CHAPTER 4 – THE MIDNIGHT ATTACK
CHAPTER 4 – THE MIDNIGHT ATTACK
At 2:13 a.m., every security monitor inside Ryker Steel's estate flashed black.
One second.
Two.
Then the backup system activated.
"Boss!"
Marco burst into the control room.
"Perimeter cameras are down!"
Ryker was already moving.
"Lock every entrance."
"Get the children."
Armed security spread across the property.
Outside...
Three black SUVs rolled silently through the fog.
Their headlights remained off.
Professional.
Planned.
Dangerous.
Inside the children's room, Lily suddenly woke.
She sat upright.
"Owen..."
"What?"
"I had the bad dream again."
Before Owen could answer...
A loud crash echoed through the mansion.
Glass exploded downstairs.
The twins screamed.
Ryker kicked open their bedroom door.
"It's me."
"You stay behind me."
Without hesitation, both children ran into his arms.
Another explosion shook the hallway.
Smoke filled the air.
"They're inside!" Marco shouted through his radio.
Ryker lifted Lily into one arm while grabbing Owen's hand with the other.
He didn't run toward the front entrance.
He headed underground.
A hidden elevator opened behind an antique bookshelf.
The twins stared in shock.
"Where are we going?"
"Somewhere safe."
The elevator descended into a reinforced bunker built years earlier for threats Ryker had never imagined would involve children.
As the steel doors closed...
Gunfire erupted upstairs.
Marco's voice crackled over the radio.
"Five intruders."
"No..."
"Six."
Ryker's eyes hardened.
"They're not here to rob me."
"They're here for Lily and Owen."
Inside the bunker, Lily looked up at him.
"Are they angry because of us?"
Ryker knelt in front of the twins.
"No."
"They're afraid of you."
Owen blinked.
"Why would anyone be afraid of us?"
Ryker looked at Daniel's letter in his hand.
Because somewhere inside Carter Technologies...
And somewhere inside the secrets surrounding their father's death...
Two five-year-old twins unknowingly held the key to a fortune worth billions...
And to a murder conspiracy powerful enough to make armed men invade Ryker Steel's home in the middle of the night.
As gunfire echoed above them...
Ryker made another silent promise.
No matter who was coming...
No matter how powerful they were...
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No one would ever abandon these children again.
Not while he was still breathing.
