The car door clicked shut, the sound swallowed immediately by the thick, damp air. Elias didn't bother looking back at the armored sedan that had dropped him off a quarter mile away. It was just another expensive shield, and here, shields didn't matter. Only the sword did.He stood at the edge of the sprawling estate that Dorian called a "Summit venue." It was less a meeting place for world leaders and more a fortress designed by a paranoid tyrant. The perimeter was a joke, frankly. Chain link fences topped with razor wire, infrared tripwires woven through the brush, drone paths that looked busy but were predictable once you knew the algorithm. Dorian had always been so loud about his security. All the flash, none of the substance.Elias crouched behind a monstrously large, manicured hedge that probably cost someone six figures to trim. He slipped a black glove onto his left hand, feeling the familiar, smooth leather. It had been a long time since he’d needed this particular set of sk

Elias stepped into the central server room without hesitation. The hum of machines filled the space, lights blinking in precise patterns, and monitors lined the walls displaying streams of data. Every cable, every terminal, every layer of security was under his scrutiny within seconds.Dorian stood at the far end of the room, arms crossed, a smug smile on his face. Behind him, several guards waited silently, their confidence fueled by his assurance. In the center, Sera remained restrained but alert, her eyes tracking Elias’s movements, silently urging him forward.“Ah, Elias,” Dorian said, voice smooth and cold. “You finally made it. I was beginning to think you couldn’t.”Elias didn’t respond with emotion. He didn’t need to. His gaze was sharp, unwavering, measuring every detail in the room, including Dorian. “Where’s Sera?” he asked calmly, almost as if he had expected the answer.“She’s safe… for now,” Dorian said, smiling wider. “And you’ll see exactly why you’ve lost. Everything

The air in the ballroom tasted like burnt ozone and panic.The main doors, which had moments ago been a battlefield, were now held by men in dark, perfectly tailored suits—not the usual local security, but the kind who moved like shadows and spoke into their cuffs with clipped, almost bored efficiency.They were Vance operatives, Elias’s people, deep cover all along, and they were cleaning the house.Elias stood near the edge of the dais.He didn’t look like the man Sera knew, the one who worried about burning toast or laughed too loudly at bad movies or the guy that did whatever to get her attention.This man was a statue carved from ice, his attention split between an incoming comm and the line of disgraced officials being silently escorted out.“Secure the perimeter, zero leaks. Get a full status report on the assets seized from Dorian’s primary holdings, I want numbers by the hour.”His voice was low, absolutely flat. It wasn’t a question or even an order—it was a statement of ine

Elias and Sera were officially living together now, under the same roof, but the atmosphere was dense with change.Elias had the entire world at his fingertips again, and Sera was busy trying to salvage what was left of her father’s little real estate firm, which had been left dangling by the corporate coup.This morning, the penthouse was silent except for the quick, rhythmic sound of Elias’s footsteps as he strapped on his watch—not the simple waterproof one he’d worn as a Shaw, but a ridiculously complex, heavy thing that probably cost more than the average house.He stood by the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, looking out over the city. It didn’t look like a collection of buildings; it looked like a complex organism that he controlled, the nervous system responding to his every command. The feeling of that power was intoxicating, overwhelming, and utterly addictive.Three years. The number echoed in his mind, sharp and ugly. Three years he had lived in the shadow of his own potenti

Dorian kicked the chair in the small room as he was thinking about the time he had spent in prison and the humiliation he had faced while he was in prison.He needed to make Elias pay using his sweat and blood. Elias was going to regret ever messing with him.He took a laptop and began to type, sending different codes to different people. He knew that the majority of the people in the company were not happy with Elias' return and wanted him dead.The first message he sent out was by 2:45 AMHe crafted each of the messages, he had been planning this ever since he was in prison. He knew the tricks that he was going to use in order to infiltrate the nooks and crannies of the system.Senator Vaughn will receive his own in the morning, the perfect timing to interrupt his morning coffee. The message was simple: "Vance heir has bitten more than he can chew, interested in revenge??"By 3:15 AM the first confirmation text had arrived. Vaughn had taken the bait.A smirk was seen on Dorian lips a