Chapter 6 - The Sister Taken for the Heir
Sarah had been kidnapped less than an hour after leaving the apartment.
Khalida blamed herself.
Sloane offered a simple exchange.
The vault.
For Sarah.
Deacon rejected it immediately.
“We don't trade hostages.”
Khalida looked at him.
“We are not talking about money.”
“I know.”
“Then what?”
“We get her without giving him what he wants.”
Elias stared at him.
“That's what I taught you.”
Deacon looked at his father.
“You didn't teach me enough.”
Amir stepped forward.
“I know the facility.”
Sloane looked surprised.
“So you've been there?”
“I built it.”
The room went silent.
Amir explained that the warehouse belonged to the old organization.
There were three entrances.
One under the docks.
One through a maintenance tunnel.
One through the roof.
Deacon chose the maintenance tunnel.
Khalida insisted on coming.
“No.”
“My sister is there.”
“I won't let you.”
“You don't get to decide.”
Deacon looked at her.
She looked exactly like the woman who had terrified him by refusing to take his money.
Stubborn.
Fierce.
Alive.
He finally nodded.
“Stay beside me.”
They infiltrated the warehouse.
Chaos followed.
Alarms.
Gunfire.
Running footsteps.
Deacon found Sarah first.
“She hurt you?”
Sarah shook her head.
“I’m okay.”
Then Sloane appeared.
He had Khalida’s father at gunpoint.
“You were predictable.”
Amir stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
Sloane laughed.
“You still think morality matters.”
Amir looked at him.
“It always mattered.”
“You lost.”
“No.”
Amir smiled.
“You did.”
He pressed a hidden button.
Every monitor inside the warehouse lit up.
Documents appeared.
Names.
Accounts.
Recordings.
Sloane stared.
“What did you do?”
“The vault was never under the city.”
Amir looked at Khalida.
“It was digital.”
Deacon understood.
The entire archive had been uploaded days earlier.
To thousands of secure locations.
Sloane had spent twenty-eight years chasing something that was already everywhere.
Sirens filled the street.
Federal agents surrounded the warehouse.
Sloane looked at Deacon.
“You called them.”
Deacon nodded.
“Yes.”
“You betrayed your own blood.”
“No.”
He looked at Elias and Amir.
“I stopped protecting their secrets.”
Sloane's men began dropping their weapons.
Sloane tried to run.
He was tackled before he reached the exit.
Khalida watched him being arrested.
Her mother.
Her father.
Her childhood.
Everything had revolved around this man.
Now he was handcuffed.
She felt no triumph.
Only exhaustion.
Sarah hugged her.
“You okay?”
Khalida nodded.
Then she turned toward Deacon.
He was bleeding from a cut above his eyebrow.
She walked to him.
“You're hurt.”
“It's nothing.”
“You always say that.”
“Usually true.”
She touched his face.
He became very still.
“You came for me.”
“Always.”
“That word again.”
“It's becoming a habit.”
She smiled.
For a moment, the warehouse disappeared.
Then Elias approached.
“There is one final thing you need to know.”
Khalida looked at him.
“What?”
“Your grandfather left the company to both bloodlines.”
“Both?”
“Yes.”
Amir nodded.
“The original document names two heirs.”
“Khalida and Deacon?”
“Yes.”
Deacon's face hardened.
“No.”
Elias shook his head.
“The inheritance isn't a throne.”
“Then what is it?”
“A choice.”
He handed them the document.
The final clause required both heirs to dissolve the empire or rebuild it legally for charitable purposes.
Khalida looked at Deacon.
He smiled.
“I know what I'm choosing.”
May you like
She smiled back.
“So do I.”
