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Chapter 161
Karl’s POVAce being out of the country should have made the week quieter, but quiet was never the same as control, and control was the only thing I trusted.I sat in the upper room with Rafael and went through the reports one by one, domestic routes, gathered info about Sinclair’s local operations, and Lena’s movement log for the last forty-eight hours.“Push the secondary attack on his city holdings,” I said, “don’t make it loud, just enough to force his people into cleanup mode while he’s stuck in meetings across the ocean.”Rafael nodded, then hesitated. “We already tried two approaches already boss, both got shut down before they even landed.”I looked up. “Shut down by who?”“Jacobi. He’s active, more active than usual, he’s intercepting the all our hits and closing the gaps faster than we can open them.”Of course it was him. Sinclair’s dog had a habit of staying useful even when the owner was gone.“Then stop testing him with small work,” I said, “if he’s standing in the way,
Chapter 160
Ace’s POVThe second day in Tokyo started clean and turned into a grind before noon, Qing’s people walked in with revised numbers that didn’t match what we had already agreed on the day before.There were small shifts in the risk split, a softer timeline on their end and a harder one on mine, and every change came wrapped in the same polite smile like nothing had moved at all.I sat across from them and kept my voice even.“These terms aren’t what we discussed yesterday.”Qing’s senior aide, Sato, folded his hands and answered without raising his tone, “Market conditions shifted overnight, Mr. Sinclair, we adjusted to protect both sides.”“Protect both sides would mean you talk to me before you rewrite the page,” I said, “this looks like someone fed you a different read on my position.”Sato didn’t flinch. “We only respond to available information.”Available information huhI leaned back and let the silence sit while I ran the possible sources in my head.Local competitors made sense
Chapter 159
Jonathan’s POVThe private room above the club was quiet enough to hear ice settle in a glass. I arrived first, took the seat facing the door, and waited.Marcus walked in without hurry, He closed the door, sat across from me, and smiled like this was a social call.“You got my messages,” he said.I turned my glass once. “What can I say? I got series of messages from a number that wasn’t known to me but was obvious I was known to whoever the sender is, also the interest in Ace’s instability without ever signing a name.” I met his eyes. “I had a feeling it was you. This meeting confirms it.”Marcus didn’t look embarrassed. If anything, he looked pleased I’d caught up. “You’re as good as they say.”“They?”“Irrelevant, I needed to know if you were open to a conversation before I put my face on it.”“And now?”“Now I’m saying it to your face,” he said, leaning back. “Ace is fine when he’s boxed in, the problem starts when he takes every hit and turns it into a ladder.”“I feel you on tha
Chapter 158
Jacobi’s POVThe lead took me to a warehouse off the old service road near the rail yard, the kind of place that looked abandoned until you noticed the illegal things going on.Ace was in Japan and that meant the city side sat on me.I went in alone because the contact had said one man, maybe two, and also because backup made noise Hale’s people would hear coming. My ribs still remembered the last yard fight. The forearm scar pulled when I flexed my hand but none of that mattered once the door shut behind me.The first man stepped out from behind a stack of crates with a metal pipe already swinging.I took the hit on the shoulder instead of the head and drove forward, shoulder into his chest, both of us hitting the concrete hard. He tried to knee me but I blocked it, slammed his wrist against the floor until the pipe spun away, and put my forearm across his throat long enough to make the fight leave his eyes. He went numb, he wasn’t finished for good but for now.A second shape cam
Chapter 157
Clara’s POVI found out from a photo, not a message from Ace, not a formal notice, just a tagged industry post someone forwarded with a polite, poisonous little note, “Didn’t realize it had gotten this bad”.I sat at my desk staring at the image of him stepping out of a car in Tokyo, jacket sharp.He had left the country without me, and he was still digging into the pregnancy claim while he did it.My hands shook once before I forced them still to call Tamara.She answered on the third ring, her voice came out tired. “Clara.”“He’s in Japan,” I said, standing up so fast the chair rolled back into the wall. “Alone, but that’s not even the issue.”“What is the issue then?”“He’s still pushing the investigation, Tamara, I can feel it, and you know I’m never wrong about these things.”“Slow down.”“Don’t tell me to slow down.” My voice climbed and I hated how thin it sounded. “Marcus is already eating into my father’s confidence, and now Ace is overseas collecting whatever he needs to st
Chapter 156
Ace’s POVTokyo was a city that never slept, and from the conference floor on the thirty-second level I could see the city stretched out under a pale sky, clean lines everywhere.Mr. Qing sat across from me with two of his senior people and an interpreter who barely needed to speak, his English was precise, and when he turned a page in the folder he didn’t rush the silence that followed.“Your proposal is ambitious, Mr. Sinclair,” Qing said, “but we all know that ambition without structure becomes noise, so show me the structure.”I leaned forward and walked him through the revised terms, shipping corridors, risk split, the timeline that didn’t insult either side, no theatrics, just numbers and leverage, and I kept my tone flat while I spoke.“We can deliver,” I said, “but I won’t absorb open-ended exposure to protect someone else’s delay, if your side holds the schedule, my side holds the price.”Qing watched me for a long moment, then gave a small nod, “direct, I prefer direct.”We
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