Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death – Episode 54
The international task force rejected a direct assault on three ships without confirmed hostages. Connor would once have ignored them. This time, he helped Scarlett build the evidence they required.
Asterion transmitted a fragment of the false Constellation package through Vale’s channel. Its embedded markers activated only when opened on a system using Evelyn’s credentials. Cypher waited for the response.
Richard contacted diplomats who could authorize inspections without concealing his involvement. He provided records and accepted that governments might investigate the Reed Foundation as well. Influence became evidence rather than pressure.
Connor’s travel restriction confined him to the command center. Frustration made every wall feel like Vale’s design. Scarlett reminded him that physical presence was not the only form of protection.
He developed boarding plans for each vessel and gave operational authority to a task-force commander. The arrangement forced him to advise rather than command. Cypher privately called it Connor’s hardest mission.
The first ship carried ordinary medical supplies and a frightened crew unaware of its owner’s crimes. The second registration concealed an empty warehouse. Vale had built uncertainty into every record.
The third vessel changed course after opening Scarlett’s file. Its transponder vanished near an international shipping lane. A satellite caught a smaller craft leaving its stern.
Scarlett wanted to board the ship herself. The task force allowed her aboard only after the crew secured its weapons. Connor did not object, though fear tightened his voice.
Before leaving, Scarlett told Summer where she was going in simple terms. She promised to call after the search, even if they found nothing. Summer saved the promise in her watch.
Connor stayed home until Lily arrived, then returned to the command center. He refused to make Summer experience another unexplained departure. She watched him leave knowing when he expected to return.
The boarding team found medical equipment, restraints, and rooms stripped minutes earlier. Evelyn had been held there, but Vale had transferred her to the smaller craft. Blood on one bed matched Scarlett’s family line.
Scarlett discovered scratches beneath the bedrail. They formed the same stars Evelyn once drew above her childhood desk. One star pointed away from the others.
Cypher compared the pattern with shipping maps. It indicated a chain of research vessels rotating between hidden resupply points. Vale had used the ocean as a moving prison for years.
Investigators recovered Lighthouse files from a damaged server. The program combined medical data, financial behavior, communications, and family history. It assigned threat probabilities to individual people.
Connor’s profile predicted rebellion against Vale at ninety-eight percent. Scarlett’s predicted she would preserve Constellation despite any personal loss. Summer’s file remained encrypted.
Vale called from the smaller craft. He mocked Connor for allowing laws to keep him away from his wife. Connor answered that restraint was a choice Vale had never understood.
Scarlett told Vale the package contained only a sample. The rest would unlock after Evelyn entered a phrase live. Vale agreed to another connection and moved the deadline back two hours.
Evelyn appeared briefly and spoke the phrase. She also touched three beads on her bracelet in a deliberate order. Summer, watching the delayed family-safe feed, noticed the gesture.
She told Lily that Grandma kept changing the bracelet game. Lily alerted Cypher before dismissing the observation as childish. The bead colors corresponded to navigation lights used on ships.
Connor plotted their order and found a route leading north, far beyond the research fleet’s registered range. Evelyn had turned Vale’s own camera into a compass.