The elevator chimed, soft and harmless, too harmless for a night that would destroy everything. Ray Graham stepped out with a bouquet crushed in one hand and rain dripping from his hair.The city lights bled across the penthouse windows, all silver and deceit. He’d left the office early; a surprise dinner, a small peace offering after weeks of silence. The door was unlocked. That wasn’t normal. He pushed it open.Laughter floated from the bedroom, low, intimate, the kind of sound that used to belong to him. For a heartbeat he couldn’t move. Then he heard her voice. “Stay a little longer,” Daniela whispered.Ray’s chest tightened. The bouquet fell, red petals scattering across the marble like blood drops. He walked forward, slow and quiet.From the half-open door, he saw them: Daniela, silk robe sliding off her shoulder, and a man he didn’t recognize buttoning his shirt with a smug grin. Neither noticed Ray. “Daniela,” he said finally.The name hit the air like a gunshot. The stranger

Leon stepped closer, voice like a knife. “You already did. You fought for a woman who betrayed you, for a family that spat in your face. You just chose the wrong battlefield.”The truth landed heavy. Ray hated that it sounded right. Cole cleared his throat softly. “Sir, he needs time.”Leon ignored him. “The Rosses are sharks. They’ll come after you to make sure you stay buried. You can either run or rise.”Ray’s hands curled into fists. “You think I’m scared?”Leon smiled faintly. “I think you’re waking up.”He slid a small black card across the table. “This opens the vault at the West District Bank. Inside, you’ll find the original Graham charter, and something else, proof that the Ross empire was built on stolen patents.”Ray didn’t take it. “Why not give it to the authorities?”Leon’s eyes hardened. “Because in this world, the law is just another weapon. The only justice that works… is power.”The silence between them turned electric. Finally, Ray said quietly, “And if I walk away

Ray frowned. “That sounds like something that could fix the world.”“It could,” she said quietly, “if it wasn’t designed to destroy the people running it first.”He stared. “Destroy them how?”“Financial collapse. Exposure. Deletion of identity records.” Her tone was flat. “Phoenix doesn’t just rebuild, it purges. It decides who deserves to exist in the system.”Ray leaned forward. “And Leon put me at the center of that?”Evelyn nodded. “Your DNA was the key code. The system activates through you. That’s why they need you alive, or erased, depending on who gets to you first.”Ray sank back, the air thick around him. “So I’m not a person to them. I’m a trigger.”“Essentially.”He let out a shaky laugh. “Perfect. I finally inherit something, and it’s a digital apocalypse.”Evelyn smiled faintly. “That’s one way to see it.”A sound interrupted them, a soft thud on the roof. Then another. Ray froze. “Tell me that’s the rain.”Evelyn listened. “No pattern. That’s footsteps.”She shut the l

The world came back in fragments. Light first, bright, white, endless. Then the sound of static. Ray blinked, but his vision didn’t clear. He was standing… or maybe floating.The air shimmered like heat above asphalt. When he reached for the wall, his hand passed through nothing. “System calibration: unstable,” a voice whispered, disembodied, female, familiar.“Evelyn?” he called. His voice rippled, multiplied into a thousand echoes that answered him.No response. He took a step forward and the floor materialized under him, a polished marble hallway, endless and empty. At the far end, a single door pulsed with blue light.He moved toward it, heart pounding. Every step triggered flickers in the air, snapshots of memory. Daniela laughing with another man.Leon turning away. A boardroom full of strangers signing documents over his name. He stopped, breath catching. “This isn’t real.”“No,” came a soft voice behind him, “it’s worse.”He turned. Evelyn stood there, wearing the same dark ja

The world returned in fragments. Light first, too bright, like a camera flash to the eyes. Then sound, steady, mechanical, rhythmic. A heartbeat monitor.Ray Graham woke to the smell of antiseptic and silence. He blinked slowly. White ceiling. White walls. The subtle hum of machines.He wasn’t in the digital city anymore. He was back in the real world. At least, it looked like it. He tried to sit up, but his wrists were strapped to the bed. Okay, he thought, so maybe not completely free. The door hissed open.A man entered, tall, broad-shouldered, hair streaked silver. His posture radiated command, like someone who’d never had to ask twice for anything. Ray froze. It couldn’t be. “Hello, son,” Leon Graham said quietly.“Dad,” Ray whispered. “You’re supposed to be dead.”Leon chuckled. “So are you. Yet here we are.”Ray stared. The last time he’d seen his father, he’d been standing over a casket. “How”Leon raised a hand. “Later. You’ve been offline for three days. We had to rebuild yo