My Milf Conqueror System novel Chapter 120

Chapter 120: The Missing Piece

[Ethan’s POV]

The silence in the back of the van was heavy, broken only by the rhythmic thud of the tires hitting potholes and the steady hum of the diesel engine.

Cold condensation crawled down the inside of the metal walls in thin streams, gathering near the floor beneath our boots. The weak overhead bulb hanging near the rear doors flickered every few seconds, casting the cramped cargo space in uneven shadows. Outside, endless forests rolled past beneath a gray Romanian dawn, the skeletal branches of the trees scraping against the fog like grasping fingers.

I watched Claire pack the dead tablet away. She leaned her head against the vibrating metal wall of the van, her eyes closed, exhaustion finally catching up to her. But my mind was racing. Darius’s training had rewired my brain to look for anomalies—to find the gaps in the enemy’s armor, and the holes in our own intel.

I replayed the brief, frantic conversation with Nia and Darius in my head.

The panic in Nia’s voice hadn’t been performative. She had been terrified. That alone bothered me more than the trace itself. Nia was the kind of person who stayed calm during cyberattacks that could cripple governments. If she sounded afraid, it meant something truly dangerous had touched the network.

"Something Nia said is bothering me," I said quietly, breaking the silence.

Claire opened one eye, looking at me through the gloom. "Only one thing? Isabella Vane’s cyber-division nearly triangulating our position didn’t make the top of the list?"

"We handled the trace," I said, waving it off. "It’s what Darius said about the situation back in DC. He said Richard and Victoria are holding the board of directors together against Isabella’s corporate raids."

"They are," Claire nodded, sitting up slightly. "They both have the Sterling family capital backing them, and Victoria is ruthless enough to keep the panicked investors in line. They’re the only reason Vanguard hasn’t completely fractured."

The van swerved violently to avoid a crater in the road, throwing us sideways for a moment. Somewhere in the front cabin, the smuggler cursed loudly in Romanian before lighting another cigarette. The sharp smell of tobacco drifted into the cargo compartment.

"But they shouldn’t be doing it alone," I pressed, leaning forward. "Where is Sofia Aldridge?"

Claire’s expression shifted, a flicker of unease crossing her features.

"Aldridge Global is our biggest ally," I continued, my voice tightening. "Since the DC triumph, Sofia’s empire is the only entity with enough capital to shield Vanguard from a hostile takeover. If Isabella is attacking Victoria and Richard, Sofia should be deploying Aldridge Global’s assets to tear Isabella’s shell companies apart. Why wasn’t she mentioned?"

Claire looked away, staring out the mud-splattered window at the passing trees.

For a few seconds, neither of us spoke. The only sounds were the engine, the rain tapping against the roof, and the distant howl of wind slipping through the old van’s cracked seals.

"Because she’s not in Washington," Claire said softly.

I frowned. "What do you mean she’s not in Washington? Did she go to New York? London?"

"I don’t know, Ethan," Claire said, turning back to me. "She left a day before we caught Jake’s ghost protocol ping from Bucharest. She didn’t file a flight plan with Vanguard aviation. She didn’t take her usual Aegis security detail. She just... vanished."

"Sofia Aldridge doesn’t just vanish," I said, a cold knot forming in my stomach. Sofia was brilliant, calculating, and fiercely loyal to Jake. She had helped him build his empire from the ground up. "She’s a shark. If she left the company exposed during a siege, she must have a damn good reason."

"Or a target," Claire suggested quietly. "You know how she feels about Jake. If she figured out a way to hurt Isabella Vane directly, she wouldn’t wait for the board’s approval. She’d just go."

I rubbed my jaw, processing the information. The board was missing its queen. Jake was a feral ghost hunting PMCs in the dark. And Claire and I were completely cut off from our support network, heading into hostile territory.

The board was set, but the pieces were scattered all over the world.

Outside the van, the forests slowly began to thin, giving way to stretches of empty farmland and abandoned roadside villages. Rusted tractors sat half-buried in mud beside collapsing wooden homes. Smoke drifted lazily from chimneys as villagers started their mornings, completely unaware of the invisible war unfolding around them.

"We can’t worry about Sofia right now," I finally said, forcing my focus back to the immediate mission. "If she’s off the grid, she knows how to take care of herself. We need to focus on Odesa."

Claire nodded, pulling her jacket tighter around herself. "How do we find him, Ethan? Odesa is a massive port city. Millions of people. Thousands of shipping containers moving every day. If we can’t use digital surveillance, how do we track a ghost?"

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