Chapter 81"If you look at your phone one more time, Rian, I am throwing it into the caldera. I don’t care how much it costs to replace the encryption software. It’s going into the water."Elvina didn’t stop walking as she issued the threat. She was five paces ahead of him on the Samosir ridge, her boots crunching over the dry pine needles. The air up here was thin, sharp, and carried the scent of wet eucalyptus and ancient volcanic stone. It was a world away from the humid, exhaust-choked streets of Medan.Rian felt the weight of the device in his pocket like a hot coal. "It’s not work. Not corporate work, anyway. It’s David. He’s asking about the irrigation budget for the second branch’s community garden.""The garden can wait forty-eight hours without a formal audit from the legendary Rian Sitepu," Elvina countered, finally stopping to look back at him. She shaded her eyes against the mountain sun, her face flushed from the climb. "And David needs to learn to handle a hose without

Chapter 83"We’re going to be parents."The words didn't come out as a grand announcement. Elvina had whispered them in the quiet, dim kitchen of their Medan home, the hum of the refrigerator the only sound between them. Rian had been mid-motion, reaching for a glass of water, and he had frozen. The glass remained in his hand, his knuckles white, his gaze locked onto her face as if searching for a hidden motive or a ghost of a joke."You’re sure," he said, his voice flat, stripped of all the inflection he used in his old life to intimidate board members."I’m sure," Elvina replied, a small, tired, but profoundly radiant smile breaking across her face. "Three tests. The doctor confirmed it an hour ago, Rian. We are having a baby."Rian set the glass down with extreme, measured care, not making a sound against the granite countertop. He felt a sudden, violent vertigo. For years, his life had been defined by the removal of variables, the mitigation of risk, and the calculated destruction

Chapter 85"It’s not just a floorboard, Elvina," Rian said, spinning his chair around to face her. The glow from the monitor cast sharp, angular shadows across his face, highlighting the tension that still sat in his jaw. "The nursery has two large windows facing the street. I’ve already contacted a contractor to install reinforced, shatter-proof tempered glass with internal alarm sensors. It’s a standard precaution."Elvina let out a sharp, incredulous laugh, shaking her head. She walked over to the desk, leaned down, and clicked the laptop shut. The sudden darkness in the room felt like a physical relief. "A precaution against what, exactly? A roving band of burglars targeting our hand-carved crib? Or are you expecting Ginting’s ghost to materialize in the backyard?""Ginting is in a cage," Rian replied, his voice dropping into that low, dangerous register she hadn't heard in months. "But the world is unpredictable. You know that. I’ve spent my life neutralizing threats before they

Chapter 87: The Cost of Iron"You are draining our savings account for steel beams and motion-tracking cameras," Elvina said, stepping squarely into Rian's path as he tried to walk past her toward the garage. She held up her phone, the banking application glaringly open on the screen with a series of massive, unauthorized wire transfers. "Fifteen thousand dollars in forty-eight hours, Rian. For matte-black alloy panels and thermal sensors. Explain this to me right now."Rian paused, his shoulders stiffening beneath his fitted shirt, though he refused to look down at the phone in her hand. "The local currency fluctuations made it an optimal time to lock in the material costs. If we wait, inflation—""Don't talk to me about inflation!" Elvina’s voice rose, sharp and cracking with a mixture of profound exhaustion and rising fury. She grabbed his arm, forcing him to look at her face. "That account was for the baby's college fund, for medical emergencies, for everyday life! You are turning

Chapter 89: The Ghost in the Blueprint"Where people wave from their manicured lawns and bake cookies for the neighborhood association?" Elvina demanded, her fingers digging tighter into the fabric of his sleeve until her knuckles turned white. "Is that what you call a bubble? Because right now, the only person living in an absolute delusion is the man standing in front of me, frantically reinforcing walls against an enemy that exists entirely inside his own head!"Rian’s jaw tightened, a muscle ticking violently beneath his clean-shaven cheek. "You don't understand the reach of the systems I left behind, Elvina. People like the ones I used to work with—people who control information and assets on a global scale—they don't just let you walk away and play suburban domesticity. They watch. They wait. And when you least expect it, they close the loop.""We are in Medan, Rian! Not a high-stakes corporate espionage thriller in Geneva!" Elvina’s voice cracked, the raw frustration finally gi