Home / Romance / The Debt Collector's Price / CHAPTER 75: THE 1985 ROLEX VAULT

Share

CHAPTER 75: THE 1985 ROLEX VAULT

Author: Kene Smart
last update publish date: 2026-04-02 03:36:26

ISLA'S POV

The Metropolitan Correctional Center sits in Lower Manhattan like a concrete warning. Barred windows, guard towers, razor wire cutting lines against the gray sky—it’s a fortress designed to strip away humanity.

I approach the main gate, my Hunt Capital CEO credentials sweating in my palm.

The guard takes my ID, his eyes flicking between the plastic card and my face. "Ms. Bennett. You're here to see Maria Castellano?"

"Yes. Priority visit. Corporate legal matter."

The irony tastes lik
Continue to read this book for free
Scan code to download App
Locked Chapter

Latest chapter

  • The Debt Collector's Price    CHAPTER 110: THE OPERATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

    ISLA'S POVJanuary 24, 2026. 6:03 AM.The sun breaks the horizon line over the Atlantic, bleeding orange light across the frost-covered scrub of the Morrison Estate.I stand on the southern plateau, the wind whipping hair across my face. Behind me, the modular headquarters vibrates with a low, electric hum. It is fully assembled, fully lit, and terrifyingly operational.Inside that steel and plywood shell, server racks are cycling, the climate control is fighting the Maine winter, and satellite uplinks are blinking green against the ceiling. The Smart Grid is online, managing data streams and processing transactions worth billions. I built a financial fortress in thirty-six hours.I pull my phone from my pocket. My thumb hovers over the banking app, a nervous tic I can

  • The Debt Collector's Price    CHAPTER 109: THE DIGITAL EXORCISM

    ISLA'S POVJanuary 23, 2026. 2:07 AM.The modular command center is a freezer box with plywood walls.There is no heat yet, only the harsh, buzzing glare of generator-powered work lights that make everything look jaundice-yellow. I’m huddled in my jacket, trying to type, but my fingers are stiff blocks of ice.Gabriel enters. He doesn't knock, just pushes through the temporary door.His face is the color of ash. His hands are shaking—a fine, high-frequency tremor that has nothing to do with the temperature."You need to see something," he says, his voice rough.I stand up, my knees cracking in the cold. "What did you find?"

  • The Debt Collector's Price   CHAPTER 108: THE CRYO-STASIS LOOPHOLE

    GABRIEL'S POVJanuary 22, 2026. 10:03 PM.The construction site is a riot of noise and light. Portable generators roar against the wind, and welding sparks spit angry arcs of white-hot magnesium into the night, blinding anyone looking in the wrong direction.It’s perfect cover. Nobody notices a shadow detaching itself from the chaos and slipping into the tree line.The Aegis signal jammers are live, humming on a frequency that leaves a metallic taste in the air. Miller’s thermal sensors are blind for now, but that kind of interference draws attention. I have a thirty-minute window. Maybe less before the US Marshals start wondering why their screens went black.I move through the forest. No flashlight—that’s a beacon for a sniper. I drop the nigh

  • The Debt Collector's Price   CHAPTER 107: THE OFF-GRID GOLD LOYALTY

    ISLA'S POVJanuary 22, 2026. 5:47 PM.The modular command center smells like sawdust and ozone.It’s barely a building yet—just a steel skeleton wrapped in plywood and Tyvek, vibrating with the aggressive hum of a diesel generator outside. I’m standing in what the blueprints label the "Executive Suite," but right now, it’s a freezing box with exposed wiring hanging from the ceiling like guts.Commander Travis Drax stands across from me. He’s the Aegis Security lead, a man who wears silence like armor. Ex-Special Forces, fifteen years in the private sector. He doesn’t ask questions for the contracted rate, but I need something the standard contract doesn't cover.I reach into my bag. My fingers brush the cold, dense metal of the bars I took from the farmhouse floor.I pull one out. One kilogram of gold.I set it on the makeshift plywood table. It hits with a heavy, dull thud that seems to suck the air out of the room. Swiss assay mark stamped into the face. Worth approximately $65,000.

  • The Debt Collector's Price   CHAPTER 106: THE TRUE NORTH CONTINGENCY

    ISLA'S POVJanuary 22, 2026. 1:03 PM.The boat hits the dock bumpers with a jolt that travels up my shins.We moor against the same weathered planks I stood on two days ago, exposed to the same frozen Atlantic wind. But the air tastes different now. It tastes like possession.I step onto the dock. My boots strike the wood with a hollow thud.This is my father's land. My inheritance. The ground I fought a corporate war to reclaim.And I own it with exactly two dollars and forty-seven cents in my pocket.The cold is heavy, a wet blanket of salt and ice that cuts through my jacket and burns in my lungs. Behind me, the Aegis team is already swarming the pier, unloading the modular u

  • The Debt Collector's Price   CHAPTER 105: THE BIOLOGICAL HEAT SIGNATURE

    GABRIEL'S POVJanuary 22, 2026. 10:07 AM.The tarmac at Teterboro vibrates under the soles of my boots, a low-frequency hum generated by the Aegis transport plane idling fifty feet away.The air smells of kerosene and impending rain. I stand at the base of the extended loading ramp, watching the logistics team wrestle the last of the modular server units into the cargo hold. They are heavy crates, reinforced steel housings for the climate-controlled servers and satellite uplinks that represent the only future Hunt Capital has left.We are shipping the company’s brain in boxes.My phone buzzes against my hip. A text from Isla.Leaving federal building now. ETA 15 minutes.

  • The Debt Collector's Price   CHAPTER 12: THE LIMESTONE FORTRESS

    ISLA'S POVThe "medical facility" looks nothing like a hospital.It sits on the Upper East Side, a limestone fortress where the air smells of exhaust filtered through money. The entrance is marble, veined with gold that probably cost more than my yearly salary. Doormen in suits—tailored, expensive

  • The Debt Collector's Price   CHAPTER 8: THE COUTURE PERFORMANCE

    ISLA'S POVThe navy silk feels like water against my skin.I stare at my reflection in the full-length mirror. The dress fits with terrifying precision—$12,400 worth of Italian craftsmanship molded to my body like it was designed for me specifically.Maybe it was.The diamond on my finger catches t

  • The Debt Collector's Price   CHAPTER 7: FORENSIC VALUATION

    ISLA'S POV"Can I trust you, or are you my latest liability?"The question hangs in the cold, recycled air of the hallway, heavier than the marble floors. Gabriel looms over me, the light from his office cutting a sharp line down his face, casting half of him in shadow. He looks ready to evict me.

  • The Debt Collector's Price   CHAPTER 6: THE MUSEUM OF EXCESS

    ISLA'S POVEverything I own fits in three suitcases.That’s the volumetric measure of twenty-six years. I stand in the center of the studio apartment one last time, the air already smelling stale and unlived-in. The packed bags sit on the futon, looking like they don't belong to me anymore.The lan

More Chapters
Explore and read good novels for free
Free access to a vast number of good novels on GoodNovel app. Download the books you like and read anywhere & anytime.
Read books for free on the app
SCAN CODE TO READ ON APP
DMCA.com Protection Status