The Heiress He Underestimated novel Chapter 198

The Heiress He Underestimated

Chapter 198 The Trap After The Escape

The world went dark and quiet.

In the command van, the only light came from the glowing screens, painting their faces in shades of blue and green. Elera’s fingers were frozen over her keyboard. On the monitor, the four green dots–Control, Arrow, Strike, and Silent–moved through the pitch–black factory like ghosts in a machine.

Clara’s voice was a steady, low murmur in their ears. “Control, this is Scribe. All digital eyes are blind. Your window is open. Do you copy?”

A beat of static, then Frost’s whisper, so quiet it was almost a thought. “Copy, Scribe. We are moving. Entering structure now.”

Elera held her breath. On the thermal overlay, the bright yellow blob that was Kieran–or someone–remained stationary in the small holding room. Another, smaller heat signature was right beside it. Margaret. They were both still and waiting.

Xan leaned so close to the screen his nose almost touched it. “He’s just sitting there,” he muttered, more to himself than anyone. “He’s confident and so arrogant. He thinks his deadline is the only clock that matters.”

Drakonius watched, his hand still wrapped around Elera’s. His grip was firm, anchoring. “He’s in for a surprise.”

The green dots flowed through the factory’s skeletal interior. The blueprint on the secondary screen traced their perfect, silent path. Past dormant machinery shrouded in dust cloths, through corridors lined with broken pallets, skirting a wide, dark pit that was probably an old drainage basin.

“Approaching the target hallway,” Frost’s voice came, barely audible. “Oracle, confirm. Conduit runs along the ceiling, north wall?”

Xan jumped, grabbing the mic. “Control, Oracle. Affirmative. The conduit is a gray plastic channel, about two inches wide. The alarm wire is the red one. Cut the red one. Do not touch the others.”

“Copy. Arrow, you’re on point. Strike, watch our six.”

They watched as one green dot separated, moving ahead. The thermal showed no movement from the room. The wait was agony, a slow–motion torture made of silence and

green

dots.

Then, Frost’s voice again. “Alarm wire is severed. No audible signal. Moving to the door.”

Elera’s heart was a hammer against her ribs. This was it. The moment they either got her aunt

12:28 Wed, Apr 15 M….

Chapter 198 The Trap After The Escape

out or started a firefight.

“Scribe,” Frost whispered. “Give us a ten–second count, then Ghost restores primary power. We go in on the light.”

Clara nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. “Copy, Control. On your mark.”

“Mark.”

Clara began counting down, her voice calm and measured. “Ten… nine… eight…”

Elera’s finger hovered over the key that would bring the power back. Bringing light back felt wrong, dangerous. But they needed to see. Frost needed to see.

“…three… two… one. Power restoring.”

Elera tapped the key.

On the street camera feed, the lights flickered, then blazed back to life. In the factory, on the thermal cam, the world went from abstract blobs to a clearer picture as the ambient temperature shifted.

They heard it then, through Frost’s open mic. A soft thunk, the sound of a lock disengaging. Then the squeal of hinges that hadn’t moved in years.

No gunfire or any shouting.

Just Frost’s voice, clear and soft. “Dove, we’re friends. We’re here with Elera. We’re getting you out.”

A moment of silence. Then a woman’s voice, trembling, thick with tears and hope. “Elera? My Elera?”

It was Aunt Margaret. Hearing her voice, so scared and so trusting, cracked something open in Elera’s chest. A sob caught in her throat. Drakonius’s hand tightened around hers.

“Yes, ma’am,” Frost said, his voice gentler than any of them had ever heard it. “Your Elera sent us. Can you

walk?”

“I… I think so. He didn’t hurt me. He just talked. He talked so much.” Margaret sounded dazed, disoriented.

“Good. Arrow, take point. Strike, help Dove. We’re leaving the way we came. Nice and easy.”

The green

dots began moving again, now five instead of four, clustered together, moving back

down the hallway.

12:28 Wed, Apr 15 M…

Chapter 198 The Trap After The Escape

“It’s clean,” Xan breathed, a note of disbelief in his voice. “It’s actually clean.”

But Frost’s voice cut through the budding relief. “Control to Scribe. We have a problem.”

Everyone in the van stiffened.

Finished

“The loading bay door. It’s electronically scaled. A new system. Not on the blueprints. We cannot open it manually from the inside.”

Xan cursed, low and violent. “He upgraded. He must have done it after he decided to use this place. A remote lock. Probably tied to his phone.”

“Can Ghost hack it?” Frost asked.

Elera was already typing, pulling up the building’s schematics, searching for the new system. “It’s a standalone cellular mesh network. Not on the city grid. I can’t access it from here. Not in time.”

They were trapped in the factory. The exit was two inches of fortified steel, locked down by Kieran’s paranoia.

“Do we go back out the sewer?” Arrow’s voice came through, tense.

“Negative,” Frost said. “Too slow. And if he’s monitoring the door seal, he already knows it was triggered. He might be on his way.”

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