Chapter 7 - The Blood Protocol
Chloe held the heavy mercenary rifle with surprising stability, her finger hovering dangerously over the trigger.
Elias froze, his silver pistol still aimed directly at Arthur's chest.
Julian stared at his girlfriend in complete shock, having never seen her hold anything heavier than a champagne glass.
Chloe ordered Elias to drop the gun, her voice lacking any trace of the terrified victim she had just played.
Elias scoffed, refusing to believe a pampered college student actually had the nerve to pull the trigger.
Arthur realized in that split second that Chloe wasn't aiming at Elias's head, but at the explosive barrel behind him.
Chloe pulled the trigger, sending a single bullet tearing through the rusted metal of the fuel drum.
A massive fireball erupted behind Elias, throwing the traitorous fixer forward onto the hard concrete.
The blast knocked the remaining mercenaries off their feet, creating a chaotic smokescreen of dust and fire.
Arthur didn't hesitate, grabbing Julian and Chloe and sprinting toward the rear loading bay doors.
They burst out into the freezing night, running desperately into the maze of stacked shipping containers.
Sirens began wailing in the distance as the local police responded to the massive explosion at the docks.
They finally stopped running when they reached a rusted, abandoned train yard miles away from the chaos.
Julian collapsed against a brick wall, gasping for air and staring at Chloe as if she were a total stranger.
He demanded to know how she knew how to operate a military-grade assault rifle with such precision.
Chloe wiped soot from her face and coldly confessed that she wasn't actually a wealthy socialite.
She revealed that she was a deep-cover operative hired by Arthur's father three years ago.
Her entire relationship with Julian had been a carefully orchestrated mission to keep an eye on the Vance family.
Julian looked utterly devastated, his heart breaking as his entire life was revealed to be a corporate lie.
Arthur stepped forward, apologizing to Julian for the collateral damage, but stating they had bigger problems now.
The virus Arthur uploaded had successfully frozen Silas's funds, but it required a final physical authorization to delete them.
They needed to break into the main server room beneath St. Jude University before dawn.
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If they failed, Silas would bypass the virus and permanently seize the Sterling and Vance empires.
Arthur pulled a small, silver vial from his pocket, revealing it was filled with his own extracted blood.
