Chapter 146 The Sister’s Shield
Inside the secure, stone-walled library of the Ashford estate, the air was thick with the scent of rain and panic.
Celina sat on the edge of the velvet sofa, her breathing shallow and ragged as she gripped her stomach, her face entirely pale. The electronic tracking grids on her personal laptop were still flickering with dead static.
"Clara... I can't feel Justin's signal," Celina whispered, a hot tear spilling over her lashes. "The entire Manhattan network is dead. What if they hurt him? What if Carlos did something reckless to the building infrastructure?"
Clara crossed the hardwood floor, her expression hardened into a fierce, protective focus that completely mirrored her husband Dominic’s iron will. She knelt in front of her sister, grabbing Celina’s shaking hands and squeezing them until her own knuckles turned white.
"Listen to me carefully, Celina Quinn," Clara stated firmly, her voice ringing out with an absolute, unshakeable sisterly authority.
"Your husband is the most powerful executive in this city, and my husband is currently standing at his shoulder with the entire financial weight of Western Europe. They are not going to fall to a corporate coup."
"But Teresa is out there alone," Celina sobbed, her heart breaking for her sister. "She was hiding from Carlos because he broke her trust... and now she's trapped in the middle of their crossfire."
"Then we become her shield," Clara vowed fiercely, rising to her full height and walking straight over to Dominic’s secure backup terminal.
She smashed her palms against the interface, activating the private security line that bypassed the public servers entirely.
"Dominic taught me how to deploy the emergency protocol if the estate borders were ever threatened. We are tracking Teresa ourselves, Celina. We aren't going to sit here in the dark weeping while our family bleeds. Boot up the secondary drive."