Chapter 21: The Real Test

"You," Alexander turns his body, glaring at Eleanora with pure silver eyes filled with rage. The tactical rifle in his hand now shifts to lock straight between her eyes. "You and Olivia planned this from the start!"

Eleanora shows no hint of fear. She offers an elegant smile and slowly lowers her gun to the marble floor. "We didn’t plan on betraying you, Alexander. We’re planning to revive the De La Croix clan. You’re just an unexpected variable with the purest DNA, perfect for completing our lineage."

"Twenty seconds, Alex!" Daniel shouts hysterically, shooting down two guards trying to approach the barricade. "The reactor underneath this floor is going to melt down the entire cliff structure!"

"Go, Alexander," Eleanora whispers softly as she steps back toward her private evacuation corridor. "Save yourself if you want to see Ethan and Stella breathe. But remember one thing. Genevieve has never truly hated you. She’s only fulfilling her duty as the eldest daughter of the dynasty."

"Shut your mouth!" Alexander roars.

Before Alexander can pull the trigger, Eleanora presses a wall panel. A thick steel door slides down rapidly, sealing her inside her private escape pod.

"Alex! There’s no more time!" Daniel seizes Alexander’s blood-soaked sleeve, forcefully pulling him out of the atrium.

The concrete floor beneath them begins to crack violently. Waves of extreme heat emanate from the foundation’s crevices as the small-scale nuclear reactor experiences a surge of pure mass. The thick glass walls facing the sea shatter, unleashing millions of liters of Mediterranean seawater that crash into the corridor of the laboratory.

Alexander and Daniel run desperately up the emergency stairs toward the surface of the cliff. Behind them, seawater mixed with radioactive steam tears apart the facility, sinking the dark secrets of genetic engineering into the ocean’s depths.

The entire chalk cliffs of Monaco shake violently before collapsing into the deep sea, tumbling in a giant wave that billows dark smoke into the night sky.

Alexander kneels on wet rocks battered by the waves. His breath is ragged, his chest rising and falling as he endures the physical shock and the indescribable emotional destruction. He stares straight at the vast ocean, watching the massive De La Croix carrier ship slice through the sea, disappearing beyond the horizon at night.

In Paris, the rain begins to fall lightly, soaking the stone streets of Le Marais. Cold autumn wind blows through the trees, releasing dry leaves onto the pavement.

Inside a hidden safe house belonging to Alexander’s old network on the outskirts of Seine, everything is eerily quiet. Daniel stands near a tactical map table, rewrapping a gunshot wound on his right arm while monitoring satellite signals.

Alexander sits in a wooden chair by the window, gazing toward the Eiffel Tower faintly visible through the rainy fog. His gunshot wound has been stitched, but his face looks much colder, harder, and more detached than when he led the Rington Corp operation years ago.

"The French intelligence tracking system intercepted our encrypted communications," Daniel says as he approaches, placing a new folder on the table. "The De La Croix carrier has docked at a private military port in Le Havre. Genevieve and Victoria take Ethan and Stella to Palais de La Croix—their main stronghold in the heart of Paris."

Alexander doesn’t look away from the window. "What about the kids?"

"They’re stable," Daniel replies softly. "The vital signals coming from their microchips show that the extraction process isn’t finished yet. Genevieve needs a specific astronomical alignment to activate the golden serum."

Alexander slowly turns around. His silver eyes show no trace of doubt, sorrow, or past love. All that remains is the instinct of a predator ready to tear down anyone who blocks his path.

"Victoria Ashford plans to use the serum to restore her clan’s influence on the black market," Alexander says flatly. "And Genevieve needs that serum to claim the throne of the De La Croix. They’re each using the other."

"So what’s our plan, Alex?" Daniel asks. "We no longer have Vanguard’s support. Eleanora has frozen all our operational accounts in Switzerland."

Alexander bends down, rummaging beneath a rusty iron box embedded in the wooden floor of the safe house. He lifts the box, opening it with an ancient stamp-shaped ring key that always hangs around his neck.

"Genevieve and Eleanora think the De La Croix dynasty is the highest ruler in Europe," Alexander says as he opens the main document. "But they forget—ten years ago, Arthur Rington funded the creation of The Obsidian Legion, the darkest mercenary consortium on Siberian soil, commanded only by this ring."

Daniel’s eyes widen. "The Obsidian Legion?! Alex, if you activate them, Paris turns into an open battlefield!"

"Let it be a battlefield," Alexander cuts in coldly, without a hint of emotion. "They took my family, faked my entire life, and turned my children into lab specimens. I will level the Palais de La Croix until not a single stone remains."

That night.

The Palais de La Croix stands grandly in the Élysée Palace district, surrounded by six-meter-high stone walls and equipped with laser defense systems and dozens of snipers.

Inside the main hall—the palace’s interior gleaming with pure gold—Genevieve De La Croix—Olivia—stands before a giant mirror. She wears a noble gown of dark blue embroidered with gold thread, paired with an ancient diamond tiara.

Victoria Ashford enters carrying a titanium briefcase containing four blood extraction tubes from Ethan and Stella.

"Everything is ready, Genevieve," Victoria says with a satisfied smile. "The entire board of the De La Croix clan from across Europe is gathered in the underground chamber. Tonight, after injecting this golden serum into your body, you will be recognized as the absolute ruler of the consortium."

Genevieve turns around, looking at the briefcase with a cold stare. "And Alexander?"

Victoria laughs cynically. "He’s already dead along with the Monaco ruins. Eleanora confirmed that facility was completely destroyed, with no survivors."

Genevieve shifts her gaze toward the tall window overlooking the Paris streets. A mysterious flicker twinkles softly in her clear eyes—a gaze that holds layers of truth no one can read.

"Alexander isn’t as easily gone, Victoria," she whispers softly.

Just as she finishes her sentence, a sudden blackout engulfs the entire Palais de La Croix!

Darkness thickens, and emergency red lights flicker on automatically, accompanied by a perimeter breach siren!

The giant bronze gate at the front of the palace shatters into pieces under a heavy-caliber rocket strike!

The roar of twin-engine combat helicopters echoes low overhead.

Alexander Rington leaps from the helicopter cabin, landing gracefully on the balcony of the second floor where Genevieve and Victoria stand.

His black tactical suit bears the blood of guards, and his silver eyes glow with deadly intent in the darkness.

Victoria is stunned, stepping back two paces and drawing her pistol. "HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?!"

Alexander advances without regard for Victoria’s gun. With a lightning-quick move, he seizes her wrist, twisting it until her bones crack, then snatches the titanium briefcase from her hand.

"AAARRGGHH!" Victoria screams as she collapses, clutching her shattered arm.

Alexander throws the briefcase toward Daniel, who has just landed on the balcony, then turns his gaze to Genevieve, still standing stiffly in front of the mirror.

"Where are my children, Genevieve?" His voice sounds like a death sentence—cold and deadly.

Genevieve doesn’t try to run or call her guards. She slowly steps toward Alexander, meeting his gaze.

"In the underground armored room," she replies calmly. "But you won’t be able to open the door, Alex. The code is embedded in my heartbeat. If you kill me now, your children will run out of oxygen in ten minutes."

Alexander steps closer, gripping Genevieve’s delicate neck with his left hand, pressing her against the marble pillar. He presses the tactical rifle’s barrel right under her chin.

"Don’t test my patience, Olivia." Alexander whispers, tightening his grip. "Tell me the code!"

Genevieve looks into Alexander’s silver eyes from just a few centimeters away. Instead of fear, she offers her most charming smile—a smile she used when they still lived in Zurich, in warmth.

She leans in close and whispers softly into his ear:

"The only way to save Ethan and Stella is to inject that golden serum into your own heart, Alexander. Because from the beginning, you’re not just a protector. You’re the original test subject—actually the true subject of this experiment."