Chapter 136 – Crossed Timelines

Georgia discovers overlapping international trips she cannot reconcile.

Three parts. Humanised. Forensic tension.

And the truth begins to split open.

The genetic audit hearing was twelve hours away.

No one slept.

James sat surrounded by legal briefs. Dominic was mapping potential courtroom outcomes. But Georgia-

Georgia was somewhere else entirely.

She was staring at passports.

Not just James's.

Not just Dominic's.

All three.

James. Dominic. Elias.

She had accessed archived travel logs through a logistics shell company once connected to David's private aviation arm.

At first, she was looking for something simple.

Proof of coordination.

Proof of manipulation.

Instead, she found something impossible.

She zoomed in on a specific date.

March 14th. Seven years ago.

According to official immigration logs-

James entered Singapore at 09:22 local time.

She clicked to cross-reference.

Elias entered Zurich at 08:51 local time.

Dominic entered São Paulo at 11:03 local time.

Three continents.

Same day.

Different hemispheres.

She frowned.

It wasn't unusual for three powerful men to travel simultaneously.

But then she cross-checked flight durations.

James's arrival in Singapore required departure from London at least thirteen hours earlier.

She pulled the departure logs.

No flight record under his name.

She froze.

No private jet manifest.

No commercial ticket.

Nothing.

She checked Elias's Zurich entry.

Same issue.

Arrival stamp.

No recorded departure.

Dominic's São Paulo entry?

Same pattern.

Georgia's pulse quickened.

She opened her laptop camera and replayed archived security footage tied to James's Singapore business summit.

Timestamped footage showed James entering the hotel lobby.

But she paused it.

Zoomed in.

Something subtle.

The posture was slightly different.

The walk was measured - but not identical.

She whispered to herself,

"No."

She ran facial comparison software.

Confidence rating: 91% match.

But 9% discrepancy.

Too high for a twin.

Her breath slowed.

She opened Zurich footage of Elias the same day.

Conference hall entry.

Face match: 93%.

Again - not perfect.

Dominic's São Paulo footage?

92%.

Georgia's stomach dropped.

She stood abruptly.

"James."

He looked up immediately.

"What?"

She turned the screen toward him.

"You were in Singapore seven years ago."

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

He frowned.

"I led the summit."

Dominic stood.

"What's wrong?"

Georgia pulled up the footage.

"Walk."

James watched silently.

Dominic's eyes sharpened.

"That's not his gait."

James looked closer.

"No."

Georgia pulled up Zurich.

"And this is Elias."

Dominic leaned in.

"He moves like you."

James's jaw tightened.

Georgia whispered,

"All three of you were documented in different continents within hours."

Dominic's voice went flat.

"That's not possible."

Georgia nodded slowly.

"Exactly."

They spread the data across the war room wall.

Flights.

Hotel keycard logs.

CCTV timestamps.

Financial transaction pings.

Three brothers.

Three cities.

Same 48-hour window.

Repeated across six separate years.

Dominic's voice was analytical.

"Clones are impossible."

James didn't react to the word.

Georgia said quietly,

"It's not cloning."

She pulled up something else.

A logistics spreadsheet hidden in David's old archive.

Codename: TRI-Phase Rotation.

James stared at it.

"What is that?"

Georgia scrolled.

"Operational redundancy. Identity reinforcement through geographic dispersion."

Dominic's jaw tightened.

"He duplicated visibility."

Georgia nodded.

"He created the illusion that you were simultaneously expanding influence."

James felt something shift.

"You're saying one of us wasn't where we thought we were."

Georgia met his eyes.

"Yes."

Dominic spoke slowly.

"Which means at least one of those passport entries is fabricated."

James shook his head faintly.

"No."

Dominic looked at him.

"No?"

James's voice was tight.

"I remember Singapore."

Georgia whispered,

"Memory is malleable."

Dominic added quietly,

"And reinforced through repetition."

James turned sharply.

"You think he manipulated our travel recollections?"

Georgia didn't answer directly.

Instead, she pulled up medical appointment records.

Neural therapy consultations.

All three brothers.

Overlapping years.

Dominic's eyes darkened.

"He embedded synchronized narratives."

Georgia nodded.

"If you all believe you were independently expanding power, none of you question the overlap."

James exhaled slowly.

"So where were we really?"

Silence.

Then Georgia said it.

"Together."

The word landed heavily.

Dominic's mind moved quickly.

"If we were together during those windows..."

James finished it.

"Then what were we doing?"

Georgia's fingers moved fast across the keyboard.

She searched private airspace logs under restricted call signs.

One appeared repeatedly.

Unlisted island airstrip.

Coordinates masked under environmental research permits.

James's pulse spiked.

"Where is that?"

Georgia zoomed out.

International waters.

Private territory.

No civilian registration.

Dominic's voice dropped.

"Training ground."

James whispered,

"For what?"

No one answered.

Because they already knew.

Georgia kept digging.

Something else was wrong.

She compared one specific date.

Five years ago.

Elias officially in Geneva.

James in New York.

Dominic in Tokyo.

She checked private satellite imaging over the island airstrip.

One jet landed that day.

Single entry.

No departure recorded until three days later.

Her throat went dry.

She whispered,

"One plane."

James looked at her.

"What?"

"One plane. Three official appearances. But only one physical arrival."

Dominic's eyes went razor sharp.

"Which means two appearances were synthetic."

Georgia nodded.

"Deepfake? Body doubles?"

James shook his head faintly.

"No. Not body doubles."

Dominic looked at him.

"You think it was us."

James met his gaze.

"Yes."

Silence.

Georgia frowned.

"That doesn't make sense."

James's voice was low.

"It does if one of us was being conditioned."

Dominic's expression hardened.

"Conditioned how?"

James swallowed.

"To replace."

The room went still.

Georgia whispered,

"Replace who?"

James's eyes darkened.

"Whichever one failed."

Dominic's pulse slowed dangerously.

"You're suggesting that during those island windows..."

James nodded faintly.

"We weren't expanding empires."

Georgia finished it.

"We were being evaluated."

Silence.

Then-

Her system chimed.

New upload.

Anonymous source.

Video file.

Timestamped five years ago.

She hesitated only a second before opening it.

The footage was grainy.

Interior. Industrial lighting.

Three chairs.

Metal.

James leaned closer.

Dominic went still.

Georgia's breath caught.

Three boys.

Not children.

But younger.

Late teens.

Restrained.

Facing a single figure standing in shadow.

David.

His voice echoed faintly.

"You are not brothers."

The younger version of James looked confused.

"You are variables."

Dominic's younger self tried to stand.

Security restrained him.

David continued.

"Only one survives succession."

Georgia's hands trembled slightly.

James's jaw tightened painfully.

Elias's younger face was harder than both of them.

David's voice sharpened.

"You will compete."

The footage cut abruptly.

Silence.

Dominic whispered,

"I don't remember that."

James's voice was hoarse.

"Neither do I."

Georgia whispered,

"He erased it."

Dominic's eyes lifted slowly.

"Or we buried it."

James looked at the screen again.

The coordinates in the corner.

Same island.

Repeated across the overlapping travel logs.

Georgia's voice was barely audible.

"You weren't building separate legacies."

James finished it quietly.

"You were being broken."

Dominic's phone vibrated suddenly.

Secure channel.

From Elias.

He answered immediately.

"Yes."

Elias's voice was colder than usual.

"You found it."

Dominic didn't blink.

"Yes."

Silence.

James stepped closer.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

Elias responded evenly.

"Because I wanted to see if you would remember."

Georgia whispered,

"You knew about the island."

"Yes."

James asked quietly,

"What happened there?"

A pause.

Longer than usual.

Then Elias said something that made the room colder than any revelation before.

"We weren't competing."

Dominic's voice dropped.

"Then what were we doing?"

Elias answered calmly.

"We were being selected for something else."

Silence.

James's pulse thundered in his ears.

"For what?"

Another pause.

Then-

"Not succession."

The line went dead.

Georgia's breath felt shallow.

James stared at the frozen image of their younger selves restrained in metal chairs.

Dominic's voice was controlled but tight.

"If it wasn't succession..."

James finished the thought.

"Then we were never heirs."

Georgia whispered,

"Then what were you?"

Outside, dawn began breaking faintly over the estate.

The court hearing was still hours away.

The genetic audit was still pending.

But none of that felt central anymore.

Because if their international expansions were fabricated...

If their identities were rotated...

If their memories were conditioned...

Then David Luther hadn't just engineered succession.

He had engineered something far larger.

James whispered into the silence,

"We were deployed."

Dominic's jaw tightened.

"For what purpose?"

Georgia's eyes remained fixed on the coordinates.

"Whatever it was," she said quietly, "it's not finished."

James's phone buzzed again.

Unknown encrypted attachment.

He opened it slowly.

Single image.

Satellite capture of the island.

Dated today.

New activity.

Multiple aircraft.

Georgia's pulse spiked.

"He's going back."

Dominic's voice went ice cold.

"No."

James swallowed.

"He's restarting it."

And beneath the image-

One line.

Phase Reinitiation Confirmed.

Chapter 137 – The Corporate Web

Dominic has placed loyal agents inside every company James controls.

Three parts. Humanised. Strategic tension.

And the betrayal isn't what it seems.

The island image was still burned into their screens.

Aircraft. Activity. Phase Reinitiation.

But Georgia had shifted focus.

If the island was restarting something, it required infrastructure.

Money.

Compliance.

Operational silence.

She began mapping internal structures across James's corporations.

Executive assistants. Mid-level directors. Regional compliance officers. Risk auditors.

At first, nothing seemed abnormal.

Then she noticed a pattern.

Certain hires - scattered over twelve years - shared a common recruitment intermediary.

A consulting firm that technically dissolved eight years ago.

But its alumni remained embedded across James's empire.

She turned to Dominic.

"These people."

He stepped closer.

She highlighted names.

Singapore division compliance chief.

Zurich audit supervisor.

New York risk analyst.

Tokyo procurement director.

All previously contracted under the same consulting firm.

Dominic's expression didn't change.

James noticed.

"You know that firm."

Dominic didn't deny it.

"Yes."

Georgia's pulse slowed slightly.

"You placed them."

Silence.

James's voice tightened.

"When?"

Dominic answered calmly.

"Gradually."

"How many?"

Dominic's gaze remained steady.

"Enough."

The word hung heavy.

James stepped forward.

"You embedded loyalists inside my companies?"

Dominic's voice stayed even.

"I embedded stabilizers."

Georgia crossed her arms.

"That's not the same."

Dominic met her gaze.

"It is when your father weaponizes structure."

James's jaw tightened.

"You didn't tell me."

"No."

"Why?"

Dominic's answer was immediate.

"Because you wouldn't have allowed it."

Silence.

James's breathing shifted.

"You infiltrated my empire."

Dominic's eyes didn't waver.

"I fortified it."

Georgia's mind moved quickly.

"You said 'every company.'"

Dominic nodded once.

"Yes."

James exhaled sharply.

"That's surveillance."

"No," Dominic replied quietly. "That's protection."

James shook his head faintly.

"Protection from what?"

Dominic looked directly at him.

"From being erased."

Silence detonated in the room.

Georgia whispered,

"How long have you been planning for David to turn on James?"

Dominic's voice was cold.

"I never assumed he wouldn't."

They moved to the internal database.

Dominic didn't resist.

He gave Georgia clearance codes.

Layer by layer, the structure revealed itself.

Embedded auditors who flagged unusual financial reroutes before they reached James.

Procurement officers who quietly rejected suppliers tied to David's shell companies.

Legal assistants who rerouted high-risk documents for secondary review.

James stared at the screen.

"You built a shadow governance structure."

Dominic didn't deny it.

"Yes."

Georgia's voice was careful.

"You replaced key pressure points."

Dominic nodded.

"So if David attempted a hostile takeover-"

"It would stall," Dominic finished.

James's voice was tight.

"You positioned yourself as contingency authority."

Dominic met his gaze.

"Yes."

Silence.

James felt something sharp twist inside him.

"You didn't trust me to defend myself."

Dominic's voice softened slightly.

"I didn't trust him not to outmaneuver you."

Georgia watched both of them carefully.

"This wasn't about dominance," she said quietly.

"No," Dominic replied.

"It was about survivability."

James stepped closer.

"How many people know they answer to you?"

Dominic's expression hardened slightly.

"They don't answer to me."

James frowned.

"Then who?"

Dominic paused.

Then:

"They answer to continuity."

Georgia blinked.

"What does that mean?"

Dominic turned the screen toward them.

Codename: Web Anchor Protocol.

Established twelve years ago.

James's pulse shifted.

"That's when we reconnected."

Dominic nodded.

"I assumed at least one of us would be targeted eventually."

Georgia whispered,

"So you built a corporate immune system."

"Yes."

James shook his head faintly.

"You built leverage."

Dominic's eyes darkened slightly.

"I built insurance."

Silence.

Then Georgia asked the question neither of them had voiced yet.

"If every company James controls has embedded loyalists..."

She looked directly at Dominic.

"Who do they side with if you and James diverge?"

The room went still.

Dominic didn't answer immediately.

James's jaw tightened.

"Answer her."

Dominic spoke calmly.

"They side with survival."

"That's not an answer."

"It is."

James's voice dropped.

"Do they choose you?"

Dominic held his gaze.

"If you fracture, they neutralize instability."

Silence detonated.

Georgia whispered,

"Neutralize how?"

Dominic's eyes shifted slightly.

"Financial containment. Authority suspension."

James felt the implications settle.

"You built a mechanism to remove me."

Dominic didn't flinch.

"I built a mechanism to prevent collapse."

James stepped closer.

"You never trusted me."

Dominic's voice was steady.

"I never trusted David."

The room was heavy with something unspoken.

Not betrayal.

But realization.

Georgia broke the silence.

"What happens if the Web Anchor activates?"

Dominic answered plainly.

"It already has."

James froze.

"What?"

Dominic turned the screen again.

Live feed.

Multiple internal executives had initiated emergency governance clauses after the identity challenge filing.

Board votes temporarily frozen.

High-risk assets isolated.

Voting rights suspended pending DNA confirmation.

James's pulse spiked.

"You triggered it."

"No," Dominic said quietly. "The system triggered itself."

Georgia frowned.

"Autonomous?"

"Yes."

James stared at him.

"You built something you don't control?"

Dominic met his gaze.

"I built something no one controls."

Silence.

James felt anger surge - not explosive, but slow and cold.

"You embedded yourself in my empire."

Dominic's voice remained calm.

"I embedded protection."

James shook his head faintly.

"You embedded doubt."

Before Dominic could respond-

An alert flashed across the wall.

Executive Override Request.

Origin: Elias Luther.

Georgia's breath caught.

"What is he doing?"

James stared at the screen.

Elias had filed an internal motion leveraging minority trust rights - demanding temporary inspection of embedded personnel networks.

Dominic's eyes sharpened.

"He found the web."

James whispered,

"How?"

Dominic's voice was tight.

"Because he was trained to."

Georgia's pulse quickened.

"If he exposes your loyal agents-"

James finished it.

"The narrative becomes corporate manipulation."

Dominic added quietly,

"And validates David's identity challenge."

Silence.

Another alert.

Boardroom feed request.

Elias requesting direct conference with James and Dominic.

James accepted.

The screen flickered.

Elias appeared.

Calm.

Precise.

He didn't look angry.

He looked analytical.

"You embedded yourself in his companies," Elias said to Dominic.

Dominic didn't deny it.

"Yes."

Elias nodded once.

"Smart."

James frowned slightly.

"That's not what you called it in your filing."

Elias's eyes shifted to him.

"I didn't call it anything."

Georgia stepped forward.

"You requested inspection."

"Yes."

"Why?"

Elias's expression remained unreadable.

"To see whether you were consolidating."

Dominic's voice went cool.

"And?"

Elias paused.

"You weren't."

Silence.

James blinked.

"You don't see this as takeover?"

"No."

Dominic's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Then what do you see?"

Elias's gaze moved between them.

"Preparation."

Georgia felt her pulse spike.

"Preparation for what?"

Elias didn't answer immediately.

Instead, he leaned slightly closer to the camera.

"You think the island is about succession."

James's voice was tight.

"It's not?"

Elias's eyes were colder than ever.

"No."

Dominic's jaw hardened.

"Then what is it?"

A pause.

Then Elias said quietly:

"The corporate web isn't for defense."

Silence.

James felt something heavy settle in his chest.

"It's deployment infrastructure."

Georgia's breath hitched.

Dominic didn't move.

Elias continued.

"You weren't competing for control of companies."

James whispered,

"Then what were we doing?"

Elias's voice lowered.

"You were building nodes."

The word felt mechanical.

Cold.

Georgia's voice trembled slightly.

"Nodes for what?"

Elias's expression didn't change.

"For when Phase Reinitiation goes global."

Silence detonated across the estate.

James stared at the screen.

"You think David is activating something larger."

Elias nodded once.

"Yes."

Dominic spoke evenly.

"The web wasn't my design."

Elias's eyes sharpened.

"No."

Dominic's pulse shifted slightly.

"You're saying he wanted this structure."

"Yes."

Georgia's voice was barely audible.

"He wanted distributed control."

Elias finished it.

"He wanted three synchronized command centers."

James whispered,

"We weren't being groomed."

Dominic's voice went ice cold.

"We were being positioned."

Another alert flashed.

Satellite feed update.

Island airstrip - increased activity.

Multiple aircraft departing simultaneously.

Elias looked at them steadily.

"It's not just restarting."

James swallowed.

"Then what?"

Elias's voice didn't waver.

"It's expanding."

The feed cut abruptly.

Silence.

Georgia looked at Dominic.

"You built the web thinking it was defense."

Dominic's eyes were darker than ever.

"Yes."

James whispered,

"But what if it was always meant to activate?"

Another alert.

Internal system notice.

Web Anchor Protocol shifting status.

From Containment Mode...

To Integration Mode.

James felt his stomach drop.

Dominic stepped closer to the screen.

"That's not possible."

Georgia whispered,

"Unless someone else has override authority."

Silence.

One final notification appeared:

Primary Override Granted.

Authorization: D. Luther.

James exhaled slowly.

"He just weaponized your insurance."

Dominic's jaw tightened painfully.

The corporate web was no longer dormant protection.

It was live infrastructure.

And every loyal agent Dominic had placed-

Now reported to a central command.

Not James.

Not Dominic.

David.

Outside, dawn fully broke.

Inside, the companies James controlled were no longer his.

They were connected.

Synchronized.

And activating.

James whispered,

"We built his network."

Dominic's voice was steady but colder than ever.

"No."

He looked at the shifting interface.

"He built us."

And somewhere beyond the estate walls-

Aircraft were landing.

The web was tightening.

And Phase Reinitiation had officially begun.

Chapter 138 – A Dangerous Game

The envelope was hand-delivered.

No stamp.

No return address.

No courier name.

Just Georgia's name written in a familiar slanted handwriting that made her fingers tremble before she even opened it.

She found it on the kitchen counter at 7:12 a.m.

She had locked the doors the night before. Checked the windows. Armed the system.

Someone had been inside her home.

Her pulse began to hammer.

She didn't call James.

She didn't scream.

She didn't move.

She stared at the envelope like it might breathe.

The paper was thick. Expensive. Cream-colored. The kind David used to prefer for private correspondence.

Her throat tightened.

Slowly, carefully, she opened it.

One single sheet.

One single line.

STOP DIGGING.

Next time, it won't be paper.

No signature.

But below the sentence - a photograph.

Her.

Standing outside the hidden apartment three nights ago.

The timestamp was precise. The angle elevated. Surveillance-level clean.

She hadn't seen anyone.

She hadn't heard anyone.

Which meant she was already being watched before she found the apartment.

Her fingers went cold.

Then she noticed something worse.

At the bottom corner of the photograph was a small red dot.

A laser marker.

Placed directly over her chest.

Georgia dropped the photo.

Her breath fractured.

This wasn't intimidation.

It was calibration.

Whoever sent this wasn't warning her to stop investigating David Luther.

They were testing how easily they could reach her.

And how cleanly they could eliminate her.

Her phone buzzed.

Unknown number.

She froze.

Then it buzzed again.

And again.

A text message.

"You should check your security cameras."

Her stomach dropped.

She ran to the monitor system.

The footage from 3:04 a.m. replayed automatically.

The kitchen.

Dark.

Still.

Then-

A figure entered frame.

Wearing gloves.

Wearing a mask.

Walking slowly. Calmly. Unhurried.

The figure placed the envelope on the counter.

Then looked directly into the camera.

And waved.

Georgia's knees buckled.

The wave wasn't mocking.

It was intimate.

Like someone greeting an old friend.

And then-

The figure lifted a gloved hand.

Removed the mask.

The footage glitched.

Flickered.

Distorted.

But for a fraction of a second...

She saw a face.

David's.

Or-

No.

Not David.

The other one.

Dominic.

The screen went black.

The footage corrupted itself.

Georgia stood in the silence of her kitchen, breath shallow, hands shaking.

This wasn't random.

This wasn't coincidence.

This was escalation.

And someone had just declared war.

Behind her-

The house alarm beeped.

Front door opening.

She turned slowly.

James stood in the doorway.

Holding an identical envelope.

James didn't look at her.

He walked past her silently and placed his envelope on the table beside hers.

Two identical warnings.

Two identical photographs.

Two identical red dots.

Only his was centered over his forehead.

They didn't speak.

They didn't need to.

Dominic wasn't just threatening.

He was positioning them.

Georgia finally whispered, "He was here."

James's jaw tightened. "I know."

"How?"

He looked at her now. Not as a husband. Not as a protector.

But as a strategist.

"Because the alarm system logs show a temporary override code."

She stared.

"What override code?"

He swallowed once.

"Mine."

The room tilted.

"You gave him access?"

"No."

James' voice was sharp now. Controlled anger. Controlled fear.

"I never gave him anything."

Silence.

Georgia understood.

Dominic hadn't guessed the code.

He knew it.

Which meant-

They shared more than a face.

They shared system-level identity.

Biometric overlaps.

Authorization privileges.

Corporate encryption recognition.

If Dominic could trigger James' override code...

He could legally impersonate him.

He could sign documents.

Transfer funds.

Authorize contracts.

Authorize arrests.

Authorize lethal responses.

Georgia's voice trembled. "He's trying to merge you."

James looked at her.

"Yes."

Dominic's offer from Chapter 131 echoed in the air:

Merge identities or destroy each other.

This was step one.

Destabilize James publicly.

Intimidate Georgia privately.

Force compliance.

Georgia felt something shift inside her.

Fear didn't disappear.

It hardened.

"If he thinks I'm going to stop-"

James grabbed her wrist.

"Georgia."

The tone stopped her.

Not protective.

Urgent.

"He's not just watching you. He's mapping you."

She frowned.

"What does that mean?"

James reached into his jacket.

Pulled out his phone.

Showed her something.

A series of digital activity logs.

Every time she accessed files.

Every time she searched offshore accounts.

Every time she contacted investigators.

Someone mirrored her activity within minutes.

Dominic wasn't trying to stop her.

He was learning her methods.

Predicting her moves.

Letting her dig.

Because she was leading him to something.

Georgia felt her breath shorten.

"We're not hunting him."

James nodded slowly.

"He's hunting us."

The house lights flickered.

Then died.

Complete darkness.

Georgia gasped.

Backup power should have activated.

It didn't.

James pulled her behind him instinctively.

Outside-

A car engine started.

Not rushing.

Not fleeing.

Waiting.

Headlights cut across the windows.

Slowly.

Methodically.

The beam paused over the front door.

Then the horn sounded once.

Short.

Controlled.

Deliberate.

Georgia whispered, "He's outside."

James didn't answer.

Because the horn sounded again.

Twice this time.

Like a signal.

And then-

Her phone vibrated again.

New message.

"You have 48 hours."

The car was gone by the time they reached the window.

No tire screech.

No panic.

Just absence.

Which was worse.

Georgia stood in the living room darkness, her heartbeat like thunder in her ears.

James finally said it.

"This isn't about fear."

She looked at him.

"It's positioning."

Dominic didn't want them dead.

Not yet.

He wanted pressure.

Instability.

Force James into a choice.

Merge identities.

Or escalate into mutual destruction.

Georgia exhaled slowly.

"Forty-eight hours for what?"

James's eyes hardened.

"For me to respond."

The proposition had a deadline now.

Georgia thought fast.

"What happens if you ignore him?"

James didn't hesitate.

"He exposes everything."

"What everything?"

He looked away.

And that silence told her more than any confession.

There were things she still didn't know.

Things buried deeper than offshore accounts.

Deeper than hidden apartments.

Deeper than covert funding.

Dominic had leverage.

Real leverage.

Georgia stepped closer.

"What are you not telling me?"

James' voice dropped.

"Dominic doesn't just want to merge names."

He swallowed.

"He wants to merge assets."

"And?"

"And operational authority."

Georgia froze.

"What operational authority?"

James didn't answer immediately.

Because outside-

A drone rose slowly into view outside their window.

Hovering.

Recording.

Unblinking.

On its underside-

A blinking red light.

The same red dot from the photographs.

Georgia felt her stomach drop.

James stared at the drone.

Then finally spoke.

"He wants control of the operation our parents started."

The air went still.

The parents' secret from Chapter 133.

The covert network.

The decades-old lie.

Georgia's voice was barely audible.

"What operation?"

James looked at her.

And for the first time-

She saw fear.

"Something that was never meant to survive us."

The drone tilted slightly.

As if adjusting focus.

Georgia's phone vibrated again.

Final message.

"Clock's ticking, brother."

And beneath it-

A live GPS location.

Pinned.

Two hours away.

Abandoned industrial complex.

Georgia's pulse raced.

This wasn't a warning.

It was an invitation.

James stared at the coordinates.

Then at her.

Forty-eight hours.

A meeting.

A showdown.

Or a trap.

Georgia whispered, "We can't walk into that."

James' eyes darkened.

"We don't have a choice."

The drone suddenly dropped lower-

Then exploded into sparks against the glass.

A flash.

A shockwave.

The window shattered inward.

Georgia screamed.

James pulled her down.

Smoke filled the room.

And in the chaos-

The house alarm finally activated.

Too late.

As they lay on the floor surrounded by shattered glass and smoke, Georgia realized something terrifying:

Dominic wasn't threatening to kill them.

He was testing their response time.

Measuring their reflexes.

Studying their fear.

This wasn't a warning.

This was rehearsal.

And the real move-

Was coming next.