Chapter 27: Family

Casey stayed with the Taskforce—Kalan, Tristan, Carolina, Emerson, Angus, and Theodore—as they were transported to the President's office. The air was tense, an unspoken weight pressing down on them.

When they arrived, President Donald Trump Jr. was seated behind his desk, but it was clear that he wasn’t in control. The room felt like a live wire, charged with an undercurrent of anxiety and confusion. Six people surrounded the president, each wearing individual badges emblazoned with their unique avatar symbols, symbols that Casey recognised.

The moment the Taskforce saw these people, the room erupted. Voices overlapped in a chaotic uproar, and anger, disbelief, joy, and confusion mixed in a frenzied exchange.

Casey didn’t recognise any of the Alliance members, but the Taskforce did. The source of their knowledge of government affairs became clear—they were either Trumps or Murdochs. From the Murdochs was Emerson’s father, James; his sister, Anneka; and his and Kalan’s cousin, Clementine. From the Trumps: Tristan’s brother, Spencer, and cousin, Arabella, along with Carolina’s brother, Luke.

These were people who had lived in the shadow of power, who had been at the heart of the system long before the coup.

What was happening around her felt surreal. Some were shouting, others were crying, and a few exchanged desperate, hurried hugs. The president remained seated, his face pale, his expression a mix of exhaustion and resignation. His two sons stood over him, silently exchanging glances—Spencer, an Alliance member, looked at his brother Tristan, his face full of empathy. Tristan, in turn, stood motionless as if frozen by the weight of the moment.

The room buzzed with an electric charge, a strange mixture of relief and disbelief. The president was no longer in power, but it was hard to ignore the fact that family members stood on opposite sides of the divide. Casey suddenly understood why the Alliance had repeatedly emphasised the need for a peaceful takeover: They wanted to protect those they loved.

And then, Ruth entered the room. Her presence was commanding, an undeniable force in the midst of chaos. With a voice that seemed to reverberate through the walls, she shouted, “Attention, everyone! Please calm down. All will be explained.”

For a moment, the room seemed to hold its breath. Ruth stood tall and unwavering, her eyes scanning the room with authority. Although she was no stranger to command, the emotional undercurrent in this room was unlike anything Casey had witnessed before.

It took time before the room was finally silent enough for Ruth to speak. As she did, Casey could see the confusion etched on the faces of the Taskforce members. They had no idea what was truly happening, no inkling that the people closest to them were fighting on the other side of the ideological divide. And in that moment, everything seemed to fall into place for Casey.

It wasn’t just politics that had shaped the Taskforce—it was their families. Powerful dynasties had ensured their involvement in the fight, even if their loyalties had been carefully hidden. It all made sense now: the Taskforce members' naivety and blind faith in the system. Their families had wanted it that way. They had kept them sheltered from the truth, protecting them in their own way.

Casey knew why such a strong emphasis on a peaceful transition. The old powers, the ones who had shaped the world from behind the scenes, wanted to protect their own. They wanted to ensure their families would survive whatever came next, no matter the cost.

It all came down to family. In the end, it was families who had built the world they had fought so hard to bring down—and now, families would be the ones to rebuild it. But that was a story for another time.