Chapter 5 - The Oxygen Trap
A deafening hiss tore through the penthouse like the scream of a jet turbine.
Inside the main suite, the emergency oxygen reserves from the hidden panic room instantly discharged into the atmosphere, mixing with the dense cordite smoke and turning the air into a blinding, hyper-pressurized white fog.
“What the hell is that?!” the mercenary holding Sebastian shouted, coughing violently as the thick, freezing vapor enveloped them.
“Security purge!” Dominic yelled, slapping his hand over his mouth and nose, his eyes watering instantly from the freezing chemical mist. “Find the manual release! Shoot the wall!”
In the sudden whiteout, Sebastian didn't hesitate. Leveraging his massive frame, he slammed his elbow backward into the ribs of the guard pinning his left arm, then drove his heel down hard onto the instep of the second operative.
Crack.
The man holding his right arm howled in agony and loosened his grip. Sebastian ripped himself free, lunged forward through the blinding fog, and tackled Dominic hard to the floor. The submachine gun clattered away across the polished marble.
Sebastian straddled Dominic, his fists driving down into his traitorous head of security with brutal, relentless force. Each blow echoed with the fury of a man whose world had just been torn apart.
“You wanted my throne, Dominic?” Sebastian roared, his voice feral through the white mist. “Take it!”
By the time the remaining mercenary managed to raise his rifle to intervene, a sudden deafening roar drowned out the chaos from above.
The reinforced glass roof overhead shattered completely as three heavily armored tactical ropes dropped through the skylight. Heavy assault rifles flashed in the dim light, and a barrage of non-lethal stun rounds rained down from Mara Feldman’s loyal strike team, neutralizing the remaining mercenaries in seconds.
“Clear! Sector four is secure!” Mara’s voice echoed through the comms as she stepped through the shattered skylight frame, her tactical gear spotless despite the chaos. She scanned the room, spotting Sebastian standing over the unconscious, bleeding form of Dominic Vance.
Sebastian stood up slowly, wiping blood from his forehead with the back of his hand. His chest heaved, his suit ruined, his expression carved out of absolute stone.
“Get him out of my sight,” Sebastian rasped, pointing down at Dominic. “Lock him in the subterranean holding cells below the river docks. Let him rot there until I decide how to end him.”
“Done,” Mara nodded, signaling her men to drag the groaning traitor away. She looked toward the master suite’s hidden wall panel. “And the girl?”
Sebastian didn't answer. He walked unsteadily toward the hidden vault access panel, punched his master biometric sequence into the override pad, and pulled the heavy steel door open.
Valerie stood inside the small, sterile room, her face pale, her hands trembling violently, tears carving clean tracks through the dust on her cheeks.
For three long seconds, neither of them moved.
Then Sebastian stepped across the threshold, closed the distance between them, and pulled her into his arms so fiercely that it knocked the remaining wind out of her lungs.
“You idiot,” Sebastian choked out, his voice cracking against her hair. “You absolute, reckless idiot. You could’ve killed yourself with that pressure purge.”
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Valerie buried her face in his blood-stained shirt, her tears soaking into the fabric as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist. “You were dying out there.”
“I don’t die easily,” Sebastian whispered, kissing the top of her head. “Not anymore.”
