Chapter 38 - The Thermal Breach
The thermal torch bit through the remaining steel hinges with a deafening screech of tortured metal, spraying white-hot sparks across the obsidian floor of the Zurich vault. The massive steel door groaned under the pressure before crashing inward, kicking up a thick cloud of concrete dust and white smoke.
Through the haze stepped Viktor Vance, his tailored charcoal suit stained with soot, a tactical sidearm gripped firmly in his right hand. Flanking him were four heavily armed mercenaries wearing unmarked black gear and night-vision tactical rigs.
"Clever little trap, Eleanor," Viktor’s voice cut through the hiss of the smoke, cold and dripping with venom. His eyes immediately locked onto Khloe, who stood unflinching beside the central console, her hand resting casually on the obsidian biometric reader. "And you, my dear niece-in-law. You really thought a rusted iron key and a century-old basement could stop the Zurich High Council?"
Eleanor stepped in front of Khloe, raising her ebony cane like a weapon. "You're too late, Viktor. The charter has already been rewritten. Her signature is logged. If you kill us, the system automatically triggers a global asset dump that will wipe the Vance name off the financial map forever."
Viktor chuckled, stepping further into the vault, his boots crunching on the fallen plaster. He raised his pistol, leveling the barrel straight at Eleanor’s chest. "Let it burn, then. If I don't control the board, no one does."
Before Viktor’s finger could tighten on the trigger, the shadows near the collapsed vault door exploded with sudden violence.
A dark figure slammed into the lead mercenary from behind, driving him hard into the concrete wall with a sickening crunch of bone and tactical armor. Gabriel emerged from the smoke, his face bruised, his knuckles bleeding, and his eyes burning with a lethal fury that completely eclipsed anything Khloe had seen before.
"You're not touching her, Viktor," Gabriel snarled, dodging a wild punch from the second guard before driving his elbow into the man’s throat with devastating precision.
Viktor didn't flinch. He shifted his aim from Eleanor to Gabriel, a cruel grin spreading across his face. "Always the hero, Gabriel. Just like your father."
*Bang.*
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The gunshot echoed deafeningly off the stone walls of the subterranean vault.
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