The Northvale Key

Episode 3

Cassian’s steps down the apartment stairs were as light as the wind, but his thoughts were as heavy as lead. The message from The Root Iron still lingered in his mind—a shadow from the past chasing him just as he had reignited the fires of Northvale. Outside, the rain poured harder, soaking his worn-out jacket as he charged through the night toward Ashworth Central Hospital.

There, in the long corridors smelling of sharp disinfectant, a chilling atmosphere greeted him. Cassian could hear Cyrus’s shrill voice even before he reached the emergency room.

"This is all your fault, Lianna! If you weren't so stubborn about that Miller contract, Grandmother wouldn't have had a heart attack!" Cyrus screamed. His face was flushed red, his index finger nearly touching Lianna’s nose.

Lianna could only lean against the wall, her body trembling violently. Her sobs were muffled, but her swollen eyes showed how devastated she felt. "I was just following procedure, Cyrus... Grandmother called me to her office and suddenly she collapsed..."

"Hah! What procedure? A procedure to kill our family matriarch so you can take power?" Viona, Cyrus’s sister, chimed in with an equally cynical tone. "Look at you, a jinx. And look who’s here? Your trash husband finally showed his face."

Cassian walked closer, his gaze cold but his head bowed as he stood beside his wife. He could feel Lianna’s cold hand gripping his jacket sleeve, as if searching for an anchor in the middle of a storm.

"Lianna, how is Grandmother?" Cassian asked softly, ignoring the looks of disgust from the other Ashworth family members.

"Critical, Cassian. The doctor said there’s a total blockage. They need the latest ventricular assist device and a team of surgeons from the capital, but the cost..." Lianna couldn't finish her sentence.

A doctor emerged from the operating room, looking pale. He adjusted his glasses, glancing at the Ashworth family crowd hesitantly. "Excuse me, have Mr. Cyrus or Mrs. Lianna reached a decision?"

"Operate right now, Doctor! What are you waiting for?" Cyrus barked.

"The problem is the deposit to bring in the specialist team and equipment is ten million dollars. It must be paid upfront because the procedure is outside the scope of your company insurance, which is currently suspended," the doctor explained apologetically.

The corridor suddenly fell silent. Ten million dollars. That much liquid cash was a major problem for the Ashworth family, as almost all their assets were tied up in the plummeting shares of the Valerian Group.

"Ten million? Are you joking, Doctor?" Cyrus gasped. "Valerian’s operational accounts are frozen for an audit following yesterday’s losses! Lianna, this is your responsibility! Find the money!"

Lianna stared at Cyrus in disbelief. "Are you crazy? I don't have that much in my personal account, and you know I pawned my assets for office loans last month!"

"So you really want Grandmother to die, then?" Viona interjected. "Tch, what kind of CEO lets the chairperson die because she doesn't have cash on hand?"

Cassian saw his wife being backed into a corner. He felt a pure rage begin to boil beneath his mask of calmness. He knew the Valerian Group was in a liquidity crisis—which, ironically, was partly caused by the covert embezzlement Cyrus had been committing for years.

"I'll be in the restroom for a moment, Lianna," Cassian whispered softly.

"Cassian, not now..." Lianna pleaded desperately.

"Just for a moment. Calm yourself," Cassian patted his wife’s hand gently, then turned and walked quickly toward a quiet corner of the corridor.

Once behind the closed stall of the restroom, Cassian pulled out his secret phone. The screen glowed green, displaying a highly complex interface. His fingers danced across the screen with a speed that was impossible for a mere 'clerk.'

"Agent D. Execute Rescue Protocol 01," he murmured quietly. "Ashworth Central Hospital. Medical Account 882-901. Deposit ten million dollars. Now."

A faint static sound came through his tiny wireless earpiece. "Acknowledged, Lord Northvale. The funds will be allocated through the shell company 'Silver-Lion International' to avoid tracking back to the core network. Transaction processing in three, two, one..."

"Done, Sir. Status: Anonymous."

Cassian tucked his phone away. He washed his face in the sink, staring at his reflection in the cracked mirror. Ten million was just a drop in the Northvale ocean, he thought. But for you people, this is the price of a life.

When he returned to the corridor, the panic had intensified. Cyrus was shouting into his phone, while a senior nurse began walking out of the hospital’s financial admin office with a confused expression.

"Excuse me, Doctor Sanders?" The nurse approached the doctor who was still waiting for confirmation from the family.

"Ya? What is it? The patient cannot wait any longer," the doctor replied sternly.

"This... a ten-million-dollar deposit was just transferred to the hospital account," the nurse reported while holding a tablet. "In the name of the patient, the Matriarch of the Ashworth family. The status is fully paid, including the post-operative recovery costs for the next three months."

Lianna looked up, her eyes wide with shock. "What? Who paid for it?"

Cyrus lowered the phone from his ear, his expression shifting from confusion to shock, then suddenly his eyes gleamed with a wicked plan. He cleared his throat loudly, stepping forward with his chest puffed out.

"Wow, it turns out that person really moved fast," Cyrus said in a feigned tone of relief.

"What do you mean, Cyrus?" Lianna asked hesitantly.

"I just contacted my secret business associates from an investment consortium in the capital," Cyrus lied without blinking. "Of course, they did it out of respect for me. Ten million dollars might be a lot to you, but for me, it’s just one phone call."

"You? You took care of this?" Viona looked amazed. "Oh my God, brother! You really are the hero of our family! If we relied on Lianna, Grandmother would be gone by now."

Lianna looked down, a sense of guilt reflecting on her face for having doubted her cousin. "Thank you, Cyrus. I... I didn't expect you to have such fast access."

Cassian stood there, just two meters away. He watched Cyrus smiling arrogantly, accepting praise that wasn't his at all. For a moment, Cassian’s fingers clenched inside his jacket pocket.

Nikmatilah kemuliaan palsumu untuk malam ini, Cyrus, Cassian thought coldly. The higher you climb with this lie, the more your bones will shatter when I bring you down later.

The doctor immediately instructed his team to begin the surgical procedure. The operating room doors closed, and the red light above them flickered on. A new silence enveloped them all, only this time the atmosphere was filled with a different kind of tension.

"Listen, everyone," Cyrus said, pointing at Lianna arrogantly. "Since this money is in the name of my connections, I demand total obedience at the board meeting tomorrow. Don't let anyone mention those data entry failures again. This debt of gratitude is proof of who is most fit to lead Valerian."

Cassian approached Lianna, putting an arm around her still-trembling shoulders. "Let's sit down, Lianna. The surgery will take a long time."

Lianna leaned her head on Cassian’s shoulder, sighing wearily. "Cassian, sometimes I feel so foolish. Why am I always so powerless when something important happens?"

"You’ve done your best," Cassian replied softly, although his eyes remained fixed on Cyrus, who was busy posturing in front of their other cousins.

Night crawled toward dawn when the doctor finally emerged again. He removed his mask, giving a small smile. "The Matriarch is stable."

"The surgery was a success. She is a tough fighter."

The entire Ashworth family cheered softly. Lianna nearly went limp with relief. Cassian only stared blankly toward the window, where the reflection of lightning flashes illuminated his eyes.

At that exact moment, the phone in Cassian's pocket vibrated softly again. He glanced at the hidden screen.

There was a new incoming message. It was not from the Syndicate, but from an unregistered private number, and this time there was a photo attachment that made Cassian's heart stop for a moment.

The photo showed him sitting in a hospital chair, taken from a high angle—perhaps from a surveillance camera or someone stalking him.

The text below the photo read:

A clean operation, Mr. North. But did you know that Agent D is being watched by the same enemy who killed your parents 15 years ago? You have just lured a shark into a very small pond.

Cassian immediately looked up, his eyes sweeping across the entire corridor, trying to find a suspicious figure among the crowd of medical staff and families of patients. The hair on the back of his neck stood up.

He had only activated his identity as "Mr. North" a few hours ago, and the Coven Entity had already sent a signal of war right before his eyes.

"What is it, Cassian?" Lianna asked, noticing her husband's unease. "Your face suddenly went pale."

Cassian slowly put his phone back in his pocket, locking his gaze on the emergency exit at the end of the hallway that had just slowly closed.

"It is nothing, Lianna," Cassian murmured, his voice now sounding like cold metal. "I just realized... the game has only just begun."

In the distance, through the gap of the closing emergency door, the silhouette of a tall man in a jet-black suit appeared, staring directly at Cassian for a second before vanishing into the darkness of the stairwell. Cassian knew one thing for certain: Ten million dollars tonight had not only paid for Great-Grandmother's life, but had also paid the price for an existence that could no longer be hidden.