Chapter 28: The Architect of Ruin
Chapter 28: The Architect of Ruin
Miles away in the underground bunker, Leo hit the 'Enter' key.
On the subway platform, the tracks beneath Sterling’s train violently switched alignments. The train, accelerating to fifty miles an hour, hit the dead-end spur track. Sparks rained like fireworks as the emergency brakes screamed. The train slammed into the concrete abutment with a deafening crunch, derailing in a cloud of smoke and shattered metal.
Eleanor and Julian walked slowly down the platform, their weapons raised.
The door of the train car was jammed, but Julian kicked it open with a brutal snap of steel. Inside, Victor Sterling was pinned beneath a collapsed steel beam, his white tuxedo ruined, coughing up blood. The facade of the untouchable billionaire was entirely gone. He looked old, frail, and terrified.
"You're insane," Sterling gasped as Eleanor crouched beside him. "You think killing me changes anything? The Board... The Board will replace me by morning."
"I know," Eleanor said softly. She pulled the encrypted flash drive—the one they took from Thorne—from her cleavage. "That’s why I’m not just killing you, Victor. I’m killing the Obsidian Trust."
She plugged the drive into a portable uplink device strapped to Julian's chest.
"What are you doing?" Sterling panicked, his eyes darting to the flashing green light of the uplink.
"Leo is broadcasting your entire ledger to the SEC, the FBI, Interpol, and every major news outlet on the planet. Your offshore accounts are currently being drained and donated to charity. Your politicians are getting exposed. You aren't just dying today, Victor. Your legacy is being erased."
Sterling thrashed against the beam, a primal scream of fury tearing from his throat. "I built this empire! I control the world!"
"You controlled a spreadsheet," Eleanor corrected him coldly. "And I just hit delete."
She stood up, turning her back on him. Julian tossed a flare into the leaking fuel line of the train car.
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"Burn in hell, Victor," Eleanor said.
They walked up the stairs toward the surface. Behind them, the tunnel erupted into an inferno, finalizing the destruction of the man who had stolen her husband and threatened her son.
