Chapter 4 - The Battle for Kingsley Hall
The mansion’s power was abruptly cut, plunging the high-ceilinged corridors into a sea of shadow lit only by the silver moonlight filtering through the tall windows.
Outside, rain began to pour. Inside, the silence was shattered by the sharp sound of heavy boots breaching the rear glass doors of the conservatory.
Six heavily armed mercenaries in tactical gear fanned out through the ground floor, their thermal goggles sweeping the darkness. They were elite, professional, and deadly.
What they didn't anticipate was that Kingsley Hall was Vivian Croft’s home field.
Hidden in the shadows above the grand staircase balcony, Vivian signaled to Julian, who was positioned behind a thick marble pillar near the light controls.
Three, two, one, Vivian counted with her fingers.
Julian slapped the manual override switch on the emergency generator.
Blinding, high-intensity strobe lights—designed to disorient intruders—flashed across the grand foyer. The tactical goggles worn by the mercenaries instantly overloaded their vision with white light, blinding them instantly.
"System compromise! Pull off the goggles!" the mercenary lead shouted, staggering back.
Vivian dropped from the second-floor balcony like a phantom.
She landed directly on the first mercenary, disarming his assault rifle with a swift, fluid twist of his wrist, using his momentum to throw him into the marble fountain. Before the second operative could raise his weapon, Vivian swept his legs out, struck his throat with a precise palm strike, and neutralized him in seconds.
A third mercenary raised his gun toward Vivian’s back.
BANG.
A bullet struck the wall inches above the mercenary’s head. Julian stood at the top of the stairs, gun raised, firing calculated suppression shots that forced the remaining three mercenaries to take cover behind the grand piano.
"Not bad, Kingsley!" Vivian called out, slipping behind a stone pillar.
"I took lessons!" Julian shouted back, reloading with practiced ease.
"Clear the room!" the mercenary commander yelled, reaching for a flashbang grenade on his tactical vest.
Before he could pull the pin, Vivian darted from the shadows, her hand catching his wrist in a deadly echo of her move against Camille earlier that night. She drove her elbow into his ribs, twisted the grenade from his tactical vest, and kicked him hard across the polished floor.
She caught the grenade in mid-air, pulled the pin, and tossed it into the drawing room where the remaining two mercenaries were hiding.
FLASH-BANG!
A deafening pop and a blinding light filled the drawing room. The remaining mercenaries dropped their weapons, disoriented and defeated.
Within four minutes, all six operatives were disarmed, zip-tied, and lined up against the foyer wall.
Julian hurried down the stairs, running his eyes over Vivian to check for injuries. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," she said, breathing slightly heavily, her hair finally falling loose around her shoulders. "But this was just their forward team. Eleanor won't stop until she knows I'm dead, or until I take away the one thing she cares about."
"Her money and her power," Julian said, his eyes darkening with determination. "Then let's take it all away."
Sir Edmund emerged from the panic room, pulling out his encrypted satellite phone. "I’ve just spoken with the Director of Interpol and the Chairman of the London Stock Exchange. The global market opens in four hours. Miss Croft, if you have the digital keys to your father's original accounts, the Kingsley Group will back your takeover of Croft Logistics before the sun comes up."
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Vivian looked between the legendary tycoon and his grandson, feeling a warmth in her heart she thought she had lost forever.
"Then let's go to war," Vivian said.
