Chapter 141 The Shattered Ledger
Back inside the dark, crimson-lit boardroom of Mason Industries, the silence that followed Derek Cooper's encrypted satellite transmission was more devastating than any explosion.
Teresa has been taken.
Carlos Mason stood entirely motionless against the mahogany table.
The multi-billion-dollar corporate proxies, the hard-won board seats, the legacy of his father’s bloodline - everything he had spent five brutal years in exile calculating - completely turned to ash inside his chest.
He looked down at his bare ring finger, a raw, unhinged agony clawing its way through his throat.
"Carlos," Justin Mason said, his deep voice dropping into an intense, solemn register as he stepped around the desk.
He didn't look like a rival CEO anymore; he looked like a soldier standing beside his blood.
"The analog override key to the subterranean maintenance shaft is inside my personal safe. We don't wait for the compliance teams. We clear the tier ourselves."
"I am launching my London tactical detail from the air," Dominic Ashford stated cleanly, his silver eyes flashing with a lethal authority as he ripped off his dark tie.
"They will touch down at the Brooklyn docks before Cross can clear his freight line. Nobody touches a woman under our protection, Carlos. Nobody."
Carlos slowly lifted his head. The cold, calculated billionaire strategist who had entered the tower at dawn was completely gone. In his place stood a predator whose territory had been violently breached.
"Save your air support, Dominic," Carlos whispered, his baritone a low, gravelly rumble that sent a chill through the legacy board members huddled in the corners.
"Justin, give me the analog key. If Daniel Cross thinks he can use my wife as leverage to audit my inheritance... he is about to learn exactly what happens when I stop playing by the bylaws."
Justin didn't say another word. He smashed the security glass on his personal wall unit, grabbed the heavy iron manual override key, and slammed it into Carlos's hand.
The two cousins locked eyes in a single, silent vow of absolute family protection.
The boardroom doors hummed, the heavy mechanical pins finally retracting with a brutal click, and the titans descended into the dark.