Chapter 19
Maya picked up the photograph with trembling fingers, her eyes widening in absolute shock.
The photo showed her grandfather, standing on a sunlit balcony in Geneva, Switzerland.
He was holding a morning newspaper dated yesterday, August 15, 2026—alive, well, and looking healthy.
Maya flipped the photo over, her breath catching in her throat as she read the note written in familiar, precise handwriting.
'My dearest Maya,' the note began in her grandfather's elegant cursive script.
'You proved yourself worthy by stopping your father and protecting the satellite key.'
'Victor was never the real threat; he was merely a child playing with fire.'
'The satellite network doesn't belong to the United States government, nor does it belong to the Vance family.'
'It belongs to the Falcon Order—the global network I founded fifty years ago.'
'Your father tried to steal it for money, but I created it to rewrite the geopolitical order of the world.'
'Now that you hold the primary key, my agents are coming to California to bring you home.'
May you like
'Do not try to run, my granddaughter.'
'Because in this family, no one ever really leaves.'
