Chapter 8 - Checkmate in New York
They had survived, but Victor Blackwood was still pulling strings from his fortress. To truly destroy him, they couldn't just release the ledger; they needed the physical, offshore server drives located at the Blackwood private vault in downtown Manhattan.
The next evening, the city was holding the annual Diamond Charity Gala. Victor and Marcus Blackwood were attending, attempting to maintain their public facade of innocence while their fixers hunted Seraphina.
It was the perfect distraction.
Dressed in stolen high-end formal wear—Seraphina in a sleek, emerald-green silk gown and Julian in a sharp tuxedo—they infiltrated the Blackwood corporate tower using the biometrics they had lifted from the unconscious Silas.
The vault was on the 80th floor.
"The server drives are behind a dual-authentication laser grid," Julian said as they stared at the heavy titanium door. "I can hack the keypad, but it will trigger a silent alarm to Victor's phone."
"Let it," Seraphina said coldly. "I want him to know it was me."
Julian worked the keypad. The vault door hissed open. Inside, blinking quietly, were the offshore servers containing the Blackwood family’s entire illicit fortune.
Julian quickly plugged in a heavy-duty extraction drive, downloading the entire unencrypted database. "Two minutes to complete," he muttered.
Suddenly, the reinforced glass doors to the 80th floor shattered.
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Marcus Blackwood walked in, holding a high-powered rifle. He looked deranged, his tuxedo disheveled, the charming facade completely replaced by the psychotic monster he truly was.
"I knew you'd come for the servers," Marcus sneered, aiming the rifle at Julian. "Step away from the console, Vance, or I paint the vault with your brains."
