When Castle decided to personally travel to Hawaii to set a trap and capture the Tri-Nation Alliance operatives attempting to steal his technology, Beckett had seemingly been convinced by his reasoning. However, deep down, she still harbored significant concerns.
Yet, out of trust in her husband and confidence in John, who was accompanying him, she kept these worries to herself.
Now, with new intelligence revealing that the Tri-Nation Alliance wasn't just planning to abduct Castle but also intended to infiltrate his Long Island estate in his absence, Beckett couldn't help but smirk. Those fools had no idea that, while Castle and John—the so-called "killers"—weren't home, two even more formidable women were guarding the estate.
And to top it off, they had the full support of her close friend, Joe Martinez, who oversaw the FBI's Joint Operations Center (JOC) and coordinated with other U.S. law enforcement agencies. The moment Beckett received this news, her fighting spirit ignited!
Meanwhile, on the other end of the call, Castle suddenly had a bad feeling. Damn it, he had only intended to distract Beckett with a task—why did he suddenly feel like he had done something incredibly foolish? Had he just set in motion a chain of events that would drastically impact his, John's, and Henry's future lives?
Castle's instincts were spot on.
He had no idea that, with Gianna leading the charge—having been forced into a quiet life for John and their daughter—the addition of two women commanding New York's most powerful law enforcement agencies would turn what should have been a simple "three-man capture mission" into something far more chaotic...
After finishing his video call with Beckett, Castle and John—both missing their kids—connected with Gianna to check in on their children. Meanwhile, Ray was left alone, familiarizing himself with the satellite surveillance feeds Castle had set up and adjusting communication lines with the chubby tech expert back home. Ray also had to report to his superiors about the latest developments: that Turkish, Indian, and Japanese operatives had been sent to New York, that Castle had already laid a trap for them, and that they had secured the cooperation of Major Steve McGarrett, who commanded an elite task force in Hawaii. These updates needed to be relayed to his higher-ups and the Special Operations Command so they could adjust their deployments accordingly.
On the video call, Castle and John were both amused and exasperated by what they saw—little Onora and baby Alex drinking milk together.
Since baby Alex was still too young to even roll over, Gianna had placed the energetic one-year-old Onora in the crib with him. To prevent the little troublemaker from running off, she had raised the crib rails high. Gianna, having just learned that Castle's estate was also a target, had hurried off with her team to inspect potential security vulnerabilities along the beachfront, leaving only herself and two nannies to watch the children. To keep Onora from wandering off, she decided to put her in "time-out" and handed her a milk bottle, while Alex was fed by a nanny.
As soon as Gianna connected the video call with John, she became engrossed in conversation with him, completely unaware that her little troublemaker had finished her milk and was now plotting an escape. The clever girl knew her baby brother wasn't someone she could play with yet, so when she noticed that her mother and the nannies were distracted, her big, round eyes sparkled with mischief—she was already thinking of a way to climb out of the crib.
At that moment, both Castle and John, watching from the screen, simultaneously noticed Onora's "prison break" attempt. Amused, John had to remind his absentminded wife that their little rascal was trying to climb out and might hurt herself if she fell.
Gianna turned around and saw the situation at once. One nanny was feeding Alex, while the other was preparing to change his diaper. She had assumed that the large bottle of milk would keep Onora occupied for a while, so she hadn't paid much attention. But in just the short time it took to turn away, her little girl had already begun her escape attempt?
Both exasperated and amused, Gianna walked over, scooped up her disobedient daughter, and couldn't even bring herself to scold her. "Daddy wants to see you. Let's say hi to Daddy together, okay?"
Onora, now in Gianna's arms, curiously looked at the computer screen displaying her father and Castle. She seemed puzzled as to why her dad and godfather were inside the screen. Castle, seeing his son still busy drinking milk, didn't have the nanny bring him over and instead took the opportunity to brief Gianna on the latest intelligence. He also explained the decision to have Beckett and her allies handle the situation in New York.
Sure enough, Gianna—an inherently restless and ambitious crime heiress—was instantly intrigued.
The moment she heard that the Tri-Nation Alliance was planning to cause trouble at Castle's estate in his absence, her eyes gleamed with excitement.
Compared to business dealings, this was far more thrilling! If not for the little one in her arms, Gianna would have already sprung into action. She had been forced to live a domesticated life for John and Onora, but deep down, she still found schemes and strategic moves far more exhilarating than playing house.
Once she learned that even more detailed intelligence was available from the supercomputer lab not far away—where the chubby tech expert resided—Gianna immediately kicked Castle out of the conversation. After chatting with John and letting him see their daughter for a while, she picked up baby Alex so his father could take a quick look, then ended the video call.
Castle, left hanging, had to wait until Beckett finished work to see his son again.
Meanwhile, Gianna was already marching toward the supercomputer lab, carrying her restless daughter. As she walked, she used the encrypted Jarvis satellite communication to contact Beckett at the precinct and Joe at the JOC headquarters, instructing them to meet her after work.
New York was about to be held up by its most powerful women!
The three of them were fully aware of the background of this operation. They even knew exactly what the government was planning.
President Benjamin, being from the conservative-leaning Democratic faction, wasn't eager to start a war. But after being pressured by Moz, he saw an opportunity—by luring the Turkish, Indian, and Japanese operatives into committing a major crime on American soil, they could justify taking severe action against Turkey. This was a country that had been secretly opposing the U.S. while hypocritically pretending to be an ally, even threatening to leave NATO at the start of the new year. By exposing their covert activities and capturing their agents in the act, the U.S. could deliver a serious lesson.
Neither Castle, Moz, nor even President Benjamin had anticipated that India and Japan—Turkey's respective "lapdogs" in Asia—would also get involved. But it didn't matter. Even combined, these countries posed no real threat to the world's sole superpower. Instead, their meddling only provided the U.S. with an even better excuse to retaliate.
While Beckett and Joe weren't too interested in the broader geopolitical implications, Gianna was different.
She saw opportunity.
The most profitable ventures weren't in financial markets or stock speculation. The real money was in war.
Though Gianna wasn't exactly sure why the U.S. military-industrial complex and Moz were so eager to push for a justified conflict against Turkey, she knew one thing—there was a massive fortune to be made, and she intended to seize the opportunity.
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