The office was quiet except for the low hum of the air-conditioning and the occasional rustle of paper from Bryan’s end of the long table. Ven preferred it that way as silence gave him room to think, and thinking was the most dangerous weapon he had.“Where are we with the acquisition plan?” Ven asked without looking up from the spread of documents in front of him.Bryan closed the file he’d been scanning and slid it across. “Our proxies have secured just under three percent of Brown Empire’s circulating shares. Not enough to raise eyebrows, but enough to start influencing certain committees… especially if we keep placing the right people on them.”Ven allowed himself a small nod. “Three percent is enough to plant seeds. We’re not aiming for takeover yet, it's just to control the flow of decision making. I want Davis and Victory thinking their enemies are inside the building with them.”Bryan leaned back. “That brings me to the other thing. I’ve been tracking movement in one of their

The elevator doors slid shut, sealing Daniella away from Ven’s office and the low, steady voice that had just given her the most dangerous order she’d ever carried out. She kept her expression neutral, but her mind was already moving on the order, not on whether to do it, but how.She’d been with Ven long enough to know his plans were never spur-of-the-moment. Bryan might have been his right hand in logistics, but Daniella is his other hand precise, quiet, unseen. If Bryan was the man who built the machine, she was the one who made sure its blades found their target.They’d both started in the same place at the special unit. Back then, she thought Ven was just another ambitious mind with a knack for reading people. She didn’t know the truth until the prison saga.Daniella stepped out into the cool night air, she didn’t head home. Not yet.Her first stop was a small, unassuming wine bar tucked between a boutique furniture shop and a shuttered bookstore. To anyone else, it was just anot