Chapter 155 The blood mark

Chapter 155 The blood mark
Later, that evening.

"What did you do, Isabella?"

Gideon's fingers dug into the phone, his knuckles white under the study lamps.

The crimson warning banner pulsed across the screen, locking her device under a military code.

"I only scanned the stone to check its minerals," Isabella stammered, backing against the bookcase. "I didn't think an open search engine would trigger a defense lock."

"This isn't a civilian defense lock," Gideon whispered. His voice cracked, the color draining from his face until his skin looked like wet chalk. "Look at the nine-star crest on the banner."

Isabella stepped closer, her throat tight. "Is that army actually real? The online forums called them an urban myth."

"They're not a myth," Gideon said, his chest hitching as he shoved the locked phone back into her shaking hands. "They forced my jet down into the southern ravine yesterday. They executed Father right on the tarmac."

Isabella's breath seized. Her knees buckled beneath her weight, her hip slamming hard against the edge of the low table as she caught herself.

"I assumed it was a rival business family," she gasped, her eyes wide with terror. "You never corrected me. Why didn't you tell me the truth?"

"Because telling you would have meant admitting I was powerless to stop it," Gideon hissed. "Father crossed them, and they shot him on sight."

Isabella's hand flew to her throat, her fingers wrapping around the cold jade pendant resting under her black collar.

"Did he cross them because of this stone?" she asked, her voice trembling. "The doctor said this pendant keeps my heart beating. If they take it, I won't survive."

"They don't care about your heart," Gideon replied, his jaw locked tight with dread. "If their satellite network logged your device, they already have our exact location."

He didn't wait for an answer. He marched through the archway into their father's vault.

Drawers rattled open as Gideon tore through the locked steel boxes.

Gideon stepped back into the study, clutching a yellowed paper between shaking fingers.

"Father didn't steal it from a battlefield," Gideon breathed, holding the document under the lamp light. "He kept the original purchase record."

Isabella hurried to his side, her gaze darting down the faded lines of printed text.

The document was a private contract dated thirty years ago, stamped with an old bank seal.

The total price listed at the bottom made Isabella's breath hitch. The string of zeroes represented enough liquid cash to buy half a city.

"He paid that entire fortune for one piece of jewelry?" Isabella whispered in disbelief.

"He paid it thirty years ago," Gideon muttered, his eyes narrowing at the seller's signature scrawled at the base of the page. "Look who sold it to him."

Isabella leaned over his arm, reading the faded ink. "Patriarch Quinn. From Zenith City."

"Patriarch Quinn died last week," Isabella said, her voice rising with sudden realization. "His business went bankrupt. But his granddaughter... she's the CEO of Zenith Beauty."

Gideon's head snapped up. "The woman married to Luke?"

"Yes," Isabella nodded frantically. "Luke Dark. The man from the art gallery."

Gideon grabbed her wrist, his grip bruising her skin. "The same Luke whose daughter Father locked in our basement? The one who broke our steel doors and took the girl?"

"It's him," Isabella choked out. "He's directly connected to the Quinn family."

"Then Father didn't buy a family heirloom," Gideon rasped, pure terror bleeding into his tone. "He bought a stolen Vanguard asset from a dying man's family."

A distant, metallic crash echoed from the front of the estate, followed by shouting. Isabella flinched. "What was that?"

Heavy boots slammed against the marble hallway outside the study doors.

The double doors burst open with a violent bang, the brass latch snapping off the heavy frame.

The head security guard stumbled into the room, his uniform drenched in cold sweat, his tactical vest hanging unfastened across his chest.

"Young Master!" the guard cried, clutching the doorframe to stay upright. "We're completely surrounded!"

Gideon shoved the yellowed paper into his inner jacket pocket. "Who breached the outer gates? Did the city garrison send troops?"

"No, sir!" the guard wheezed. "They aren't police. They have armored carriers and heavy combat gear. They tore through our gates in fifteen seconds!"

Isabella backed against the bookshelf, her fingers clutching the jade at her chest. The alert on her phone wasn't a bluff. The shadow army was standing on their lawn.

"Did their leader state any demands?" Gideon asked, his voice shaking.

"Their commander stepped onto the driveway," the guard stammered, his eyes darting toward the empty corridor behind him. "She said a restricted Vanguard asset is inside this house. She gave us thirty seconds to surrender the property."

"Did you lock the interior blast doors?" Gideon demanded.

"The electronic locks went dead the second their transport crossed the perimeter," the guard sobbed. "They shut down our entire power grid from the outside!"

A low, rhythmic thud echoed through the floorboards beneath their feet.

The sound wasn't chaotic or rushed. It moved with mechanical, terrifying synchronization. Dozens of heavy combat boots marched up the grand marble staircase, the soles striking the polished stone in absolute unison.

Isabella's breath locked in her throat. She stared at the open doorway as long shadows stretched across the hallway floor.

The heavy footsteps halted just beyond the threshold.

Five hundred miles away, the cool evening breeze drifted across the concrete loading dock of the Zenith Beauty warehouse.

Luke stood beside the open bay doors, watching the last transport truck roll down the ramp into the busy street.

The product launch had exceeded every projection. Crates moved along regional supply lines, and the company's market position was completely secure.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out his old, battered phone.

A secure data file glowed on the small screen, displaying the satellite coordinates his aunt had forwarded earlier that afternoon.

The signal pinpointed the exact location of his father's missing blood-red jade pendant.

Luke's thumb rested on the keypad, his brow furrowing as he studied the digital map.

The coordinates rested squarely inside the private estate of the Cross family in the Capital.

He knew the Cross Patriarch hoarded rare assets, but he hadn't expected his father's stolen legacy to sit inside the family that targeted his daughter.

He had deployed Sylvia hours ago with strict orders to breach the property, secure the perimeter, and retrieve the pendant before the Capital networks could relocate it.

She was supposed to report the moment the extraction team secured the building.

Luke lowered the device, his eyes watching the dark highway in the distance.

BZZT. BZZT.

The heavy vibration rattled against his palm.

Luke raised the phone to his face, expecting Sylvia's encrypted military channel.

Instead, the screen glowed with a single name—and a small red heart beside it.

Sarah ❤️

The cold tension in his shoulders eased for just a moment.