Chapter 13 – Bloodline
Chapter 13 – Bloodline
The French Alps stretched wide beneath the dawn sky, their snowcaps glowing soft orange under the rising sun. High above the clouds, nestled in a fortress-like estate, Aurora watched the mountains in silence.
She hadn't slept.
Last night, Caleb had clung to her tightly—sensing the fear, the urgency, even if she never said a word. Now, he was finally resting. But she couldn’t.
Damon stepped beside her, handing her a mug of hot cocoa.
“No coffee?” she asked, forcing a smile.
He gave a quiet chuckle. “Your hands are already shaking.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re exhausted. But I get it. I can’t stop thinking either.”
Aurora nodded, her eyes never leaving the mountains.
“He’s not going to stop, Damon.”
“No. But neither are we.”
---
Inside the estate, Simone and her European contact—an ex-intelligence officer named Marc Rivière—were already working on the next step.
“Gregory’s operating like an old-school oligarch,” Marc said, pointing at a digital map of Europe. “He’s using military-style precision. Private assassins. Ghost accounts. Most of his moves are off the books.”
Simone crossed her arms. “We’ve been tracking his fallback routes. He’s activated a safehouse in Belarus. Could be planning to relocate.”
“Good,” Damon said. “Let him run. But we burn his web as he goes.”
Marc looked between them. “You sure about this? This is more than whistleblowing now. This is war.”
Damon’s face didn’t flinch. “It became war when he threatened my son.”
Aurora stepped forward. “We want everything you’ve got on Gregory’s operational chain. Offshore holdings. Black ops. Foreign assets. If we destroy his power, he becomes just a man. And a man we can bring to justice.”
Marc smiled. “I like your fire.”
---
Later that day, while Damon coordinated with lawyers and digital forensics teams, Aurora sat down with Simone.
“What’s the next move?” she asked.
Simone didn’t sugarcoat it. “Expose Gregory’s last line of defense—his bloodline assets. The shell corporations under different names. He’s got two in Monaco, one in Lagos, three in Singapore.”
Aurora frowned. “And all untouchable?”
“For now. But there’s one more. A vault in Liechtenstein. It’s not just money—it’s leverage. Documents. Originals. Audio recordings.”
“Proof.”
“Enough to put him away forever.”
Aurora straightened. “Then we go get it.”
Simone raised an eyebrow. “You’re serious.”
“I’m done watching from the sidelines. I helped build this nightmare once. I need to help tear it down.”
Simone gave a small, rare smile. “Then pack light. We leave at dawn.”
---
That night, Damon found Aurora standing in the hallway just outside Caleb’s room. He was asleep, his small chest rising and falling peacefully.
“You’re going with Simone,” Damon said. It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
He nodded slowly. “I should go too.”
“No. You’re the face of this now. If something happens to you, everything we’ve worked for dies.”
Damon reached for her hand. “I hate the thought of you out there alone.”
“I won’t be alone. And I’m not afraid anymore.”
Damon pulled her close. His kiss was soft and lingering. “Come back to me.”
“Always.”
---
The Liechtenstein facility was buried beneath a private banking fortress—marble, chrome, and layers of security built to withstand governments.
Simone and Aurora entered using encrypted codes provided by a former Thorne employee who’d flipped weeks earlier.
Everything was silent.
Too silent.
They reached the sublevel vault—room 22-G. Simone swiped a final access card, and the reinforced door hissed open.
Inside: shelves lined with sleek black boxes.
Aurora’s heart pounded. “There,” she said, pointing. “Thorne Omega Holdings.”
Simone cracked open the container.
Inside—documents. Signed NDA agreements. Voice recorders. USBs with bank transactions. And a folder marked “AURELIA.”
Aurora froze.
She reached out, her fingers trembling, and opened it.
Photos. Of her. Her mother. Her grandfather.
And a letter from Gregory:
“You were always my investment. The bloodline was pure. And Damon was never supposed to love you. That was your mistake. His weakness. And now, your shared downfall.”
Aurora felt like the air had been sucked from her lungs.
“He knew everything.”
Simone looked at her, grim. “You were never a fluke. You were his contingency.”
Aurora swallowed hard. “Then let’s make sure I’m his ruin.”
---
Back at the estate, Damon reviewed the digital files Marc had decrypted.
“Gregory’s planning a final power play,” Marc explained. “He’s trying to buy out one of your subsidiaries through a foreign shell. Once he owns it, he’ll redirect the legal blame there—and walk away clean.”
“But he’s using my name on the sale,” Damon said.
“Exactly. Framing you. The perfect betrayal.”
Damon stood slowly. “Not if I get ahead of him.”
He tapped into a private terminal.
“Who are you calling?” Marc asked.
“An old enemy,” Damon replied. “And maybe… a new ally.”
---
Aurora returned just past midnight.
Damon was waiting by the fire.
He could tell something had shifted in her. She looked both victorious and… gutted.
“You found it?”
“Yes. All of it.”
She handed him the documents. Then the “AURELIA” folder.
Damon read it. Slowly.
When he looked up, pain flickered in his eyes. “He used you.”
“And I let him,” Aurora whispered.
“No. You were a child. Just like me. Raised in someone else’s game.”
She moved closer. “But not anymore. We set the rules now.”
He pulled her into his arms. “Then let’s finish this.”
---
In the days that followed, they executed a precise plan.
They leaked the Aurelia files to international courts.
Handed over the Liechtenstein vault materials to global anti-corruption forces.
And secured testimony from every former partner Gregory had betrayed.
Aurora took the stand in Geneva, her voice steady, her story powerful.
Damon followed days later.
Their testimonies weren’t just facts.
They were final nails in the coffin.
---
On the seventh day, Gregory Thorne was arrested crossing the Belarus border under a false identity.
He was extradited to The Hague within 72 hours.
Charged with financial crimes, conspiracy, and attempted murder.
The headlines blared across every major city:
“THORNE DYNASTY FALLS”
“SON AND HEIRESS BRING DOWN BILLIONAIRE TYRANT”
---
In the quiet that followed, Aurora stood by the lake at the estate, watching Caleb chase butterflies in the spring grass.
Damon walked over, slipping his arm around her waist.
“It’s over,” he said.
Aurora shook her head. “No. It’s just beginning.”
Damon turned to her. “So what now? Do we vanish? Or rebuild?”
She looked at him, really looked.
And then smiled.
“We write a new name. A new legacy.”
He kissed her, slow and certain. “Together?”
“Always.”