
The Blind King froze for a fraction of a second at the sound of his name, a slight crack in his perfect composure.
"You shoot me, Dominic, and the vault permanently seals," he warned.
"The air will run out in forty minutes. We will all die in this tomb."
He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small, black leather book.
The ledger.
"You want my insurance policy? Come and take it."
He threw the book onto the floor between us and unsheathed a lethal, thin rapier hidden inside his wooden cane.
I dropped my gun, knowing gunfire in the enclosed steel box would deafen us and ricochet unpredictably.
I drew my combat knife, stepping away from Leo to draw the King’s attention.
The Blind King moved with terrifying speed, lunging forward with a flurry of precise, deadly strikes.
I deflected the rapier with my knife, the metal sparking as the blades clashed.
Despite having no eyes, his hearing and spatial awareness were practically supernatural.
He anticipated my movements, slicing a shallow cut across my ribs, then driving the pommel of his sword into my jaw.
I stumbled back, tasting blood.
"You are slow, Dominic," he taunted, stepping elegantly over the dropped ledger.
"Peace has made you weak."
He lunged again, aiming directly for my throat.
I didn't block it.
Instead, I stepped inside his guard, letting the rapier pierce deeply into the meat of my left shoulder.
The Blind King gasped in surprise as I grabbed his wrist, locking his arm in place.
"Peace didn't make me weak," I grunted, staring into the smooth gold of his mask.
"It gave me something to live for."
With a brutal roar, I drove my combat knife upward, burying it to the hilt directly under his ribs, piercing his heart.
The Blind King stiffened, his featureless mask tilting toward me one last time before his knees buckled.
He collapsed onto the floor of the vault, dead.
I pulled his rapier from my shoulder, biting down hard on my lip to keep from screaming.
I limped over to Leo, cutting his restraints and pulling him to his feet.
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"Julian," I gasped into my earpiece. "The King is dead. We have the ledger. Blow the door."
Five seconds later, a massive shaped charge placed by Julian ripped the vault door off its hinges, filling the room with smoke.
