Chapter 14 - Echoes of the Past
Victoria pulled the trigger.
A deafening crack echoed over the rooftop, but it didn't come from Victoria’s gun. A sleek, armored drone hovered silently above them, its weapons systems locked onto Victoria.
“Drop the weapon,” a synthesized voice commanded, echoing from the sky.
Victoria stiffened, her eyes darting to the drone. She didn't drop the gun; she glared at the hovering machine as if she could burn it with her gaze. “Who sent you?” she demanded.
A man stepped out from the shadows of the ventilation housing. He looked older, his face scarred, but his eyes were unmistakable. Avery gasped. It was Elias Thorne—Marcus’s father, a man the Sterling family had supposedly ‘liquidated’ twenty years ago for attempting to expose their initial corruption.
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“I’ve been waiting a long time for this, Victoria,” Elias said, his voice a gravelly rasp. “You thought you’d wiped our bloodline from the history books. You forgot that we never actually left.”
Avery stood frozen, the revelation tearing through her defenses. The Sterlings had been playing a game, but they were just a single move in a much larger, darker conflict that had been raging in the shadows for decades. She hadn't just exposed an empire; she had walked into a war she didn't even know existed.
