Chapter 45
"Your family business is built on theft, murder, and corpses, Charles," Carter said, stopping ten paces away from the wheelchair, his posture completely rigid. "Thirty years of hiding in the dark while you let your son rot in prison."
Charles let out a dry, rattling chuckle, patting the Doberman's sleek neck. "Ray was a small-minded brute who mistook cruelty for power. If I hadn't faked my death in 1994, the federal government would have liquidated this family's assets down to the penny. I used thirty years to build an impenetrable shadow architecture. And you, Carter... you were my greatest masterpiece."
Dylan stepped forward, his fists clenched tight. "You used me! You bred me like cattle just to access my biological father's vault!"
Charles’s gaze shifted to Dylan with supreme, chilling contempt. "You should thank me on your knees, boy. If I hadn't smuggled you out of Milan, your father’s rivals would have drowned you in the canal. You lived thirty years in luxury because of my foresight. Now, it is time to pay your dividend."
Charles snapped his fingers. Two massive operators emerged from behind the mahogany bookcases, carrying a portable biometric centrifuge.
"Hand over the Cerberus drive, Carter," Charles commanded, his voice dropping into an icy, absolute cadence. "Surrender Dylan. In exchange, I will install you as the permanent, unchallenged CEO of our legitimate global holdings. You will be the pristine, moral face of the empire, while I direct the currents from the shadows. Together, we will be untouchable."
"You planned everything so meticulously, didn't you, Charles?" Carter unclasped his watch, letting the metallic casing drop away to reveal the sleek silver drive. "You thought thirty years of abuse would make me crave your approval. You thought I would become you."
"You are me, Carter!" Charles hissed, his gray eyes flashing with maniacal intensity. "The Millard blood in your veins demands dominance! Don't let your mother's pathetic weakness blind you!"
"My blood came from you," Carter said, his voice dropping to a whisper that echoed like thunder through the vast library. "But my soul belongs to me. And tonight, your empire dies."
Carter didn't hand the drive to the guard. He slammed it onto the marble floor and crushed it into pulverized dust beneath the steel-capped heel of his boot.
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Simultaneously, Dylan roared with feral fury, throwing his entire weight into the mercenary holding the centrifuge, knocking the man violently into the towering bookcase.
"Kill them both!" Charles shrieked through his oxygen tube, his weathered face contorting in rabid, apocalyptic rage.
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