Beneath the Billionaire Mask - Chapter 15: Chapter 15

Blackwood Safehouse – 6:12 AM
The air was heavier than silence.
Elena hadn’t moved from her desk since the encrypted photo arrived. A grainy image, timestamped three months ago. A woman with long black hair. Standing near a clinic outside Bogotá. Eyes sharp. Posture alert. Alive.
But it wasn’t Evelyn.
And she wasn’t just some ghost.
She was a message.
Elena turned the screen so Adrian could see it. “She’s not dead.”
His expression didn’t flicker. But his silence spoke louder than any denial.
“You knew.”
A beat passed.
Then: “I thought she was,” he said. “Or I tried to believe she was. Because if she isn’t… then what happened to her is my fault.”
Elena leaned forward. “Who is she?”
“Her name is Liana Serrano. She was part of the early version of the Foundation. Before it had a name. Before it had funding or walls or oversight. Just a few of us… and a cause.”
He hesitated, then said it aloud.
“She was the first person I couldn’t save.”
Blackwood Foundation – Manhattan – Same Morning
News vans swarmed the block. Protesters gathered. Former employees gave interviews to eager reporters.
Elena’s exposé had gone viral.
#BeneathTheMask was trending in four countries.
But the buzz wasn’t just about hidden programs and donation trails. Someone had leaked a second story before dawn.
A woman claiming to be an ex-Foundation operative — anonymous, disguised — had gone on record:
“Blackwood isn’t who you think he is. He hides behind redemption. But he builds walls with guilt. And those who threaten his secrets… don’t survive.”
Inside his office, Julius Grant turned off the broadcast with a grim smile.
“Let’s see how Adrian survives this narrative.”
Safehouse – War Room – Later
Adrian stood in front of the screen, watching himself be dissected in the media. His name was now part of a larger headline:
CORRUPTION OR CAUSE? INSIDE BLACKWOOD’S BILLION-DOLLAR SHADOW NETWORK
“This is what Marcus wanted,” he said. “Not just exposure. Chaos.”
Elena sat across from him. “He’s not coming for your empire. He’s coming for your legacy.”
They both knew what had to happen.
“We have to find her,” she said. “If Liana’s alive, she’s the last piece.”
Adrian nodded. “And if she’s already in Marcus’s hands—”
“We get her out.
Somewhere in Colombia – Same Night
Liana Serrano sat alone in a clinic hallway, watching the storm roll in over the jungle canopy.
Her burner phone buzzed once.
An encrypted message.
“They know. Move now. He’s coming.”
She didn’t panic.
She smiled.
“Let him.”
Safehouse – Underground Archives – 9:11 PM
The lights buzzed low overhead as Adrian unsealed a vault Elena had never seen before. Behind the thick steel door was something unexpected — not weapons, not dossiers, but memories.
Photos.
Names.
Lost missions.
People the Foundation had failed.
He walked to the far wall and pulled a worn file from a coded drawer. SERRANO, LIANA.
Elena took it carefully. Inside were hand-drawn maps, surveillance photos, and a single slip of paper marked in Evelyn’s handwriting:
“Trust is the deadliest currency.”
She looked up at him. “Why did you keep this hidden?”
“Because every time I looked at it, I remembered what it cost.”
“Her?”
“No. Evelyn.”
Adrian stepped back, his voice raw.
“Evelyn didn’t die because she was reckless. She died because she started to pull this thread. Because she found out what Marcus did to Liana — and what Julius did to cover it.”
“She died trying to save her.”
Elena whispered, “Then we finish what she started.”
Julius Grant’s Penthouse – Midnight
The penthouse was quiet, the air thick with imported cologne and concealed power.
Julius stood over a holoscreen, watching a satellite feed of the safehouse.
“I warned him,” he murmured. “But he never knew how to stop loving lost causes.”
Behind him, Marcus stepped out of the shadows, dressed in black.
“She’s moving,” Marcus said. “Liana. We intercepted chatter from one of her old contacts.”
“Location?”
“Panama border. She’s got eyes on her.”
Julius turned, expression sharp. “Then end it. Clean. No mistakes this time.”
But Marcus smiled.
“No. Let him chase her. Let Adrian come.”
He lifted a phone and tapped the screen once.
Across the world, a trigger activated.
And in New York, at that exact moment, the lights inside Blackwood Foundation HQ went out.
Safehouse – Surveillance Room – Same Time
“Power’s down,” Boone’s voice crackled through Elena’s comms. “Mainframe’s offline. This wasn’t an outage. This was a breach.”
Elena turned to Adrian. “They’re not just wiping your name—they’re erasing your legacy.”
Adrian didn’t blink.
“Then we get it back.”
Safehouse – Lower Levels – 2:44 AM
Elena threw two hard drives into her backpack as Adrian unlocked a hidden weapons case beneath the floorboards. Neither of them spoke. They didn’t need to.
This wasn’t just clean-up anymore. This was escape.
“Boone confirmed it,” Adrian said, straightening. “The breach originated from inside the Foundation’s old server core. Someone who had Level 5 access.”
Elena zipped her bag. “That’s only four people. You, Julius—”
“Vale. And Evelyn.”
She froze.
“Unless there was a fifth,” she said. “Someone none of us ever knew was inside.”
Adrian paused. “You mean Liana.”
Elena nodded. “If Marcus used her as bait before, what’s stopping him from doing it again?”
Adrian’s eyes darkened. “Me.”
Somewhere Near the Panama Border – Unknown Coordinates – 3:07 Am
Liana leaned over a makeshift table in a forest outpost, watching encrypted drone feeds flicker on a small monitor. She didn’t look afraid. She looked ready.
An older man stepped into the tent. “They found the girl.”
Liana looked up. “Cruz?”
He nodded.
“Good,” she said. “Then she’s in danger.”
Safehouse – Final Moments Before Departure
Elena tucked her phone into a Faraday pouch. The safehouse was compromised. Every digital trail could be used against them now. They had twenty minutes before a final self-wipe protocol activated and the location was scorched from every known server.
Adrian handed her a folded slip of paper. A name. A place.
“You trust her?” Elena asked.
“She saved Evelyn’s life once,” he said. “If anyone can help us reach Liana, it’s her.”
They exited through the back tunnel, the cold morning air rushing to meet them.
“What happens when we find her?” Elena asked as they stepped into a waiting SUV.
Adrian’s answer was quiet. Almost broken.
“Then I finally stop running from what I built.”
Back in New York – Unknown Location
Marcus Vale stood before a wall of screens, live feeds flickering with unrest.
One showed the Blackwood Foundation’s headquarters surrounded by protesters.
Another displayed Elena’s exposé being dissected on national television.
And the final screen? A live satellite trace of Adrian’s vehicle.
Julius entered the room. “You’re letting them run?”
“No,” Marcus said, eyes sharp. “I’m letting them believe they still have a chance.”
He reached for the switch beside him.
“I want Elena Cruz discredited. Adrian Blackwood dismantled. And the woman who could undo all of this…”
A pause.
“Liana Serrano dies in the next seventy-two hours.”
Safehouse – En Route to Extraction – 4:05 AM
The SUV tore through the edges of Manhattan, headlights off, GPS scrubbed.
Adrian drove like he had nothing left to lose.
Elena sat beside him, her eyes scanning the dark, every shadow now a potential threat. Her phone buzzed once — a message from Boone on a private channel.
Satellite confirms: Serrano pinged in Panama. Marcus has eyes there. Two days, max, before she disappears again.
She didn’t look at Adrian when she read it.
She didn’t have to.
“We’re not going to find her in time,” Elena said quietly.
“We don’t need time,” he replied. “We need leverage.”
She turned to him. “You think she’ll talk?”
“No.” He glanced at her, jaw hard. “I think she’ll run. Because if she’s alive, it means she’s hiding something bigger than all of us.”
Elena reached into her coat pocket and pulled out the grainy photo again. Liana’s face was mostly obscured—but her eyes were visible. And they were unmistakably watching someone else take the picture.
“She knew she was being followed,” Elena murmured. “She let it happen.”
Adrian’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “Then she’s not a ghost. She’s bait.”
Veritas Black Site – Undisclosed Location
Marcus paced slowly in front of a wall of surveillance feeds.
Dozens of names and photos. Threads connecting them. Red strings across the board like a web spun from secrets and control.
He stopped at Elena’s photo.
“She was never supposed to get this far,” he muttered.
Julius sat behind him, watching impassively. “She’s smart. And now she’s attached.”
Marcus smiled.
“Good,” he said. “That’s when they break the easiest.”
He turned the final monitor back on — the one feed no one else had access to. It showed a single metal cell… and a woman chained to the wall, blood dried along her cheek.
Liana Serrano.
Still alive.
Still watching.
Still waiting.
Final Scene – Southbound Jet – Hours Later
Elena stared out the plane window as the clouds gave way to jungle. Her heart thudded too loudly against her ribs.
“Adrian?” she said softly.
He looked up from the file in his lap.
“When this is over… what happens to us?”
He didn’t answer right away.
Then:
“That depends.”
“On what?”
“On how many ghosts we survive.”
Jungle Perimeter – Outside Panama – 8:45 PM
The wind smelled like rain.
Elena crouched low in the underbrush, eyes scanning the crumbling outpost ahead — a ghost of a clinic tucked between trees and fog. Adrian was beside her, silent, focused.
They’d tracked the signal from the satellite ping to this clearing, with nothing but night and a decade-old photograph to lead them. But Elena knew, felt, that someone was watching them from beyond the tree line.
“She’s here,” she whispered.
Adrian’s voice was steel. “Or she was.”
Then—
A twig snapped behind them.
They both spun. No sound. No movement.
Until a voice cut through the dark:
“You’re louder than I remember, Blackwood.”
They turned slowly.
And there she was.
Liana Serrano.
No chains. No blood. Just a shadow leaning against a tree, her eyes sharp as ever and a pistol resting loose in her grip.
“I was wondering when you’d stop sending amateurs.”
Inside the Jungle Clinic – Minutes Later
The three of them sat in silence inside what was left of the clinic. Ivy had overtaken the walls. A cracked medical cot sagged in the corner. But there was power — barely. Liana flicked a switch and the overhead bulb sputtered to life.
“I suppose you’re here to ask why I disappeared,” she said, her voice quiet but not broken. “Why I let the world think I was dead.”
Elena answered first. “We’re here because someone leaked your photo. Which means Marcus thinks you’re still a threat.”
Liana laughed softly. “Marcus knows I am.”
She turned to Adrian.
“You still think Evelyn’s death was the price?” she said. “That she died because she got too close to the truth?”
He nodded slowly.
“No,” Liana said. “She died because I told her.”
Flashback — Two Years Ago
Liana’s voice overlays the memory:
“It was never just about Veritas or Blackwood Global. Marcus didn’t infiltrate us. He founded us. Long before the Foundation had a name. Long before any of us knew what we were building.”
Evelyn stands across from her, eyes wide.
“You have to tell Adrian,” she says.
Liana shakes her head. “He’s not ready.”
“So I told her instead,” Liana says in the present. “And I made her promise: if I disappeared, she’d burn it all down.”
Present – Clinic – Silence
Adrian leaned forward, hands clasped. “You disappeared because Marcus let you.”
“No,” Liana said. “I disappeared because I let him think I was dead. Evelyn helped me vanish. Gave me the window I needed.”
Elena exhaled. “Then we finish it. Together.”
Liana stood slowly. “You don’t understand. This isn’t about leaking contracts or saving reputations.”
She looked between them.
“This is about ending Marcus Vale before the world forgets who started the fire.”