Her husband whipped her twenty times while his pregnant mistress stood beside him smiling...

We arrived at the secure underground bunker beneath the Laurent Estate.

My father plugged the flash drive into an air-gapped terminal—a computer disconnected from all outside networks. Lines of green code flooded the screens, illuminating the dark room.

“This is it,” Richard said quietly. “Arthur Vale’s master algorithm: Aegis.”

“What does it actually do?” I asked, leaning over the console.

“It predicts market crashes seventy-two hours before they happen by analyzing micro-transactions across dark pools,” Richard explained. “Arthur built it to protect public pension funds from predatory short-sellers. But Apex wanted to use it to cause market crashes and profit from the chaos.”

“And you kept it hidden for twenty years,” I stated.

“I kept it locked away because it was too dangerous,” my father said, turning to look at me. “Arthur realized that before he died. He knew if anyone possessed Aegis, they would become the target of every criminal organization on Earth. He asked me to hide it until someone came along who had the strength to destroy it.”

I looked at the code flashing on the screen. Then I looked at Adrian, who was standing near the doorway, listening in silence.

“It belongs to Adrian,” I said. “He’s Arthur’s son.”

Adrian stepped forward, looking at the screens. For the first time in his life, he was seeing his father’s true legacy—not a tool for petty revenge or corporate greed, but a shield designed to protect people.

“I can’t keep it,” Adrian said softly, his voice hollow. “I’m not strong enough. I proved that.”