Chapter 48
CHAPTER 48 — THE VAULT OF THE ARCHITECTS
Claire left Anna to guard Alexander and Lily, sprinting down the burning corridor after her husband. The facility was literally melting around them, the thermite charges liquefying the structural steel beams, sending rivers of white-hot slag dripping from the ceiling.
She reached the central vault—a massive, circular room suspended over a deep mountain chasm. In the center sat the final terminal of the Monarch Grid.
Julian stood before the terminal, his hands covered in blood as he forced the white-gold shoes into two metallic indentations on the console. The screen turned a brilliant, blinding white, a digital countdown appearing: 02:00.
WARNING: SUPERPOWER SATELLITE NETWORK OVERRIDE INITIALIZED. TARGET COORDINATES: MANHATTAN.
"You're insane, Julian!" Claire shouted, her gun aimed at his back. "You’re going to murder millions of innocent people just to wipe out your debt?!"
Julian turned around slowly, his eyes completely hollow.
"It’s not about debt anymore, Claire," he whispered, his voice trembling with a terrifying, serene madness. "The world needs a hard-reset. The Whitmores and the Lanes and the Vances... we’ve been pulling the strings from the dark for a century, creating wars and crises just to watch our portfolios grow. It’s time to burn the theater down."
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Claire pulled the trigger. The bullet caught Julian directly in the chest. He staggered backward, his blood splattering across the white-gold terminal, his body tumbling over the edge of the console into the dark chasm below.
But the countdown didn't stop. 01:15.
