"Blow out the candles, Ethan!"
Green laser dots creep across the glass window suddenly freeze, moving erratically before disappearing into the darkness of night.
"Alex?" Olivia whispers, her voice caught in the darkness of the study, now only illuminated by the faint red glow of the hydraulic backup lamp.
Alexander moves silently. Within seconds, he pulls Olivia away from the window’s reach, pressing her body against the stone wall near the fireplace. His warm fingers grip her waist with reassuring certainty, while his silver eyes scan the darkness of the yard outside through the thick curtain slats.
"Interceptor system works," Alexander whispers low, his breath brushing softly against Olivia’s neck. "They’ve lost their targeting point."
Out there, the perimeter siren suddenly cuts out, replaced by an eerie silence that blankets the snow-covered Zurich Lake. Daniel moves swiftly on the lower floor, his trained footsteps silent, yet the subtle click of the sealed steel door confirms Ethan is isolated inside the panic room beneath the basement.
Alexander turns, gazing at Olivia from a very close distance. In the faint red glow, he sees a flicker of fear trying to be suppressed by the woman before him. His fingers gently stroke Olivia’s jaw with a tenderness that starkly contrasts the dangerous situation surrounding them.
"You’re safe," Alexander whispers, pressing his forehead to hers. "This house wasn’t built to be a hiding place, but a fortress of death for anyone daring to threaten you."
Olivia closes her eyes for a moment, savoring the warmth flowing from his body. Alexander’s touch is no longer just protection from a guard or a man burdened by his sins—it’s a pure bond that unites their souls. Amid the threat of The Covenant lurking behind snow-dusted pine trees, Olivia cups her hands over Alexander’s broad chest, feeling his steady, strong heartbeat.
Olivia’s breath quickens as Alexander’s lips trail down to her neckline, leaving a warm trail that stirs a soft gasp in her throat. But the intense moment is subtly broken when Alexander’s tactical radio in his sweater pocket crackles twice.
Alexander inhales deeply, releasing Olivia’s lips with a heavy breath, yet maintaining his warm grip on her fingers. He slides the radio mic control on his ear.
"Daniel. Report," Alexander commands, his voice instantly shifting into a cold, authoritative tone.
"Four tactical units are moving from the lake, forming a pincer," Daniel’s voice comes clear through an encrypted channel. "They’re using fully armed combat divers. No corporate insignia. This is purely Covenant operatives."
"How many breach the outer fence?" Alexander asks.
"Seven in the east sector. But we’ve already engaged three at the dock," Daniel replies flatly, accompanied by the faint sound of muffled gunfire in the background. "The remaining four head toward the main terrace."
A dangerous, thin smile curls on Alexander’s lips. He reaches for a high-caliber tactical rifle from behind a secret panel beside the fireplace, chambering it with a decisive move.
"Olivia, stay inside this study until I return," Alexander says, locking eyes with her.
"Don’t do anything stupid, Alex," Olivia whispers, clutching his sweater collar. "They want Ethan. If The Covenant has access to the Belmarsh prison cell, it means they control the highest authority."
"Then I’ll tear that authority out from its roots," Alexander replies. "No one in this world touches my child or my woman."
He turns without a sound, slipping through the heavy wooden door of the study and vanishing swiftly into the dark corridor upstairs.
The main terrace of the Zurich residence, built with natural stone architecture and covered in snow, is where four black tactical operatives move swiftly like shadows, raising their automatic rifles equipped with silencers and infrared scopes.
The team leader signals to breach the double-glass door. A soldier steps forward, attaching a micro hydraulic explosive trigger to the frame.
But before the device can be activated, the glass isn’t shattered from the outside by an explosion—it’s struck from within by a tall figure moving at incredible speed.
Alexander kicks the glass door open, shattering it into pieces, throwing sharp shards of crystal toward the two front-line soldiers. Before they can react, Alexander slams his rifle butt into the first soldier’s neck, spinning him violently until the man collapses, lifeless, onto the snow.
The second soldier tries to aim his weapon, but Alexander grabs the barrel, redirecting the shot into the air while stabbing his tactical knife into the enemy’s neck armor.
Fresh blood sprays onto the cold, white snow.
The remaining two soldiers leap back, trying to unleash a burst of gunfire, but Alexander rolls behind a large stone pillar, returning fire with two high-precision shots that take out their knees and chests in seconds.
Silence returns to the main terrace. The four Covenant operatives lie stiff on the snow, which gradually turns dark red.
Alexander stands tall, breath forming white vapor in the freezing night air. He approaches the dying tactical leader kneeling on the marble stairs, kneeling beside him, and grips his face mask until it’s ripped off.
"Who sent you?" Alexander asks coldly, pressing his tactical knife to the man’s neck.
The commander coughs up blood but a wicked, insane smile spreads across his pale lips.
"You’re too late, Rington," the man gasps with a choking voice. "The infiltration here was just a signal disturbance."
Alexander’s silver eyes narrow sharply. "What do you mean?"
"The main target of The Covenant isn’t just that kid," the man chuckles softly. "The secret dome in Geneva has already been opened from inside by your mother herself."
Alexander’s heart skips a beat. "Eleanora?"
"Eleanora Rington was never in Belmarsh," the commander whispers before his eyes roll back and he stops breathing entirely.
Alexander clenches his fists tightly. An even larger high-level trap, far beyond just Arthur and Julian’s conspiracy, begins to unfold. Eleanora Rington fakes her own imprisonment to deceive international law and spark internal family division!
His tactical phone in his jacket pocket rings loudly. A direct line from the independent intelligence network Vanguard.
Alexander answers the call. "Report!"
"Alex! We’re in big trouble!" the panicked voice of a Vanguard agent echoes from the other end. "Your mother, Eleanora Rington, just appeared at the Vanguard headquarters in Zurich with the main Covenant council! They’ve verified the blood sample taken from Victoria Ashford’s private lab five years ago!"
Alexander freezes on the snowy staircase. "The third blood sample?"
"The blood sample from the baby girl Olivia gave birth to five years ago at the Geneva maternity hospital—before Ethan was born!" the agent shouts. "Olivia didn’t just give birth to one child that night! Ethan has a twin sister hidden by Eleanora from day one!"
Before Alexander can process the bloody puzzle pieces, Olivia’s hysterical scream shatters the silence from upstairs in the house!
"ALEX! ETHAN IS NOT IN THE PANIC ROOM!"
Alexander spins around and runs madly, tearing through the front door, climbing the stairs toward the lower level with his heart pounding fiercely.
In front of the open steel door of the panic room, Daniel lies unconscious with a gunshot wound in his shoulder. Inside the airtight room, Ethan’s chair is empty.
On the metal table, a small velvet box lies open. Inside, there’s a tiny cloth doll belonging to a baby girl wrapped in a red cloth with a message written in gold ink from Eleanora Rington:
"Welcome to the real game, Alexander. Bring Olivia to the Grossmünster Cathedral in Zurich before dawn, or your daughter and Ethan will meet their end before the Covenant council."
Alexander grips the velvet box until it shatters in his hands, while Olivia, stepping into the room, collapses to her knees, covering her face and screaming at the cruel fate that tears her apart again.