Chapter 7 - The Ransom
It was a Tuesday afternoon. The snow was falling heavily over Chicago.
Lily had been attending an exclusive private academy for a week. Julian insisted on maximum security. Silas personally drove her in an armored SUV, accompanied by a trailing vehicle of plainclothes guards.
But Richard had spent millions on a team of ruthless mercenaries before his accounts were completely frozen.
As Silas’s convoy passed under a bridge in the downtown loop, a garbage truck suddenly pulled out from an alley, T-boning the trailing security car and blocking the street.
"Ambush! Brace!" Silas roared, slamming the SUV into reverse.
But a heavy semi-truck had already boxed them in from behind. Masked men with assault rifles poured out of the vehicles. They didn't shoot to kill; they shot the tires and flooded the SUV with military-grade tear gas through the air vents.
Silas fought like a demon, breaking the arm of the first man who breached the door, but he was overwhelmed and electroshocked into unconsciousness.
When Silas woke up twenty minutes later, coughing up gas and bleeding from a head wound, the back seat was empty. Lily was gone.
Julian was in a meeting with international investors when his private phone rang. It was Silas. The moment Julian heard his security chief's ragged breathing, his blood turned to ice.
"They took her, sir," Silas choked out. "I failed. They took Lily."
Julian didn't shout. He didn't break down. The billionaire CEO died in that exact second, and the monster his grandfather had trained him to be fully awakened.
His phone buzzed with an incoming message from an untraceable number. It was a video.
Lily was sitting in a dark, concrete room, crying and hugging her knees. The camera panned to Richard, holding a burner phone.
"Hello, Julian," Richard sneered. "It seems we need to renegotiate our family dynamic. I want my shares back. I want the SEC off my back. And I want two hundred million in untraceable crypto. You have four hours, or your little street rat disappears permanently."
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Julian stared at the screen, his eyes completely hollow.
"Silas," Julian said into his phone, his voice a terrifying, soulless whisper. "Mobilize everyone. I don't care what it costs. We are going to paint the streets red."
