Ms. CEO’s Baby Daddy Is the Merchant of Death – Episode 59
The submarine surfaced beside the resupply platform under Arctic darkness. Vale’s crew connected the medical line before detecting the hidden task-force vessels. Cypher blocked their first distress transmission.
Scarlett listened to Evelyn’s heartbeat while boarding teams approached. Connor remained under the commander’s authority and waited for the signal. Every second tested the restraint he had spent months learning.
Vale discovered the trap and sealed the submarine. He broadcast another choice: investigators could board the vessel or preserve the platform’s medical stores. An overload would poison the surrounding sea.
Scarlett recognized a diversion rather than a true dilemma. Asterion’s environmental systems isolated the platform tanks while the task force disabled their detonators. Vale’s predictions had not accounted for shared expertise.
Connor led one boarding team only after receiving the commander’s order. They entered through the medical connection and met armed resistance. He disabled guards without lethal force whenever possible.
Scarlett followed the medical technician toward Evelyn’s signal. The corridors carried photographs of the scientists Vale had stolen. He displayed captivity as an archive of genius.
They reached an empty treatment room. Blood, restraints, and the missing bracelet confirmed Evelyn had been there moments earlier. A floor hatch led toward an underwater escape pod.
Vale appeared on the wall screen holding Evelyn upright. He accused Scarlett of choosing strangers at the weather station instead of her own mother. Evelyn answered before Scarlett could.
She said her daughter had chosen exactly as she was raised to choose. No life became less valuable because Vale controlled another. Pride replaced exhaustion in her face.
The escape pod launched from the submarine. Cypher tracked it toward a narrow channel beneath the ice. Connor’s team could pursue, but the submarine reactor began overheating.
Crew members who had surrendered remained aboard. Connor ordered evacuation rather than chase the pod. Scarlett saw the old calculation return and watched him reject it.
The task force moved everyone to the platform while engineers stabilized the reactor. Vale gained distance, but the rescued crew revealed his destination. The escape pod lacked range for any other route.
He was heading toward a second underwater laboratory beneath the ice shelf. It contained Lighthouse’s original processing core. Evelyn had designed its architecture under coercion.
One crew member surrendered a physical navigation cylinder. It could guide a submersible through the ice channel. The path allowed only a single small craft.
The commander assigned Scarlett, Connor, Cypher, and two officers. They entered the channel knowing surface communication would fail. Summer received their final scheduled message before they descended.
She told them to bring Grandma home and reminded Connor of his recorded promise. He answered that he remembered. Scarlett promised to call when they returned, not before.
The laboratory appeared inside a cavern illuminated by Lighthouse servers. Vale’s pod was docked, but automated defenses guarded the entrance. Cypher used Constellation to identify their civilian components.
Scarlett disabled the defenses through Evelyn’s inherited access. The team entered and found dozens of active profiles predicting their movements. Vale knew which corridor each person would choose.
Connor deliberately selected the least tactically efficient path. Scarlett followed without asking because unpredictability had become their advantage. The system’s confidence began to fall.
Behind the final door, Evelyn sat connected to Lighthouse’s core while Vale prepared an injection. He welcomed Scarlett and announced that removing her mother would activate every prediction she had spent twelve years containing.