Chapter 2

The dark-gold current wrapped around Clemmy like a giant hand, slowing her fatal drop through the storm, though the sheer force of the fall still battered her tiny frame.

Down on the muddy street corner, a deafening boom echoed above the thunder.

The reinforced roof of a custom bulletproof Maybach parked at the curb caved straight in. Thick armor plating buckled into a deep crater, and spiderweb cracks shot across every bulletproof window.

In the driver's seat, Arthur Hayes, a retired special forces veteran and head bodyguard, whipped out his tactical pistol.

"Ambush! Protect the Patriarch!"

The heavy rear door slid open without a sound. Ellwood Bond, the retired patriarch of the Bond financial empire, stepped out into the pouring rain wearing a black cashmere coat and gripping a solid gold cane carved with nine dragons. Ellwood raised a hand to halt Arthur's aim, his sharp eyes locking onto the caved-in roof.

Lying in the center of the dented steel was a two-year-old child in a blood-soaked sweater, her face as white as paper. A thin trail of blood leaked from the corner of her mouth, and her chest barely moved. Only the dark-green jade resting against her heart gave off a faint golden glow.

Arthur gasped, lowering his gun. "Dear God... it's a kid! Did she fall from the building?"

Ellwood's boots froze in the muddy puddle.

The pale streetlight cut through the rain, illuminating the toddler's face. The curve of her brow and the exact structure of her jaw were an exact match to childhood photos of his second son, Harvy Bond, who was currently lying in a coma on life support.

The Wall Street tyrant, a man who controlled half the nation's economy without blinking, felt his hands shake uncontrollably.

Ignoring the filthy rainwater, Ellwood reached out with trembling fingers and gently brushed the blood-matted baby hair away from the child's forehead. His gaze dropped to the dark-green dragon jade pendant resting against the child's chest, smeared with blood.

Ellwood dropped to one knee in the mud and lifted the bloodstained jade from the child's chest. His breath stopped dead in his throat.

He rubbed his rough thumb across the back of the stone, feeling the microscopic engraving of nine hidden dragons—a secret mark known only to the direct ruling heads of the Bond family.

A roar tore from the old man's chest, splitting the quiet night.

"Arthur! Forget the ambulance! Have the escort convoy clear the roads and drive at full speed to St. Luke's First General Hospital!"

Ellwood's eyes turned bloodred. "Activate the Bond family's highest medical clearance! If anyone delays us by a single second, I'll have their head!"

Shaken to his core, Arthur barked orders into his encrypted earpiece, mobilizing the three full-size Cadillac escort SUVs parked behind them.

Without caring about the blood soaking into his priceless coat, Ellwood leaned over the dented roof and lifted the toddler into his arms. He held her against his chest as if she were spun from glass.

In the depths of her shock, Clemmy's pale lips parted in a faint whimper.

"...Hurts... Mommy..."

Her cold, tiny hand twitched in the air before her fingers curled weakly around the silk lapel of Ellwood's suit jacket.

Feeling that tiny tug against his chest, the iron-fisted patriarch felt hot tears spill down his weathered cheeks.

"Don't be scared, little one. Grandpa is right here. Even if the Grim Reaper himself shows up tonight, I'll use everything the Bond family owns to buy your life back!"

Seconds later, the black convoy tore down the rain-slicked expressway with sirens wailing, slicing straight toward Manhattan's medical district.

Inside the underground VIP emergency tunnel of St. Luke's First General Hospital, the hospital director and thirty top surgical specialists stood in dead silence, dragged from their beds by the midnight code-red alert.

The Maybach screeched to a halt. Ellwood stepped out carrying the bloody child and bellowed at the pale director.

"Lock down the entire floor! Don't ask a single useless question—just keep her alive!"

Ellwood yanked up his coat sleeve and shoved his bare forearm into the director's face.

"Draw my blood! Open the top genetics lab and get me a rush DNA report before her surgery ends!"

As the red light above the emergency operating room Doors snapped on, Ellwood slumped back against the cold tile wall, his fist clenched so tightly around the bloodstained dragon jade pendant that its carved edges pressed into his palm.