The Northvale Key

Episode 11

The Matriarch remained frozen, her wrinkled fingers clutching the scrap of paper from Cassian as if it were a burning coal. Her sharp, weary eyes scanned the "Reverse Acquisition" lines over and over. Kenneth Stark stood at the lobby entrance, laughing—a mocking laugh, as if watching a comedy performed by those on the brink of death.

"You've truly gone mad, Lianna," the Matriarch hissed, her voice so low it was nearly drowned out by the panic of the staff. "Trying to strike back at a predator as massive as Stark with the remnants of a cash flow that won't even cover next month’s electricity bill?"

Lianna glanced at Cassian for a moment. She saw her husband standing there, incredibly calm, as if this entire chaos were merely a light drizzle that would soon pass. Cassian’s confidence was contagious. "Trust me just this once, Grandma. Give me access to the central ledger and market execution authority. Let my administrative assistant, Cassian, help process the data."

Instantly, the lobby fell silent. Cyrus, still in the corner, snorted loudly. "Grandmother, don't listen to her! She wants to give the keys to our vault to that loser? This is a pure sabotage plot!"

The Matriarch raised her hand, instantly silencing Cyrus. She stared at Cassian Northvale. This man was just trash who had been freeloading for three years, she thought, but for some reason, his strategy on this paper had a very strong Northvale scent... the scent of a lethal victory.

"Fine," the Matriarch finally muttered. She reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out a platinum access card with a golden eagle logo. "Take him to the Treasury Room. Breyer is there. If this 'crazy' idea fails and allows Stark to break through before sunrise, not only will both of you be kicked out, but I will personally ensure you rot in prison for corporate treason."

Lianna took a deep breath and quickly grabbed the card. She didn't waste any time. Taking Cassian by the arm, she walked past Kenneth Stark, who was still leaning against the door.

"Good luck with your miracle, Miss Ashworth," Stark mocked, his voice filled with self-satisfaction. "I'll be waiting at the restaurant across the street. Let me know if you need a pen to sign the surrender papers."

Cassian stopped briefly beside Stark. He didn't look at the man, but his voice was crystal clear. "Save your pen to write your resignation letter from Apex Partners tomorrow morning, Mr. Stark. You'll need it."

Without waiting for Stark’s reaction—who froze at those bold words—Cassian stepped into the elevator with Lianna, heading to the lowest floor: the financial heart of the Valerian Group.

The elevator doors opened into a sterile basement. The air was cold, smelling of static electricity and loudly humming servers. In the center of the room, surrounded by dozens of monitors displaying crashing red graphs, sat Mr. Breyer. He was a senior executive director, the only elder in the company still loyal to the Ashworth family's financial integrity.

Breyer looked up at the sound of footsteps. His face was stern, and his thick glasses revealed profound exhaustion. "Lianna? The Matriarch said you were bringing expert 'help.' Where is he? We only have three hours before the outer zone markets reopen."

Lianna stepped aside, revealing Cassian standing behind her. "This is our help, Mr. Breyer. Cassian Northvale."

Breyer froze. He rose from his chair in a very slow motion, looking Cassian up and down. "The Clerk? You’re joking, right? We’re facing a hostile takeover from Apex Partners, and you bring me a warehouse errand boy to fix the market algorithms?"

"Mr. Breyer," Cassian interrupted with a completely different tone. He didn't bow, didn't look awkward, and his eyes now stared at Breyer with an intensity capable of crushing anyone's ego. "The graph on the fourth screen shows Stark is squeezing us with low-volume spoofing in the pre-market. They’re creating artificial panic to drive prices down further. You don't need a mathematician; you need a predator."

Breyer was stunned. Those technical terms came out of Cassian’s mouth so fluently, as if this man had been eating market data for breakfast every day. "How do you know it's spoofing? Our defense systems haven't detected it."

"Because your defenses are still using old algorithms from the Stark era that they have systematically hacked," Cassian replied as he stepped toward the main console, brushing aside Breyer’s assistant with an authoritative wave of his hand. "Take two steps back, Mr. Breyer. Let me open the shading."

"Stop!" Breyer grabbed Cassian's shoulder. "I won't let you touch these back-end protocols unless you can explain what you're doing. These are the family's living assets!"

Lianna stepped forward, gently holding Breyer’s hand. "Mr. Breyer, I am staking my position and reputation on him. Please. Valerian won't survive if we just stand still."

Breyer stared at Lianna for a long time, then turned to Cassian, whose face now looked cold under the blue light of the monitors. With a sigh of frustration, Breyer released his grip. "One mistake, and I’ll stop your heart myself, young man."

Cassian didn't answer. His fingers, which usually held a cheap pen, now danced across the mechanical keyboard with impossible speed. Lianna and Breyer could only watch in a gripping silence. On the main screen, lines of incredibly complex binary code began to flow, overwriting Valerian's old defense protocols.

Activate Infiltrator 'North-Shadow.' Hide the IP address behind thousands of cloud proxies, Cassian thought.

Unbeknownst to anyone, his Northvale USB was working wirelessly through a hidden device in his blazer pocket. Cassian was importing secret algorithm fragments from the Syndicate—code usually used to destroy central banks—just to reverse Apex Partners' attack.

"What is he doing? He’s entering hidden liquidity pools?" Breyer whispered, his voice trembling between disbelief and horror. "He’s executing high-frequency trades without broker authorization!"

"That’s our shadow broker, Mr. Breyer," Cassian replied without looking back. "Stark thinks they own the water, but they don’t realize that I own the dam."

The clock on the wall ticked loudly. An hour passed. Cassian remained motionless, as if he had merged with the machine. Beads of sweat rolled down Lianna’s temples as she saw the screens that were once deep red slowly start to pale, turn orange, and then... a single small green dot appeared.

"He... he’s buying back the minority shares released by Apex," Breyer approached the screen, his breath hitching. "How is he getting the funds? We have no equity!"

"I’m just borrowing a little from the future," Cassian murmured briefly. He had just performed a highly complex global arbitrage, using Stark’s short positions in London to fund Valerian’s buy positions in this city.

Suddenly, the room’s alarm went silent. The data noise that had been attacking subsided into a stable quiet. On the main screen, a large number blinked slowly.

REAL-TIME NET PROFIT: +5.0% (USD 12,500,000).

Mr. Breyer stumbled back until his back hit the filing cabinet. His thick glasses nearly fell off. "Impossible... Twenty minutes of work, and he’s made twelve million dollars in the middle of a takeover attack? No human in this world could do that. Who..."

Who exactly is this assistant of yours, Lianna?

Lianna couldn't answer. She stared at Cassian as if he were a complete stranger she was meeting for the first time. Her husband had just saved millions of dollars in a matter of minutes while leaning casually in front of an old computer.

Cassian straightened his back, cracking his stiff neck until it made a sharp clicking sound. He pulled his loser persona back on as a mask, yet his aura still felt incredibly sharp. "That was just a warm-up, Mr. Breyer. We've only just patched the hole in the ship. Now it's time to sink the attackers."

Breyer still couldn't close his mouth. The suspicion in his eyes slowly transformed into an immense sense of respect, mixed with an indescribable fear. "The Matriarch must know about this. Valerian... Valerian truly has a protector."

Cassian turned toward Lianna, giving her a thin, sincere smile. "Lianna, take this report to the Matriarch. Tell her the market has stabilized. I need five minutes to tidy up the remaining data here."

"Cassian, I—" Lianna was unable to say anything. She simply held Cassian's hand tightly, then immediately stepped out of the room with Breyer, who still looked shaken.

As soon as the automatic door closed and Cassian was alone in the dim light of the monitors, his voice turned cold and gravelly.

"Agent D," Cassian muttered into the microphone device on his button.

"I am listening, Mr. Northvale," a voice from the Syndicate answered instantly in his ear.

"What anomaly did you detect in the Stark server earlier?"

"Something is wrong, sir. When you launched the algorithmic attack earlier, our system caught a 'retaliation signal' that did not originate from Apex Partners. There is a hidden communication path locked onto your Northvale biometrics."

Cassian's heart skipped a beat. "The Coven entity?"

"Most likely. It seems your little display of power just now has sounded the alarm for your family's true enemies. We have detected three unregistered black vehicles heading toward the Valerian building at high speed. They are armed, sir."

Cassian turned toward the CCTV screen. Sure enough, through the rear parking gate, three dark SUVs entered without passing the guards.

Cassian's face hardened. His cover might not be completely blown with the Ashworth family yet, but the great dragons of the past had just become aware of his presence.

"Tell the outer protection unit to be ready," Cassian commanded while unplugging his USB. "Do not let a single person into Lianna's elevator. Destroy them in the darkness if necessary."

As he stepped toward the elevator, the lights in the entire basement suddenly went out. Cassian stood in total darkness, with only the sound of heavy tactical boots echoing from the hallway across. In his hand, he gripped the quill pen given by Mr. Chen—a secret weapon more lethal than a firearm.

"So," Cassian whispered into the silence of the night, "the hunt is no longer just in the capital market."