Chapter 15 - The Brother’s Voice
The gun battle on the ground floor had ceased, replaced by an eerie, suffocating quiet. The smell of cordite and copper filled the grand gallery. Four intruder bodies lay motionless among shattered crystal chandeliers and splintered marble statues.
Marcus was kneeling by the grand staircase, wrapping a tourniquet around his wounded thigh. "They weren't here to kill us, Mr. Cole," Marcus grunted through gritted teeth. "It was an extraction squad. They had tactical restraints and pediatric sedatives in their packs. They wanted the girl."
Nathan’s jaw tightened until the bone threatened to shatter his skin.
Suddenly, the massive 120-inch monitor behind the main reception console flickered to life. The static cleared, revealing a sleek, hyper-modern office perched high above a glittering skyline that Nathan recognized immediately—the private penthouse suite at Cole Tower in Zurich.
Seated behind a glass desk was Julian Cole.
His older brother looked impeccably groomed. The left side of his jaw bore faint surgical grafting, but his smile was the same charming, serpentine grin that had seduced high society for decades.
"You always were the sentimental one, little brother," Julian’s voice purred through the high-fidelity surround-sound speakers. "Hiding your newfound family in the cellar like stolen silver."
"I should have pulled your body out of the water myself and put a bullet between your eyes seven years ago," Nathan snarled, walking slowly toward the screen, his bloody gun dangling at his side.
Julian chuckled softly, sipping amber scotch from a crystal tumbler. "You never were a visionary, Nathan. Father knew it, which is why he gave you the boring shipping fleet and left the sovereign genetic research to me. But then you had to go and ruin everything by falling in love with Dr. Mercer."
"Leave Grace and Lily out of this. You want the empire? Take the offshore funds! Come face me like a man!"
"You fool," Julian sighed, shaking his head with mock pity. "I don't care about the shipping lanes or the real estate. I never did. And I certainly don't care about your boardroom coup."
Julian leaned forward, his cold eyes piercing through the lens.
"Do you really not know what Dr. Mercer was working on before she ran away?" Julian smiled, a sickening display of triumph. "Serum-9 wasn't just a treatment, Nathan. It was an accelerated genetic reprogramming code. It required a unique biological matrix to stabilize. Grace didn't just sabotage my trial—she carried the only viable genetic recipient out of my lab."
Nathan’s blood ran cold. "What are you saying?"
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"Lily’s blood holds the genetic key worth two hundred billion dollars to every defense contractor on the planet," Julian whispered. "She isn't just your daughter, Nathan. She is the cure to death itself. And by dawn tomorrow, Wall Street will declare Cole Enterprises bankrupt... unless you hand her over."
***
