Chapter 47 - Behind Enemy Lines
The dust in Manhattan had barely settled before the harsh reality of the Board of Shadows hit us. Genevieve Sterling was in federal custody, but the tentacles of her family’s syndicate reached far deeper than a single boardroom in New York.
While Marcus stayed behind to lock down the financial regulators, Ethan and I boarded our private jet back to Chicago. Outside the cabin window, the storm clouds spun into violent grey vortexes over the Midwestern plains.
Ethan sat across from me in the leather armchair, his collar unbuttoned, staring at his hands. The red marks from the biometric tracker Genevieve had forced upon him were still visible on his wrist.
"They have eyes inside our home, Victoria," Ethan said softly, his voice heavy with a grim realization. "The night I left for Switzerland, I didn't just receive a threat. I received a live camera feed of Noah and Sophie sleeping in their beds with red laser dots on their foreheads."
My blood ran cold. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because if I hesitated for one second, the order would have been given," Ethan said, reaching across the table to squeeze my hand. "I had to play the traitor. I had to let Genevieve believe she had broken me so I could trace the source of the kill signal."
"And did you find it?" I asked.
Ethan pulled a silver micro-chip from his pocket, laying it gently on the polished wooden table. "The Board of Shadows isn't led by Archibald or Genevieve. They are merely executives. The true mastermind—the one who holds the master key to the global syndicate—is someone inside our own inner circle."
Before I could answer, the aircraft violently lurched. The cabin lights flickered, plunged into total darkness, and red emergency strobes began to flash.
May you like
"Chairwoman! Captain speaking!" the intercom blared through heavy static. "Our navigation systems just got remotely hijacked! We're losing altitude fast over Lake Michigan!"
Ethan leapt to his feet, grabbing my arm as the plane went into a steep nose-dive into the pitch-black storm.
