Chapter 26
CHAPTER 26: THE BAIT
Evelyn Vance didn't take long to break. Once a woman like her realizes she’s been used, her desire for survival turns into pure, unadulterated venom.
"Arthur doesn't keep his servers in London or New York," Evelyn whispered through the intercom, her voice frantic. "The primary mainframe for the Obsidian Group’s financial transitions is mobile. It’s a specialized, heavily armored server farm built inside a custom mega-yacht called The Leviathan. It stays in international waters, just twelve miles off the coast of Long Island. If you want to stop the protocol and deactivate the micro-explosives in Sofia’s neck, you have to physically access that server room."
"How do we get on board?" I asked.
"Tonight is the annual midsummer gala for the international maritime elite. Arthur is hosting it on The Leviathan to celebrate the absorption of your family's shipping lines. He thinks your father is going to sign the papers by midnight." Evelyn smiled, a dark, wicked expression. "I have a digital biometric key clone for the yacht's VIP entrance. I’ll give it to you... if your father signs my release papers the minute this is over."
"Deal," I said.
By 9:00 PM, the trap was set. My father signed the digital copy of the Obsidian Protocol—but it was an infected version, embedded with a slow-acting financial virus designed by our top cyber-analysts. It would appear authentic to Arthur’s systems for exactly sixty minutes before it systematically scrambled every routing number the Obsidian Group owned.
I stood before the mirror in the Brooklyn safehouse, wearing an backless midnight-blue silk gown. Beneath the elegant fabric, strapped to my thigh, was a specialized hacking device.
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"Valeria, this is suicide," my father said, standing by the door, holding Leo in his arms. "Let Marcus go alone."
"Arthur expects a Salazar to hand over the empire," I said, walking over to kiss my son’s warm cheek. "He thinks he’s playing a game of chess with an old man. He doesn't expect the pawn to walk directly into his court with a blade."
