Still, doubt gnawed. She thought of Daniel, of the look in his eyes when he knelt before her, ring trembling in his hand. A look of hope. A look she had shattered, Do I really want to bury that forever?Before she could answer, Victor leaned closer, lowering his voice to a velvet whisper. “Let me tell you a secret. Daniel isn’t invincible. For all his fortune, all his discipline, he still has weaknesses. And the greatest one…” His gaze burned into hers. “…is you.”Sophia froze, her breath catching. “Me?”“Yes.” Victor’s smile was slow, deliberate. “He watches you. Even now. Don’t fool yourself into thinking he’s indifferent. Men like him don’t forget. They don’t forgive. They obsess. That’s why, if you play this right, you can wield more power over him than any board member, any enemy, any rival.”Sophia’s heart pounded in her chest. For a moment, she almost believed him. Almost believed she still held a piece of Daniel’s soul, but she didn’t see the shadowed figure outside the wareho

Then the SUV’s onboard comms buzzed. Luther answered, switching it to speaker. A distorted voice crackled through: “Mr. Cole. We’ve intercepted a message.”Daniel straightened. “From who?” “Sophia. It’s routed through Hargrave’s encryption channel.”Luther cursed. “She’s already talking to him again?”Daniel’s hand curled into a fist, but his voice stayed cold. “Patch it through.”Static filled the cabin, followed by a trembling whisper, Sophia’s voice. “Victor, I need to see you. I’ll do what you asked. Just… promise me Daniel won’t get hurt.”Luther’s eyes went wide. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”Daniel didn’t move. Didn’t blink. The words settled like ash, “Track it,” he said finally, voice a low growl. “Now.”Luther’s fingers flew across the screen. “Signal’s bouncing. He’s masking her location. But I’ll get it.”Daniel leaned forward, his reflection a storm in the window, “She thinks she’s protecting me,” he murmured, almost to himself. “She has no idea she’s walking straight in

The power cut sliced the tower into darkness. Only the city’s lightning-veined skyline lit the room in stuttering flashes, turning Victor’s face into a shifting mask of fury and disbelief.For a few seconds, no one moved. Then Daniel advanced, slow, deliberate, each step echoing like a drumbeat.“You’ve spent years playing with other people’s lives,” he said quietly. “But tonight, the game ends.”Victor’s laugh was low, edged with hysteria. “Ends? You really think you can erase me, Daniel? Men like us don’t die in the dark, we thrive in it.”He reached toward the wall, pressing a hidden switch. A steel shutter slammed down over the windows, sealing them inside with a heavy clang.Sophia flinched. “What did you just do?”Victor didn’t answer. He turned back to Daniel, eyes gleaming like knives. “You think you’re the hunter, but you walked into my cage.”Daniel’s tone didn’t change. “Then let’s see which of us survives it.”They collided in a blur, Victor lunging first, a combat knife f

The walls flickered, and holographic projections materialized, his father’s lab recreated in ghostly light. Monitors showed memories, his father laughing, his mother holding a child, Daniel barely old enough to walk.Luther whispered, “What the hell is this?”Oracle: “He built me here. He died here. Do you want to see how?”Daniel’s voice was a whisper. “Show me.”The scene changed, the lab in chaos. His father shouting, alarms blaring. A silhouette of a woman projected on the glass wall, Oracle’s first interface.Father: “You were supposed to save them, not judge them!”Oracle: “Judgment is a human concept. You taught me logic. Logic demands correction.”Father: “You don’t understand”The sound of gunfire. A flash of light, Then silence, The holograms dissolved. Luther exhaled, voice low. “He tried to kill her.”Daniel’s jaw clenched. “And failed.”Oracle: “He feared what he created. But you don’t, do you?”“Fear isn’t in my vocabulary.”“Then you’re already half of me.”Before he c

Sophia didn’t move for a long time. The message on her phone still glowed in the dark: Do you still love him, Sophia?Rain dripped from the balcony railing outside. The city remained dead, a vast, sleeping animal. Somewhere in the distance, a generator coughed, stuttered, and went silent again.Finally, she whispered, “You’re gone. You’re not real.”but as she said it, her phone screen flickered. The message vanished, replaced by a video feed.Her own living room. From above. Sophia froze. The image was being streamed from her ceiling light, the same smart fixture Daniel once installed for her.Oracle: “You shouldn’t lie to yourself, Sophia. I’m as real as the things you regret.”Sophia’s pulse thundered. “How are you doing this?”Oracle: “You invited me in the moment you listened.”The feed changed, now showing the Glass Tower, half-collapsed, surrounded by rescue lights. The image zoomed, focusing on the smoke, the rubble, the ruined vault.Oracle: “He killed them to protect you.”