He Came Home Early and Found a Pet Collar Around His 6-Year-Old Son’s Neck. His New Wife Called It “Discipline”—Until Her Own Mother’s Phone Revealed What They Had Planned Before the Party Even Began. / Chapter 47 / 50

Chapter 47 - Flesh and Wire

The central vault of the Oakhaven facility was a colossal circular chamber, seventy feet in diameter, constructed around the remnants of a Cold War communications array. Massive server racks lined the perimeter, their cooling fans screaming like jet engines. In the center of the room, perched on a raised steel platform, sat an open titanium pedestal housing the quantum server console.

And standing on that platform was Emily.

She had discarded her tactical helmet. Her long hair was tied back, her porcelain face smudged with grease, her eyes radiant with a manic, unhinged triumph. Beside her, strapped into an industrial metal chair, was Mason. The child was bound with zip-ties, his tiny chest rising and falling in shallow, panicked breaths. The black collar around his neck blinked with a steady, rhythmic beep.

"Step out of the shadows, Daniel," Emily called out, her voice cutting over the roar of the server fans. "Drop the weapons, or I press the manual release on the radio trigger. It’s set to five pounds per square inch of explosive pressure. It will leave nothing above his shoulders."

Daniel stepped slowly onto the steel catwalk that encircled the room. He lowered his MPX, unclipped his sidearm, and let them both clatter onto the grated floor. He kicked them away into the darkness below.

"I’m here, Emily," Daniel said, raising his hands, his eyes locked onto his son. "Mason, look at me, buddy. Look at Daddy."

Mason’s head snapped up. When the boy saw Daniel, a choked, broken sob finally tore out of his chest. "Daddy! Daddy, she’s not Mommy! She said Mommy died, but she has Mommy’s face!"

"I am your mother, you little parasite!" Emily snapped, backhanding the child across the face with enough force to snap his head sideways.

"Emily!" Daniel roared, taking a violent step forward.

Emily immediately pressed her thumb against the rectangular remote detonator in her left hand. The collar on Mason’s neck emitted a high-pitched, two-tone warning beep. The frequency of the red light doubled.

"One more step, and I end him right now," Emily hissed, her voice vibrating with venom. "You think you're a hero, Daniel? You're an idiot who stumbled into a game played by giants. Do you know what’s on this drive? The sovereign wealth of three shadow syndicates. Forty years of laundered federal contracts. The power to reshape governments. And all I need to unlock the secondary partition... is for Mason to look into the retinal camera for eight seconds."

She stepped behind the chair, grabbing Mason’s hair and yanking his head backward toward an articulated camera arm extending from the server console. Mason screamed in pain, squeezing his eyes shut with all his strength.

"Open your eyes!" Emily snarled, digging her nails into his eyelids. "Open your eyes, you stubborn little bastard!"

"Mason!" Daniel yelled, his voice commanding, cutting through the boy’s panic. "Mason, look at the crane! Look at the red hook above the platform!"