The Iron Empress

​The silence in the nursery was heavier than the ice that had nearly killed us. Liam sat on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands, the weight of a thousand-year-old dynasty finally crushing his shoulders.

​"I have to go, Nora," he whispered, his voice cracking. "It’s me she wants. It’s always been about the control. She’ll swap the second antidote for my biometric signature. It’s the only way."

​"No."

​The word came out of me not as a plea, but as a command. I stood up, the frost on my clothes melting into cold, hard droplets. I looked at the tablet in my hand—the key to the Sterling empire.

​"You aren't going anywhere as a victim, Liam. We’ve been playing her game for five years. We’ve been reacting, hiding, and bleeding. That ends tonight."

​"Nora, you don't understand the 'Black Ledger,'" Liam said, looking up with hollow eyes. "It’s not just money. It’s the dark pulse of the global economy. If Eleanor gets it, she doesn't just regain the company; she gains the power to topple governments. She’ll kill us all the second she has it."

​"Then we don't give it to her," I said. I tapped a series of commands on the screen. "Thorne? Are you there?"

​The attorney’s face appeared on the screen, looking haggard. "I'm here, Ms. Davis. The Board is in a panic. The shipyard explosion, the lockdown... the vultures are at the door."

​"Let them in," I said, a cold smile touching my lips. "But tell them the door is a trap. I want the Sterling Private Security Division mobilized. Every mercenary, every drone, and every tactical unit on our payroll. I am invoking the 'Omega Protocol.'"

​Thorne gasped. "The Omega Protocol? That’s only for total war. It suspends all civilian oversight. It will cost hundreds of millions—"

​"I don't care about the money! I own the company!" I roared. "I want a strike team at the Swiss border in four hours. And Thorne? Contact Sofia Moretti."

​Liam stood up, his brow furrowed. "The Morettis? Nora, they want us dead."

​"No, they want justice. And Eleanor just tried to kill their only surviving bloodline in that warehouse," I said. "Sofia has the intel on Eleanor’s mountain retreat. We aren't going there to negotiate, Liam. We’re going there to liquidate."

​Four Hours Later: The Swiss Alps

​The air at ten thousand feet was thin and bit like a razor. I stood on the ramp of a stealth transport plane, clad in a tactical suit, a sidearm holstered at my hip. Beside me, Liam looked like a specter of his former self, but his eyes were burning with a new, dark purpose.

​Sofia Moretti stood across from us, her rifle slung over her shoulder. "My family has been hunting that woman for decades, Nora. You're sure about this? If we fail, the children die."

​"We aren't failing," I said, looking at the thermal imaging on my wrist.

​Eleanor’s "retreat" was a fortress carved into the side of a jagged peak. It was guarded by automated turrets and a private militia.

​"She expects you to walk through the front door, Liam," I said. "She expects you to be the broken son coming to beg for his child’s life. While you distract her, Sofia and I are taking the vertical shaft."

​"Nora, it's a suicide mission," Liam grabbed my hand, his grip desperate.

​"I died five years ago when I signed that contract, Liam," I said, leaning in and kissing him with a fierce, desperate hunger. "This is just the ghost coming back for what’s hers."

​The jump was a blur of freezing wind and the roar of the engines. We dropped through the clouds like falling stars, our black parachutes opening only seconds before we hit the mountain shelf.

​Sofia and I moved like shadows, bypasses and high-frequency jammers cutting through Eleanor’s high-tech perimeter. We breached the lower levels, the smell of ozone and expensive filtration systems filling my nose.

​As we reached the central command hub, I saw her through the reinforced glass.

​Eleanor Sterling was sitting in her chair, a glass of champagne in one hand, a remote detonator in the other. Across from her, a digital screen showed a live feed of Leo in his bed back in New York. A timer was counting down on his heart monitor.

​00:15:00.

​Liam walked into the room through the main entrance, his hands raised.

​"I'm here, Mother," he said, his voice echoing through the speakers. "Let the boy go."

​"The signature first, Liam," Eleanor purred. "Place your hand on the scanner. Give me the Black Ledger, and I’ll send the final signal to the medical team."

​I signaled to Sofia. We were twenty feet away, behind the maintenance hatch. My finger was on the trigger of my suppressed pistol.

​"Now," I whispered.

​We burst through the hatch, Sofia taking out the two guards in the room before they could blink. I leveled my gun at Eleanor’s head.

​"Drop it, Eleanor!" I screamed.

​Eleanor didn't flinch. She didn't even turn around. She just took a sip of her champagne.

​"You're late, Nora," she said softly.

​"The game is over," I said, stepping closer. "Liam, don't touch the scanner! We have her!"

​"Do you?" Eleanor turned her chair around, a terrifying, triumphant light in her eyes. She held up the remote. "You think I didn't know you were coming? I built the Sterling Security Division. I know every 'Omega' tactic in the book."

​She pressed a button on the arm of her chair.

​Suddenly, the floor beneath us vibrated. A massive hidden door behind Eleanor slid open, revealing a row of cryogenic pods.

​Inside the pods weren't bodies. They were children.

​Dozens of them. All between the ages of five and six. All with dark curls and grey eyes.

​"Project Gemini wasn't just about two babies, Nora," Eleanor whispered, her voice a chilling melody of madness. "It was a breeding program. I needed the perfect heir. If Leo fails... if he dies... I have forty-two more 'spares' waiting to be activated."

​I froze, the gun shaking in my hand. My mind couldn't comprehend the horror.

​"And the best part?" Eleanor smiled, pointing the remote at the pods. "The 'Sirens' Kiss' poison in Leo’s system? It’s linked to their life support. If his heart stops... every one of these children dies with him. And if I press this button... his heart stops now."

​Liam fell to his knees, his face a mask of total defeat. "No..."

​"Choose, Nora," Eleanor challenged, her thumb hovering over the red button. "The life of your son... or the lives of forty-two innocent children who share his face? Which 'Sterling' legacy are you willing to murder tonight?