Beneath the Billionaire Mask - Chapter 17: Chapter 17

Panama – Abandoned Mining Station – 10:46 AM
The drone was the first sign.
The sound came seconds later—a low, mechanical buzz that didn’t belong in the jungle, followed by a high-frequency whine.
Then the sky cracked.
Adrian didn’t hesitate. “Go! Now!”
Inside, Liana had already swept the documents into a waterproof satchel and slung it across her chest. Elena bolted to the communications room, yanking her laptop and the remaining drives.
“Extraction route?” she shouted.
“North path,” Liana called. “To the river’s edge. There’s a cave that feeds into the old hydro line. They won’t see us move under canopy.”
The building shook as something exploded nearby—dirt and metal raining down like ash.
Adrian grabbed Elena’s hand, pulled her toward the door.
“Don’t let go,” he said, and this time, it wasn’t a metaphor.
Jungle Corridor – 11:03 AM
They moved like ghosts. Fast. Silent. Every breath a gamble.
Above them, the whirr of drones passed in intervals, like vultures on rotation.
Elena’s lungs burned. The satchel bounced against her back. She could still feel the warmth of Adrian’s fingers in hers. Even now, even in this madness—she felt safe beside him.
Which terrified her more than the chase.
Behind them, Liana paused. “Stop.”
They froze.
She reached into her jacket, pulled something from the lining. A piece of old cloth—torn, stained. Wrapped around a fragment of what looked like gold.
Adrian frowned. “What is that?”
She looked at him, face unreadable.
“Proof.”
He blinked. “Of what?”
Liana hesitated. Then said the words that would haunt him for the rest of his life:
“That Evelyn didn’t just die… She chose to.”
Flashback — Evelyn’s Final Day
Rain. New York. Five years ago.
Evelyn stands at the edge of the Blackwood Foundation’s rooftop garden, the city far below. Liana hands her the gold fragment—evidence of payouts made to mercenaries in blood money, stolen from Veritas cover ops.
“If you take this to the press,” Liana warns, “Marcus will kill you.”
“I know,” Evelyn says.
“But you’re going to do it anyway?”
She nods. “Because if I don’t… Adrian becomes him.”
Present — Jungle Clearing
Adrian staggered back as the memory hit like a physical blow.
Elena stared at Liana. “You knew all this time. And you didn’t tell him?”
Liana’s eyes burned. “She made me promise. She said if I told him too soon, he’d destroy everything… including himself.”
He turned to Elena, jaw clenched. “So all this—my guilt, the silence, the Foundation—I was atoning for something I didn’t even cause?”
“No,” Liana said softly. “You were becoming someone who could survive it.”
Overhead – 11:24 AM
The buzz returned. Louder this time.
Adrian snapped to attention. “They’ve triangulated us. Move!”
They reached the edge of the river—mud slick and currents wild.
No time for hesitation.
Adrian stripped his jacket, checked the weight of their gear. “We swim across, then double back east. There’s an abandoned station at Piedra Ciega. If we make it there…”
“We go dark,” Liana finished.
Elena locked eyes with him. “You jump first.”
He smirked—tired, wounded, but still Adrian.
“You planning to follow?”
She stepped forward. “I always do.”
They jumped.
Into the current.
Into the unknown.
Into the war that Marcus Vale didn’t realize had already begun.
Underground Waterway – Submerged Tunnel, 12:02 PM
Elena’s limbs burned as she kicked through the current, the icy black water dragging at her like hands.
Up ahead, Adrian broke through the low tide tunnel first, emerging in a narrow shaft barely lit by fractured sunlight. He turned, reached back, and pulled her through.
Liana came last, coughing hard, blood smearing her lips.
“We’re in,” Adrian said, pulling them into the partial dry ground inside the stone-lined corridor. “But we need to keep moving. If Marcus has a biometric tracer on Liana’s ID from the clinic—”
“He does,” Liana cut in hoarsely. “He always had redundancies. If he knows I’m alive, he’s activated them.”
Elena pulled off her soaked jacket, fingers shaking. “So we were never ahead. Just… less behind.”
Adrian gave her a grim look. “Until now.”
Piedra Ciega – Derelict Power Station – 1:20 PM
The abandoned hydroelectric station was a skeleton of its former self—concrete walls cracked by time, turbines rusted in place, vines creeping through blown-out glass.
It was perfect.
Hard to scan. Impossible to trace.
As Liana patched her shoulder in the corner with field gear, Elena stood alone near the shattered window, gazing at the sun beginning to pierce the cloud cover.
Her reflection looked different now.
Wilder.
Not just a journalist chasing secrets—but a woman wrapped in one, drowning in what she wasn’t supposed to feel.
Adrian walked up behind her. “We made it. For now.”
She turned slowly. “And if we don’t make it past now?”
His jaw tensed. “Then I’ll make sure you do.”
Her chest ached at the words. “Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Make it sound like you’re disposable. Like your life weighs less than mine.”
“I’m the one who turned this world upside down, Elena.”
“You’re the one who tried to fix it.”
They stood in silence for a beat too long.
Then, gently, she said, “Tell me the truth. Why didn’t you walk away years ago?”
Adrian’s voice dropped. “Because if I did… Evelyn would’ve died for nothing.”
Elsewhere – Marcus Vale’s Command Hub – 1:47 PM
Julius stepped into the control room, eyes tight.
“They made it out. Through the river and the hydro line. Lost three of ours in the jungle sweep.”
Marcus stood in front of a screen showing Elena’s intercepted signal, her file dump flashing red.
“She’s smarter than I gave her credit for,” he said.
Julius nodded. “What do we do?”
Marcus’s smile was slow. Calculated.
“We change tactics.”
He pulled a manila folder from the desk drawer, tossed it across the table.
Inside: a photo of Julia King.
Elena’s editor.
Her only remaining lifeline.
Marcus turned to Julius. “We kill the story—at the source.”
Piedra Ciega – 2:12 PM
Liana’s voice broke the quiet. “We can’t stay here long.”
Adrian nodded. “We’ll break into pairs at dusk. Two east, one north.”
Elena looked between them. “And after that?”
A long silence followed.
Liana finally said what none of them wanted to hear:
“After that… it’s war.”
Piedra Ciega – Main Turbine Hall – 10:19 PM
The night fell hard and fast in the jungle.
Elena sat alone beside a cracked concrete pillar, legs drawn up, arms wrapped tight around her knees. The low hum of insects filled the air outside, but the station’s ruins felt soundless, tomb-like.
Adrian approached without a word, carrying a dented metal cup of warm broth. He handed it to her, their fingers brushing for a heartbeat too long.
“Thanks,” she murmured, not looking up.
He didn’t move.
Just stood there.
Watching her.
Finally, she broke the silence. “Do you think she was afraid?”
He didn’t need to ask who.
Adrian sat beside her. “Yes. But she did it anyway.”
“That’s the part that terrifies me the most.”
He tilted his head.
“She knew the cost,” Elena whispered. “And still chose the fire. I’m not sure I’m that brave.”
Adrian’s gaze sharpened. “You don’t have to die to be brave.”
“I might not get the choice.”
“You will.” His voice was hoarse, urgent now. “As long as I’m breathing, Elena, you will.”
She looked at him finally—really looked.
Not just at the man. But at the wound.
And then she asked the question she hadn’t dared until now:
“Why did you let me in?”
He stared at the darkness for a long time.
Then: “Because you were the only person who ever looked at me like I was already worth saving.”
Elsewhere in the Station – Control Room
Liana hunched over a cracked terminal, coaxing life from ancient wiring.
Static flared. Then a blip.
A digital ping.
At first, she thought it was background noise.
But then it repeated.
A signal.
Encrypted.
Coming from inside the station.
Her heart stopped.
Someone had planted a tracer on the backup system. Someone… had been tracking them the entire time.
She stood—fast—reaching for her sidearm.
But before she could call out—
A click echoed behind her.
She turned.
Eyes widened.
And whispered: “You?”
Fade to black.