The rain had stopped by dawn, but the sky still hung heavy with clouds. The Imperial Crest tower rose through the mist like a monument scarred by survival. Inside, the world had shifted. Fear had seeped into the walls; whispers followed every passing shadow.John sat alone in the main conference lounge, a single lamp glowing beside him. The flash drive lay on the table, small and unassuming — yet it held the kind of truth that could bury empires.He’d spent the entire night decrypting what he could. Half the data was corrupted beyond repair, but fragments remained. He scrolled through the recovered files again — coded bank transactions, shipping manifests, and an encrypted calendar log. One phrase appeared over and over.“Summit — Dubai. 15th.”John leaned back slowly. The fifteenth was three days away.Rita entered quietly, a folder in her hand. She looked better rested, but still carried the weight of everything they’d lost.“Anything new?” she asked.John nodded. “A meeting in Duba

The world was still trying to understand how an empire could function without its king.Three weeks had passed since John Raymond’s supposed death, yet The Imperial Crest hadn’t fallen. It was weaker, yes — but still breathing. Rita kept the company afloat with quiet authority, while Morgan worked behind the scenes to guard their digital walls.But in the shadows, the real war had already begun.At 2:17 a.m., inside The Crest’s server chamber, Morgan sat before five glowing screens. The hum of machines filled the air. Data flowed across the monitors in rapid streams, each one representing a firewall, a countermeasure, or a trap.He typed in a new command. A red alert blinked instantly.“Come on,” he muttered. “Show me where you’re hiding.”The worm was clever — invisible to normal systems, buried under legitimate codes. But Morgan wasn’t just anyone. He had written half of The Crest’s encryption himself.Lines of text flashed, then froze. A single signature appeared on-screen.Origin:

The sun rose behind the steel towers of the city, its light cutting through the skyline like a blade. Inside The Imperial Crest, something had shifted. People walked faster, whispered quieter, and checked every email twice before sending. It was as if the building itself could feel the change in the air — the weight of something coming.John Raymond was back.No announcement. No press. No grand reveal. Just quiet movement. Shadows in motion. Files are being rerouted. Power returning to the veins of the company like blood finding its way back to the heart.In the executive boardroom, Rita stood by the window, watching the city below. Morgan entered, holding a tablet.“Another resignation,” he said flatly. “The head of logistics just quit without notice. Third one this week.”Rita frowned. “They’re scared.”“Of what?”“Not what,” she said. “Who?”Before Morgan could respond, the elevator chimed. The doors opened — and John stepped out.He wore a tailored black suit, nothing flashy, bu

The morning rose over the city with a strange, brittle stillness. It felt as if the world sensed something heavy stirring beneath the surface, something that would not be contained once released. At The Imperial Crest, tension clung to every corridor like an invisible fog. Staff whispered, security tightened, and every pair of eyes darted toward the upper floors where the real war was gathering strength.John stood in the conference suite, reviewing the final draft of the audit report. The document exposed every hidden transaction tied to Lionwell Capital, every shell company the Benefactor had built, and every internal leak he had used to infiltrate The Crest. It was a declaration of war in the purest form, and once it went public, there would be no turning back.Morgan entered with a stack of printed summaries. “Media teams are already waiting. Once you release this, the market will react instantly.”John nodded. “Let it react. The truth needs air.”Rita joined them shortly after, h

The storm outside The Imperial Crest was getting worse. Rain hammered the windows with relentless force, and thunder rumbled across the clouds like warning drums. Inside the tower, alarm bells flashed quietly through the internal systems. Most staff did not notice the change, but the few who did moved faster, sensing danger creeping through the veins of the building.John paced the executive suite with a controlled intensity, the kind that made the air vibrate. Morgan sat at the desk, fingers racing over the keyboard as he pulled live feeds from the building’s infrastructure. Rita stood beside him, arms crossed, her eyes sharp and alert.“Tell me you have something,” John said.“I have everything and nothing,” Morgan replied. “The elevator Prosper is in has been taken off the main grid. It was shifted to a shadow line that only high clearance staff can access.”Rita narrowed her eyes. “Which means the Benefactor did not need to be inside the building to do this.”Morgan nodded. “He is