The storm outside the Callahan Tower intensified as clouds rolled across the late afternoon sky, casting long shadows over the glass walls while Finn, Nadia, and Henry continued sorting through the mountain of documents that Ruth had left behind. Their minds were still shaken from the revelation buried in the ledger—Ruth’s hidden child, Elias Crowne’s signature on multiple financial records, and the unmistakable signature of Finn’s father anchoring the darkest pages of the past.The weight of the discovery settled heavily on the room, yet none of them had the luxury of processing the emotional fallout, because time was no longer on their side. Shawn’s taunts were too targeted, too precise, and too informed for comfort, which meant Ruth’s secrets were now vulnerable, and their enemies were far more prepared than Finn ever imagined.Footsteps echoed sharply outside the conference room before the door swung open with abrupt force, revealing Audrey standing pale and breathless. Her usuall

The drive to the outskirts of the city felt painfully long despite the nearly empty highway, and Finn found himself gripping the steering wheel tightly as the scenery shifted from corporate steel to quiet residential blocks and then to older, worn-down neighborhoods untouched by modernization. Every mile that passed only deepened the knot in his stomach, because the further they traveled from the familiar world of Callahan Group, the closer they came to a truth Ruth had buried with deliberate desperation.Nadia sat beside him in silence, her expression etched with a mixture of determination and unease, while Henry followed behind them in another car, scanning the encrypted files they had downloaded before the system intrusion alert forced them to disconnect.The name “Marion Hale” appeared repeatedly in Ruth’s older logs—always coded, always marked confidential, always linked to moments of emotional distress that Ruth had documented in her private diary with trembling handwriting Finn

The temporary safehouse that Henry secured for the night was nothing more than an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the industrial district, yet the moment Finn stepped inside he felt the system energy radiating faintly through the concrete walls, a subtle residue left behind by old grid lines embedded beneath the structure decades ago when Callahan Group still owned half the district.The building was silent except for the distant hum of broken neon signs flickering outside, casting pale blue light through cracked windows that painted the room with a cold, ghostly glow. Nadia immediately activated a portable jammer, its pulse spreading outward like invisible ripples that disrupted long-distance scanners and system-based surveillance, ensuring no one could track them through traditional or aura-based means.Henry set up his equipment at a metal table while Finn paced slowly across the room, each step heavy with the knowledge that the attempted assassination was only the opening

The boardroom had barely emptied when the aftershocks of the confrontation began to settle across the Callahan executive floor like a slow-moving tremor, shaking the foundation of everything Finn once believed was stable.Even though he had survived the vote and secured his position, Finn could feel the undercurrent of unease rippling beneath every polished surface, every whispering corridor, every flickering system panel embedded in the walls.The coup attempt may have failed, but Hans’s desperate last words clung to Finn’s ribs like iron hooks, reminding him that the real war was being waged in places far darker than board meetings and corporate politics.Nadia walked beside him with sharp vigilance, Henry a few steps behind carrying the case of evidence that had saved Finn from immediate downfall, though the atmosphere around them remained tense as employees pretended not to stare at Finn while their auras vibrated with confusion and fear.The building itself seemed to react, its l

The road leading to Ruth Callahan’s secluded cottage wound through a dense corridor of towering pine trees, their branches swaying in the frigid wind as though whispering warnings from a time long buried beneath the shadows of the forest.Finn drove in tense silence, his hands gripping the wheel too tightly, his mind racing with everything they had uncovered—Luxon’s infiltration, Elias’s involvement, the impossible transactions made after Ruth’s death, and the revelation that somewhere in the world lived a child Ruth had spent her final years desperately trying to protect.The further they drove from the city, the heavier Finn’s chest felt, as if each mile peeled back another layer of the past he wasn’t sure he wanted to see. Nadia sat beside him, watching the darkening sky with narrowed eyes, her instincts on high alert, while Henry followed a short distance behind them in another car, constantly scanning system channels for any signs of tracking or hostile interference.When they fi