Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death – Episode 48
Connor prepared weapons before Vale’s call ended. Scarlett removed the magazine from his hand and asked whether he intended to abandon their plan. He answered that Vale had his father.
She reminded him that a direct assault would place Richard in greater danger. Vale wanted the old Connor, isolated and predictable. Saving Richard required the man who had learned to trust others.
Connor struggled against the instinct to leave. Then he called Cypher, Lily, and Dominion’s loyal security leaders into the same room. For the first time, he built a rescue around shared authority.
Vanguard’s investor summit continued despite Richard’s disappearance. Scarlett accepted Vale’s invitation and offered Asterion cooperation in exchange for his safety. Connor announced he was prepared to surrender his founder key.
They entered the coastal facility together under surveillance. Scarlett wore a biometric ring linked to Constellation, while Connor carried a duplicate key concealing Cypher’s access code. Neither device could work without the other.
Vale greeted Connor like a returning son. His burns covered one side of his face, but age had not softened his certainty. He praised Scarlett for teaching Connor the appearance of humility.
Scarlett asked to see Richard before discussing Asterion. Vale showed a live feed of him restrained inside the control level. Richard appeared injured but conscious.
Investors watched Voss demonstrate Vanguard’s global reach. Guardian’s hidden trace mapped each server the counterfeit module touched. Cypher guided a rescue team through unused cooling tunnels.
Vale separated Connor from Scarlett for a private conversation. He offered to restore Dominion and erase the evidence against him. In return, Connor would abandon Constellation and become Vale’s successor again.
Connor pretended to consider it. He admitted that public judgment had cost him power, reputation, and control of his company. Vale mistook honesty for surrender.
Scarlett met Voss in the demonstration chamber. She told him Vale would discard him once Aegis was stable. Voss insisted he was a partner, but the system denied him access to several hidden protocols.
Cypher found Richard’s holding room. Before the team could breach it, Vale closed the cooling tunnels and trapped them below the control level. Guardian’s presence had been detected.
Vale revealed that the counterfeit module had not fooled him. He allowed it inside to identify everyone connected to Connor’s operation. The summit was a trap built around their expected deception.
He demanded the real authorization pieces. Scarlett refused, knowing Richard held only one encrypted portion. Vale ordered Voss to prepare neural interrogation equipment.
Voss hesitated. The equipment violated even Vanguard’s declared standards. Vale reminded him that standards existed for clients, not founders.
Connor attacked the nearest guard and reached the control lift. Scarlett disabled the demonstration with her biometric ring. Investors fled as alarms replaced Vanguard’s polished display.
Cypher escaped the sealed tunnel through a maintenance conduit. His team reached Richard, but the restraints were connected to the central system. Removing them without authorization would stop his heart.
Vale entered the command chamber and activated an old corporate protocol. The shares purchased from Dominion’s absent founders combined with emergency clauses written at the company’s creation. A hostile leadership vote began automatically.
Connor’s remaining board allies discovered their access suspended. Vale secured temporary control of Dominion while its founder stood trapped inside Vanguard. Every defense network recognized the returned architect.
On the central screen, Dominion’s crest changed to Vale’s original black design. He told Connor that Richard could live or the empire could remain free, but not both. The final vote would close in ten minutes.
