From Bullets To Billions novel Chapter 612

Chapter 612: Seeking Answers

Lying flat on her back, tangled in the soft fabric of her unmade bed, Sheri endured a deeply restless night’s sleep. The early morning light was just beginning to peek through her window blinds, casting long, geometric shadows across her bedroom wall, but she felt entirely exhausted. She was constantly, almost obsessively, checking the glowing screen of her phone in the dim light. She kept staring at the empty notification bar, quietly wondering if she would suddenly get a text message from her boss to explain the sudden change in plans.

She honestly hadn’t realized it until this exact, frustrating moment, but she had actually gotten quite comfortably used to the steady, predictable routine of having to head into the corporate office for work every single day.

Every normal morning, she would walk through those pristine glass doors, grab a warm coffee from the breakroom, and casually talk to Darno and Max. Mostly, these interactions happened in passing whenever she saw them walking around the bustling corporate corridors, but they had become a grounding anchor in her otherwise chaotic life. But then, to suddenly be strictly told over a brief message not to go into the office today? It threw her entire equilibrium off. She just sat there in her pajamas, wondering exactly why. Her innate curiosity was spiking well beyond belief.

’That Max guy sure has been doing some incredibly crazy stuff lately as well,’ Sheri thought, rolling over and staring blankly at the ceiling. ’Like, what exactly was all that brutal underground fighting about? Is he genuinely still just running that old high school gang out on the streets and trying to use them for his own corporate gain? Or did they all legally get hired by the Billion Bloodline group as official private security guards or something?’She let out a long, frustrated sigh, tossing her phone onto the mattress.

’I know for an absolute fact that he’s hiding something major from me. I can see it in his eyes whenever he dodges a question. But I just can’t quite put my finger on what it all truly means.’ Since there was absolutely nothing else she could productively do with her unexpected day off, she picked her phone back up and started aimlessly scrolling through her local news feed. Suddenly, a breaking, bold-red headline caught her eye: there was a major, city-wide gas leak report.

Because of the supposed hazardous toxicity of the fumes, all local residents and civilian cars were currently being aggressively diverted by authorities to a completely different location downtown, causing severe gridlock. And as for the exact epicenter of the severe gas leak? The official report listed the Fortis building—the exact headquarters of the Billion Bloodline group.

’Wait... is that the real reason why they specifically told me not to come into work today?’ Sheri thought, her heart skipping a beat as she read the short article twice. ’Did Max and the executives somehow know about this infrastructure failure beforehand? But if that was the case, then surely they would have just explicitly told me not to come in because of a gas leak, right? Why be so incredibly cryptic and secretive about it?’ What Sheri didn’t know, and couldn’t possibly fathom from the safety of her comfortable bedroom, was the dark truth. The powerful people that were actively manipulating the local media networks so they could execute a full-scale, lethal assault on the Billion Bloodline group without police interference was the Gilt Rats syndicate.

Max didn’t initially know exactly what public excuse the Gilt Rats would utilize to cover up the impending siege. Consequently, he couldn’t exactly tell Sheri one specific lie to keep her safe, only for her to turn on the television and find out that there was a completely different, highly suspicious reason being broadcast to the public. He had chosen silence over a tangled web of lies, prioritizing her safety over her clarity.

While she was tightly holding her phone, her thumb hovering over Max’s contact name, the screen suddenly buzzed. She had gotten a text message from another person entirely—someone she hadn’t spoken to in quite some time.

"Do you want to meet up? It’s been a while." Since she was feeling incredibly anxious and there was absolutely nothing else for her to do in her empty apartment, she decided she might as well get dressed and leave to clear her head.

Heading out into the brisk morning air, they agreed on a quaint, warmly lit coffee and dessert shop situated a few blocks away from her neighborhood. When she pushed open the heavy wooden door, the rich scent of roasted espresso beans and sweet pastries washed over her. Scanning the scattered tables, she could clearly see the person who had contacted her. Cindy was already sitting quietly right by the large, rain-streaked window, nursing a steaming mug.

"It’s been a long while, Cindy. You’re honestly looking a lot better," Sheri said, pulling out a wooden chair and taking a seat across from her old friend.

"Yeah... haha, although it’s really hard to definitively say that," Cindy replied, offering a fragile, bittersweet smile. "To be entirely honest with you, Sheri, the main reason I reached out and contacted you today was because I was deeply missing Abby."

Cindy looked down at her dark coffee, her expression clouding with old grief.

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify