Get out of the way! Let me see my little sister!”
Julian turned his laptop toward me. On the screen was a scanned copy of a legal document, stamped with a royal-looking wax seal.
“Grandfather grew deeply regretful of how he treated Mom in his final years,” Julian explained. “Before he died, he altered his will. It states that the core inheritance—the controlling shares of the Song Global Conglomerate—cannot be passed down to the sons if there is a surviving female bloodline of the first generation. If a daughter or granddaughter exists, she must sign off on the succession. If she refuses, or if she claims her birthright… eighty percent of the entire empire reverts directly to her.“
I gasped, nearly choking. “To… to me? But I don’t know anything about business! I don’t want it!”
“The Old Man knows that,” Christian said darkly. “But he also knows that if we find you, we can use your legal claim to strip him of his power completely. To him, you are a walking, talking nuclear bomb detonating under his throne.”
Suddenly, the lights in the penthouse flickered violently.
The hum of the air conditioning died. The expansive view of Central Park below us suddenly changed as the streetlights on the block blinked out, plunging the surrounding area into darkness.
“What’s happening?” Leo stood up, knocking his chair over. “The backup generators should have kicked in instantly!”
Julian’s face went completely pale. He lunged for his phone, but the screen displayed a static message: NO SIGNAL. REGIONAL JAMMER DETECTED.
“Julian!” a security guard shouted, bursting into the dining room, his hand tightly gripping his firearm. “The main elevator power has been cut from the basement. The emergency stairwell doors have been breached from the floor below us. Someone bypassed our biometric security codes!”
“How is that possible?” Christian yelled, stepping in front of me, shielding me with his body. “Only family members have those codes!”
Julian’s eyes widened in realization. “Because it is family.”
A loud, metallic THUD echoed from the heavy mahogany entrance doors of the penthouse. The electronic lock hissed, turning from green to a flashing, ominous red.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
The sound of heavy, military-grade boots echoed through the dark hallway. Through the shadows, a group of tall, heavily armed men in black tactical gear emerged, night-vision goggles glowing a sinister green in the dark.
And walking behind them, stepping calmly over the threshold of our sanctuary, was an elderly man with silver hair, carrying a gold-headed cane. His face was a mirror image of Julian’s, but entirely devoid of any human warmth.
Arthur Song. My father.
“Look at you all,” Arthur said, his voice echoing like gravel in a tomb. “Reunited at last. A tech addict, a theater boy, a corporate thief… and the little peasant girl from the countryside.”
Julian stepped forward, his voice a lethal whisper. “Get out of my house, Arthur. You have no legal right to be here.”
“I have every right to protect my empire,” Arthur sneered, raising his cane, pointing it directly at me. The tactical guards immediately raised their assault rifles, aiming their red-dot lasers straight at my chest. “You boys thought you were being clever, hiding her here. But she is coming with me. By tomorrow morning, she will sign the relinquishment papers, or she will simply… cease to exist.”
“Touch her and I’ll kill you myself!” Christian roared, preparing to spring forward.
“I wouldn’t move if I were you, boy,” Arthur smiled coldly. “One twitch from any of you, and my men will open fire. Now, Autumn… step away from your brothers and come to your father. Or watch them die right in front of you.”
I looked at Julian, whose muscles were tense, ready to fight to the death. I looked at Leo, who was frantically looking for an opening, and Christian, who was using his body as a human shield for me. I had just found my family. I couldn’t lose them now.
My hand slipped into my pocket, my fingers brushing against the sharp, jagged metal of the old house key from my small hometown—the only weapon I had.
Arthur raised his hand, ready to give his men the signal to fire.
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