Chapter 697
Chapter 697:
“Skye.” Liam’s voice was ragged, punctuated by the roar of flames. “The Manor… breached. Fire p>
“Harper!” I screamed. “Where is Harper p>
“Safe. Outside.” Liam coughed violently. “But they targeted the vault. The physical servers. The original ledgers from Lucian’s old company… they aren’t cloud-backed. If they burn, the chain of custody breaks p>
“Liam, get out!” I yelled. “Forget the servers! The data isn’t worth your life p>
“I can’t let him win,” Liam growled.
The line went dead. A boom echoed through the speaker before silence took over.
“Alistair! The Manor!” I dropped the phone, panic seizing my chest. “I have to go. Now p>
I reached for the ignition, but Alistair grabbed my wrist.
“Not in this car,” Alistair commanded. “It’s too slow, and we’re blocked in by the club traffic p>
He pointed down the street. A black armored SUV, one of his security team’s vehicles, was screeching around the corner.
“Take the SUV,” Alistair said, jumping out. “I’ll drive. It has a siren p>
“What about them?” I gestured to Parker and Victoria in the back.
“They stay here,” Alistair ordered. “My extraction team is thirty seconds out. They’ll secure the muscle car and get them to safety. We can’t risk taking civilians into a fire zone p>
“But—” Victoria started to protest.
“Stay down! Lock the doors!” I yelled at them, jumping out of the muscle car and sprinting toward the SUV.
Alistair was already behind the wheel. I dove into the passenger seat. The SUV roared, mounting the curb to bypass the traffic, weaving through the city like a missile.
At Kensington Manor, the world was orange and black.
𝘕𝗼 p𝘪𝗋𝖺𝖼y 𝗋𝖾a𝘥 о𝘯 𝘣𝖾.с𝘰𝗆
Liam held a wet cloth over his mouth, crouching low to avoid the thickest smoke. The heat was unbearable, searing his skin through his shirt.
He had dragged Harper to the lawn. She was safe. But the main server, the one holding the original, physical decryption keys needed to unlock Lucian’s encrypted files, was in the basement.
He kicked open the basement door.
Flames licked up the stairs.
Sienna stood at the bottom. She wasn’t laughing. She looked trapped. The fire she had started had spread faster than she anticipated, blocking her exit.
“Liam!” she screamed, her mask gone, revealing a face twisted in terror. “Help me p>
“Get away from the door!” Liam yelled. “I’m coming down p>
“It’s stuck!” She pounded on the reinforced security door of the server room. “The heat… the locking mechanism sealed p>
Liam shielded his face and charged down the stairs, into the inferno. He grabbed the handle of the server room door. It was red-hot. He hissed in pain but pulled.
It wouldn’t budge. The thermal failsafe had engaged.
Inside the room, the servers were melting. The keys were gone.