2024-09-10 08:20:13Shock rippled through the room as they heard the voice. A guest of the Washington family? Eyes turned to Tedmond, widening in disbelief.
To be a guest of the Washington family meant that Tedmond was a big shot or potentially related to them. Even some of the Washingtons' relatives had tried to get in but were always denied entrance.
How could someone like Tedmond be allowed?
“Are you sure it’s the right person?” Gregory questioned. Despite shivering, he couldn’t help but ask.
“How dare you ask me that?” the person on the other end bellowed. “If I lose my job, you're going to regret it! You’d better let that fellow into the ward, or else!”
Gregory was taken aback by the mention of his boss losing his job. As the call ended, he hurriedly bowed to Tedmond, terrified that he might lose the position he had worked so hard for.
“I’m sorry for not recognizing you, sir,” he apologized. “I’ll walk you to the room,” he added, raising his head to look at Tedmond. “Let’s get—”
“No need,” Tedmond cut him off, disgusted by how quickly Gregory had changed his attitude once he realized Tedmond was a guest. “I can find it myself, just like I intended to do before.”
The phone call had confirmed that everything was real, but Tedmond still needed an explanation for all this.
“Sir!” Gregory called out, but Tedmond ignored him and walked off to find the ward.
The women were equally stunned, unable to speak. They just watched Tedmond leave, clinging to the thin hope that they wouldn’t get fired.
Minutes later, Tedmond’s eyes lingered on the sign above the ward that read Room 509. The door was slightly open, and he could see the window but not the hospital bed. He hesitated, wondering if it was right to enter without knocking.
“You’re here,” a familiar voice said.
Tedmond’s head snapped down to see the little girl he had saved earlier peering up at him. She had changed into different clothes and was holding a teddy bear in her hand.
“My grandpa wants to see you before he…” she trailed off softly. “You have to come in quickly.”
Tedmond nodded and followed her into the ward. The first thing that greeted him was the stare of a middle-aged man in glasses and a frail old man lying on the hospital bed.
“Hello,” Tedmond said, swallowing hard. He had no idea what else to say. “I got a call from you and noticed my account had been credited, and you mentioned I’m the heir of the Washington family. What’s going on?”
The man in glasses bowed slightly. “I’m Thomas, the Washington family’s butler. You’ll get your answers soon.” Gesturing to the old man on the bed, he sighed. “This is Mr. Jeffrey Washington, the head of the family.”
Tedmond stepped closer until he could see the old man clearly, the little girl clutching her grandfather’s hand.
“Hello, Mr. Washington,” Tedmond said politely, controlling his curiosity.
Jeffrey didn’t look well, as if he was about to take his final breath, just as his granddaughter had hinted earlier. Tedmond realized the girl was indeed the Washington family’s granddaughter.
Jeffrey managed a smile. “Ted…” he called weakly. “I’ve finally found my heir. Welcome back, grandson.”
“What’s going on?” Tedmond asked, shooting Thomas a questioning look. “Why is he calling me his grandson?”
His question went unanswered as the life support machine began beeping, and the room filled with tension. The beeping quickened, and Tedmond froze. Thomas immediately sprang into action, pressing a button by the bedside.
“We need a doctor! Now!” Thomas shouted, his voice steady but urgent.
A nurse rushed in moments later, her expression shifting to concern as she assessed the situation. “His condition’s worsening,” she muttered, checking the machines. “We need to stabilize him.”
“Where’s the doctor?” Tedmond asked, glancing between Thomas and the nurse. He felt the weight of the situation crashing down on him—he had no idea what was happening, but it seemed he was now part of something much larger than he had ever expected.
“Dr. Howard is on his way,” the nurse replied quickly, turning back to the patient and adjusting the machines.
Jeffrey’s breathing grew more labored, and the little girl clutched her teddy bear tighter, standing silently by her grandfather's side, her eyes filled with worry.
Moments later, a tall man in a white coat stormed into the room. “Step aside!” he ordered, moving swiftly to the bedside. His hands flew over the equipment, exchanging rapid words with the nurse.
Tedmond stood helpless, watching as the doctor and nurse worked to stabilize Jeffrey. Every second felt like an eternity, and the feeling building in his chest intensified.
Jeffrey’s breathing became increasingly shallow, and the beeping from the machine slowed. Dr. Howard glanced at the nurse, and they exchanged a look that told Tedmond all he needed to know.
Despite their best efforts, it was too late.
The doctor shook his head, his face grim as he checked the old man’s pulse one last time. The room fell silent, except for the soft whimpering of the little girl clutching her grandfather’s hand.
“I’m sorry,” Dr. Howard finally said, his voice low. “He’s gone.”
Tedmond stood there, disbelief washing over him. The man who had just called him his grandson—who had somehow linked him to this mysterious fortune—was now dead.
The little girl let out a soft sob, and Thomas closed his eyes, his expression unreadable as he whispered, “Rest in peace, Mr. Washington.”
Tedmond, unsure of what to feel, watched as the nurse gently covered the old man’s body with a sheet. It was surreal—a few minutes ago, Jeffrey Washington had been calling him “grandson,” and now he was gone. The answers Tedmond had hoped for had died with him.
“What now?” Tedmond whispered, his voice barely audible.
Thomas, though visibly shaken, straightened and turned toward Tedmond. “Mr. Washington made his decision before he passed. You are now the heir to the Washington family’s legacy, Tedmond. It’s up to you to carry it forward.”
Tedmond stared at him in shock, the weight of those words crashing down on him. How could this be happening? Just hours ago, he had nothing—and now he was the heir to a family he didn’t even know.
“What… what does that even mean?” Tedmond stammered, the enormity of the situation closing in on him.
“It means,” Thomas replied solemnly, “that everything Mr. Washington owned now belongs to you. The fortune, the businesses, the responsibilities—it’s all yours.”
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CHAPTER 664
The secondary cooling tower was a brutalist spike of concrete and rusted iron, leaning out over the cliffside, isolated from the main facility. It had been designed to vent the Heart’s thermal energy, but as Tedmond, Lottie, and Marek sprinted across the connecting gantry, it was clear the tower was being repurposed for something far darker.The air grew colder, heavy with salt spray from the waves crashing hundreds of feet below.“Albert,” Tedmond barked into his comms. “Status on the tower’s structure.”“Not good, Master Tedmond,” Albert replied, his voice tight. “The Warden has initiated a Scrub protocol. He isn’t just venting gas… he’s triggered the explosive bolts in the foundation. The tower is standing on prayers and gravity alone. You have approximately seven minutes before it shears off the cliff.”“Seven minutes,” Tedmond repeated. He slammed a hand against the heavy blast doors at the base of the tower. It was locked.“Marek,” he commanded.Marek didn’t hesitate. He step
CHAPTER 663
The dates in the logbook didn’t merely align with history; they defied it.Tedmond’s thumb traced the ink on the most recent page. His breath hitched, the cold air of the cockpit suddenly feeling thin. The names scrawled in the Authorized Visitor column weren’t Syndicate officials. They weren’t names he recognized from the Board.The entries were coded, but the handwriting in the margin made his blood run cold. It was the elegant, sharp script of the woman who had taught him how to hold a pen.“Tedmond?” Lottie froze when she saw the color drain from his face. “What is it? Did you find the Board’s signatures?”“No,” Tedmond whispered, his voice sounding as though it came from a great distance. “Look at these signatures, Lottie. They aren’t people coming in to see her.”He turned the book toward her. The signatures under the Exit column for the last five years were all the same: M.W.“Is that the name, Mill Washington?” Lottie breathed, her eyes widening as she scanned the meticulo
CHAPTER 662
Marek’s hand shot out as Tedmond reached the top of the shaft, swinging onto solid floor just as the lift car snapped its final tether and plummeted into the abyss.Tedmond hit hard, coughing up the sweet taste of gas. He ripped off his mask, gasping for the smoke-filled air of the upper levels.“The transport,” Tedmond wheezed, looking at Marek. “Where is it?”“The hangar,” Marek grunted, helping him up. “But they’ve already cleared the roof. If we want to catch them, we have to take the Warden’s personal interceptor.”Tedmond stood, legs shaky but gaze as sharp as a bayonet. He glanced at the book in his hand, then toward the path to the hangar.“Then we take it,” he said. “And we shoot down anything that gets in our way.”The hangar was a cavernous expanse of polished chrome and reinforced steel, echoing with the distant groans of the facility’s dying infrastructure. In the center sat the Warden’s personal interceptor, a sleek, predatory craft that looked more like a shard of obsi
CHAPTER 661
Tedmond’s pulse hammered, but his face remained a mask of stone as the elevator plummeted.He felt the pressure shift in his ears, a stark reminder of how deep the Heart truly sat.As the floor surged beneath his boots, his mind ran through tactical options.‘If the Warden is suffocating her, he loses his Anchor.’The thought rose automatically, the first line of defense. Why kill the one thing keeping his facility stable?But as the descent accelerated, the counter-argument hit like a punch to the gut.The Warden wasn’t stabilizing the facility anymore. He was erasing evidence.If a Washington heir had breached the inner sanctum, the Gilded Cage was compromised. To the Syndicate, a dead legend was safer than a liberated one.“He’s liquidating the asset,” Tedmond hissed, voice echoing in the metallic shaft. “He’d rather lose the Anchor than let me have her.”Lottie had pointed to the reinforced steel door with its golden seal just before the doors closed.“The private lift. But Tedm
CHAPTER 660
The woman’s grin faltered. She had not been expecting that response from him.She looked into the raw, unyielding conviction in his eyes and realized she wasn’t negotiating with a boy playing hero; she was negotiating with the heir to a dynasty that didn’t know how to lose.“The sub-basement,” she whispered, her voice finally losing its edge. “Level Seven. It’s not on the maps. It’s a pressurized chamber behind the main server stack. The Warden calls it the Heart. She might be there, Tedmond. But the only way in is through the Warden’s private lift.”She paused, her amber eyes searching the silver mask as if trying to see the flesh beneath it.“I wasn’t sure you would actually find her here. It’s been years since I last saw Mill. Back then, I didn’t know who she really was. In this place, people are just numbers or shadows. No one knew what she truly looked like… she was kept in the deep dark.”She leaned closer to the glass, her expression turning uncharacteristically soft.“But now
CHAPTER 659
She stood and paced the small space of the sphere like a caged leopard.“You talk about wanting things as if desire is a currency,” she said. “But in this facility, we don’t deal in wants. We deal in trades. This is a negotiating room, whether you like it or not. If I give you Luna, I’m signing my own death warrant with the Warden. I need to know that whatever you offer in return is worth the risk of a slow execution.”Tedmond’s eyes narrowed. Above them, he could hear the faint sounds of Marek engaging the first wave of Enforcers, the muffled thuds of combat providing a grim rhythm to the conversation.“What would you like in exchange?” Tedmond asked, his voice dripping with icy patience.The woman laughed, sharp and delighted, and walked straight up to the glass, her amber eyes level with his.“It’s not every day you see a powerful family like yours groveling in the dirt,” she mused. “But don’t mistake your status for leverage here.”She paused, her lips curling into a smirk. “Ma
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