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Final Hour

Author: G.C Patterson
last update Last Updated: 2025-06-26 17:07:33

Cassie’s POV

I strained in the man's grasp and was pulled behind him as the fluorescent lights dazzled. My heart was beating frantically against my ribs, its frantic rhythm in time with the fear coursing through my veins. As I attempted to struggle free, the skeleton fingers around my arms had closed like a vice, even though every muscle in my body was screaming for me to do so.

Jeffery huddled on the icy pavement on a cold winter's afternoon, his muscle-hardened body shaking with rage, his eyes blazing with defensive anger. A gash in his temple was seeping at the jagged edges of his square jaw. Bare to the skin, his very presence still seemed to exude toughness and stamina, his eyes clashing with mine in feral intensity.

"Cassie," he whispered, his deep voice sliced with pain.

"Jeffery," I choked out, struggling with the merciless hold of my captor. My curves shook beneath the torn seams of my blouse, exposing vulnerability. My hair spilled wildly onto my face, hiding some but not al
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  • Fool Me Once   Inheritance Code

    Jeffery’s POVThe air in the bunker tasted metallic, like blood and electricity.I stood behind Cassie as she stared at her laptop, the screen glowing with those last haunting words.“There’s one more file in the archive you haven’t opened yet. Edward left you something. It’s time.”Her knuckles were white around the mouse.I had seen her frightened before - shaken, cornered, cut down by betrayal, but never like this. This was different. This was the kind of fear that came with knowing your enemy still had one more bullet left in the chamber.“Do we open it?” I asked gently, but my voice felt foreign in my throat.Cassie didn’t answer right away. Her eyes stayed locked on the screen like it might jump out and bite her.Anton leaned in from behind her. “This message came from the same backchannel as the altered Cassandra Files leak. Whoever this is, they have root access to everything we’ve touched in the last seventy-two hours. This isn’t someone hacking their way in… they were alread

  • Fool Me Once    Counterstory

    Cassie’s POVThe table was cluttered with flash drives, coffee cups, and printed photos; my life lay bare across grainy footage and scanned documents.Anton stood over the projector screen, playing clips from the Black Archive. Footage of Edward smiling at senators, shaking hands with known arms brokers, and whispering into the ears of people who’d long since claimed no knowledge of him.Across the room, Margaret was deep in a series of calls, coordinating with the digital forensics team Jeffery had put on standby. Her fingers flew over her keyboard, pulling together a database that would soon hold every piece of truth we had or what we hoped was the truth.And me?I sat at the center of it all, feeling like the eye of a hurricane wearing lipstick and guilt.“This needs to land hard,” Anton said, pausing the screen. “If you’re going public, we can’t afford ambiguity. No more polite statements. This has to punch.”I looked up. “You mean bury the nuance?”“I mean, bury the people trying

  • Fool Me Once   The Matchstick Doctrine

    Cassie’s POVI didn’t sleep.Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the swing.The creak of metal chains. The way Edward’s hands rested too easily on the back of the seat, as if he’d always belonged there. As if I had.Morning came without relief. The bunker’s lights hummed softly, artificial dawn seeping into a space built for secrets, not comfort. Geneva glittered beyond reinforced glass, unaware that ghosts were waking beneath it.I sat at the narrow table, my phone face down, afraid it might breathe again.Jeffery watched me from across the room, silent, pale, and still healing. The bandage beneath his shirt peeked out every time he moved. He hadn’t slept either, and I could see it in the tightness around his eyes, the way his jaw stayed clenched even when nothing was being said.Anton broke the silence.“The video doesn’t prove paternity,” he said carefully. “And it doesn’t need to. That’s the point.”I looked up. “Then what does it prove?”“That someone wants the world to believe yo

  • Fool Me Once   Dead Men Don’t Stay Buried

    Cassie’s POVThe hospital hallway reeked of antiseptic, desperation, and secrets I wasn’t ready to face.I stood outside Jeffery’s recovery room, clutching the phone like it might catch fire. The message still glared back at me.YOU BURNED ONE EMPIRE. TRY SURVIVING THE NEXT.My pulse thundered, and my stomach turned. I had no idea who sent it, but the threat wasn’t subtle.“Cassie?”I turned to see Anton rounding the corner, his coat flapping open like a war general arriving with a new set of orders. He took one look at my face and stopped.“What is it?” he asked.I handed him the phone.His brows knit together, mouth flattening into a grim line. “They’re not done.”“I figured,” I said, numb. “But who’s they now? Elise is behind bars.”He nodded slowly. “Exactly. Which means she wasn’t acting alone. And whoever sent this isn’t just continuing her playbook, they’re escalating it.”I swallowed hard and looked at the closed hospital door. Jeffery had just made it out of surgery, and here

  • Fool Me Once   The Girl Who Burned Empires

    Jeffery’s POVThey always say the truth sets you free.No one ever tells you how violent the process is.The tapes went live at exactly 6:00 a.m. Geneva time. Anton had timed it perfectly - released through five mirrored servers, seeded into international media outlets, whistleblower platforms, and financial watchdog forums before Elise’s people could even wake up and scramble.Edward Richards’ voice flooded the world.Cold, calculated, and unmistakably him.There were threats to Eleanor Jones, recorded coercion, offshore kill lists, bribes, and the Zurich protocol. Everything he’d buried in silence for decades crawled into the light all at once.And right at the center of it all was Cassie.Not as his heir nor his daughter.But as the woman he’d tried to erase and failed.I stood beside her in the private media holding room, watching the screens as the headlines detonated one after another.RICHARDS EMPIRE BUILT ON BLACKMAIL AND BLOODDNA SCANDAL CONFIRMED FORGED — CASSIE JONES CLEAR

  • Fool Me Once   Fractured Signals

    Cassie’s POVThe door slammed shut with a mechanical hiss that echoed in my chest like a death knell.I pounded on the steel until my palms burned. “Jeffery!” I screamed, my voice hoarse and thick with panic.Muffled on the other side, I could hear him shouting, fists slamming against the reinforced vault, but it was no use. Edward had built this place to keep secrets in and people out.Now I was both.The red emergency lights pulsed like a heartbeat as smoke began curling from one of the back vents. I coughed, dropping to my knees.“Think, Cassie,” I muttered, dragging myself behind a metal cabinet. I’d seen maps when Anton had pulled up the layout earlier - there had to be a secondary exit or override. Edward was paranoid, but never suicidal. He always had a back door.I fumbled through my coat and pulled out the pin I’d used to record Elise’s confession days ago. It was still intact and still recording.Good.If I went down, at least someone would know the truth.I scanned the room

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