The plan had been set in motion, and now it was time to execute. Elias paced the length of his office, his mind still running through the final details, but his body felt like it was moving on autopilot. Every step, every decision had been calculated, and now there was no room for error.Lana’s message had been clear: *Don’t wait. Do it now.*He’d been in this position before—facing down an opponent with everything on the line—but this time, it felt different. This time, it wasn’t just business. This was personal.The phone buzzed on his desk, interrupting his thoughts. It was a text from Lana.*It’s time. We’re going public.*Elias stared at the screen, his breath held for a moment. He couldn’t afford to hesitate. Not now. Not after everything he’d gone through.He grabbed his coat, stepped out of his office, and made his way to the elevator. His heart was pounding in his chest, but his face remained calm, his mind focused. He knew what was at stake.---Lana was already in the car w

Elias did not sleep that night. He had not meant to admit it aloud, but the truth had a way of making itself known: for the first time in months he felt dangerously close to something like momentum. The evidence Elise had handed over was the hinge; the clip forensically dismantled and Burns’ warrants in motion were the hammer. What remained was the long, messy work of turning motion into consequence.At dawn the office hummed like an animal waking. Lana arrived with two interns and a duffel of hard drives. Burns came with a lawyer in tow and a quiet, efficient exhaustion that told Elias the department had been running on fumes for weeks. Daniel and a small, sober group from operations arrived to stand witness, to show the board in the clearest terms that Elias was not acting alone.They set up a war room: screens along the walls, lists of names, timelines of transfers, and a single long table where everyone stood or sat in rotation, reading, arguing, cross-checking. The energy in the

The drive back to his apartment was a blur. Elias’s mind was racing, his pulse still pounding from the encounter at the docks. He couldn’t shake the feeling that something wasn’t right. Yes, he had taken control. Yes, he had won this round. But Mara wasn’t the type to bow out quietly. She was dangerous—methodical, calculating. He wasn’t convinced that what he had done was enough to stop her.When he arrived home, he barely noticed the time. The world outside his apartment felt like it had fallen into another dimension, one where everything was moving slower. He stepped inside, locked the door behind him, and sank into the armchair, rubbing his face with his hands.His phone buzzed again, pulling him from the chaos of his thoughts. The message was from Lana.*“Are you okay?”*He stared at the screen for a moment, his fingers hovering over the keypad. He wanted to reassure her—wanted to tell her that it was over, that he had handled things. But there was something in the back of his min

Elias stood at the window, staring out at the city skyline as the weight of the conversation pressed on him.The room was filled with the quiet buzz of activity—people moving in and out of the conference room, their murmurs barely reaching his ears. His mind, however, was elsewhere. It wasn’t the project or the future of the company that consumed him now. It was the shadow of his past creeping back into his life with Mara and Daniel pulling the strings.The thought of Daniel made Elias’s skin crawl. It had been years since he’d seen him, but the memories of how Daniel had manipulated his way into his life—of how he had pretended to be a mentor while quietly orchestrating his downfall—were still fresh. There had been a time when Elias had trusted him completely, when Daniel had been the father figure he never had. But now, the thought of that trust made Elias sick to his stomach. He had been nothing but a pawn in a game that Daniel was always destined to win.But this time, Elias wasn’

Elias stood in front of the door to the warehouse, his hand still resting on the cold, steel handle. He could feel the weight of the night pressing down on him. Mara’s threats had rattled him, but they had also solidified something deep inside—he was done running from his past, done allowing anyone to dictate his future. Not her, not Daniel, not anyone.His phone buzzed in his pocket, dragging him out of his thoughts. He pulled it out and saw Lana’s name on the screen. His thumb hovered over the call button for a moment before he answered.“Elias,” Lana’s voice crackled through the phone, her tone urgent. “We need to talk. It’s about Mara.”“I know,” Elias replied, his voice tight. “I’m on my way to meet her. I can’t keep running from this. Not anymore.”There was a brief pause on the other end. Lana didn’t speak right away, but he could hear the hesitation in her silence. “You’re sure about this?”“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” Elias said, his resolve hardening.