2026-01-21 03:42:24The air in the luxury penthouse was cold, but the people inside were sweating. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling like frozen rain. Below them, twenty of the city’s richest investors held glasses of expensive champagne. They wore Italian suits and fake smiles.
Ronan stood near the window. He looked calm. He wore a simple black suit that made him look like a shadow in the bright room.
Next to him, Elena stood tall. She wore a dress the color of blood. She looked like a queen, but her eyes were darting around the room. She was nervous.
"Ladies and gentlemen," Elena said, raising her glass. Her voice was smooth like silk. "Forget the drama. Today, we launch the new system. Today, we double your wealth."
The investors clapped. They liked money.
Then, Ronan touched his phone. He did not look at it. He just tapped the screen once.
On the giant wall monitor, the green line stopped. It froze.
A loud beep echoed through the room. It sounded like a hospital heart monitor when a patient dies.
The green line turned red.
It did not go up. It fell. It dropped straight down like a stone thrown off a cliff.
"What is this?" an old man with a white beard shouted. He pointed a shaking finger at the screen.
Suddenly, phones began to ring. It started with one phone. Buzz. Then another. Ring. Then ten at once. It was a symphony of alarms.
"The news is out!" a woman screamed, looking at her tablet. "They say the system is leaking data! They say the Sphinx Corporation is a fraud!"
The room exploded into chaos. The polite silence was gone. Men were shouting into their phones. Women were dropping their champagne glasses. The sound of breaking glass mixed with the angry voices.
"Sell! Sell everything now!" someone yelled.
On the big screen, the numbers moved faster. The stock price was crashing. Millions of dollars were vanishing every second.
Elena froze. She looked at the screen, then at the investors. Her perfect mask began to crack. She turned to Ronan. She saw him standing there. He was not on his phone. He was not panicking. He was watching the chaos like a man watching a movie.
He typed something on a small keyboard hidden on the podium. The screen flashed. A new window opened. It showed a new countdown timer.
05:00
04:59
"Fix it!" Elena hissed at him. She stepped closer, blocking him from the crowd. "Ronan, do something!"
Ronan looked at her. His eyes were cold. "I am doing something, Elena. I am finishing it."
Realization hit her. Her eyes went wide. The fear in her chest turned into pure rage. She forgot the investors. She forgot the cameras. She forgot to be the perfect CEO.
Elena lunged at him. She grabbed his arm with both hands. Her long, manicured nails dug deep into his suit jacket, piercing through the fabric and into his skin.
"Stop this!" she screamed. Her voice was not smooth anymore. It was a screech. "You are destroying our future! Stop it now!"
The room went quiet. The investors stopped shouting. They looked at the stage. They saw their elegant leader attacking her partner. They saw a woman losing her mind.
Ronan did not pull away. He looked down at her hand gripping his arm. He looked at it with pure disgust, as if a dirty rat was touching him.
He leaned in close to her face.
"My future," Ronan said softly. His voice was low, but in the sudden silence, everyone heard it. "You destroyed your future the moment you signed the paper."
Elena frowned, confused. "What?"
"The order," Ronan said. "To have me killed."
Elena’s face went pale. All the color left her skin. She let go of his arm. She took a step back. "You... you don't know what you are talking about."
"Don't I?"
Ronan tapped a single key on the podium.
The giant screen changed again. The falling stock numbers moved to the side. A large audio wave appeared in the center.
"Listen," Ronan said to the room.
The speakers in the penthouse were high quality. They were loud. A voice filled the room. It was not a computer voice. It was a recording.
"I don't care how you do it," the voice on the speakers said.
The investors gasped. They knew that voice. It was Elena.
"Just get rid of him," the recording continued. The tone was cold and cruel. "Cut the brake lines on his car. Make it look like an accident. I want Ronan dead by morning so I can take the full shares."
The recording ended with a sharp click.
Silence hung heavy in the room. It was heavier than the crystal chandeliers.
Elena stood alone in the center of the stage. She looked small now. She looked at the investors. They were not looking at their phones anymore. They were looking at her. Their eyes were not filled with panic about money. They were filled with fear and judgment.
"No," Elena whispered. She held up her hands. "That is fake. He faked it! It’s AI!"
"It is dated from three months ago," Ronan said, his voice calm. "And I sent a copy to the police five minutes ago."
The man with the white beard stepped forward. "You tried to murder him?" he asked. His voice was full of shock. "We are doing business with a murderer?"
"No!" Elena shouted. She turned back to Ronan. Her eyes were wild. She looked like a trapped animal. "You hacked my phone. You used that... that Golden Finger program, didn't you? You stole my private life!"
"I took back my life," Ronan corrected her.
He pointed to the screen.
The countdown timer was still ticking. It was red and angry.
01:00
00:59
"What happens when it hits zero?" an investor asked, his voice trembling.
Ronan smiled. It was not a happy smile. It was the smile of a wolf who had trapped a sheep.
"When it hits zero," Ronan said, looking straight into Elena’s eyes, "all the company files go public. Every bribe you paid. Every illegal deal. And the full evidence of your order to kill me. It goes to the news, the police, and the entire internet."
Elena looked at the clock.
00:45
She looked at the door. Security guards were blocking it, but they looked confused. They didn't know who to protect.
She looked at the window. The city lights twinkled below, far, far away.
"You can't," she whispered. Tears began to form in her eyes. "Ronan, please. We were partners."
"We were never partners," Ronan said. He checked his watch. "You were the executioner. I was just the victim who survived."
00:10
The investors began to back away from Elena. They formed a circle, leaving her isolated on the stage. The sound of sirens could be heard faintly from the streets below, getting louder.
Elena looked at Ronan one last time. She saw no mercy in his eyes. She only saw her own reflection, broken and defeated.
00:03
00:02
00:01
Ronan turned his back on her as the timer hit zero. The screen flashed white.
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Chapter 10: Foundation
The neon sign outside the window buzzed like an angry fly. Bzzzt. Click. Bzzzt.Elena hated that sound. She hated the smell of the room, which was like old wet towels and stale smoke. She hated the peeling yellow wallpaper. Most of all, she hated that this was her life now.Three days ago, she was the queen of the city. She had a penthouse, a limousine, and millions of dollars. Now, she was in room 204 of the Sunset Motel."Elena, please sit down," Jax said. He sat on the edge of the lumpy bed. His expensive suit was wrinkled. He looked ten years older than he did last week. "We are out on bail. We are lucky to be here."Elena did not sit. She paced back and forth on the stained carpet. Her hair was messy. Her eyes were wide and red. She looked like a trapped animal."Lucky?" she snapped. She pointed a shaking finger at the door. "They took my company, Jax! They froze my accounts. The news calls me a fraud. I have nothing.""We have our freedom," Jax whispered. "Let’s just run. We can
Chapter 9: The New King
The air outside the Grand Lumina Hotel smelled like burning plastic and expensive perfume. Black smoke rose into the night sky. It looked like a dark stain against the moon.Ronan pushed open the heavy side door. He stepped out onto the cold pavement. The noise hit him instantly. Sirens screamed from every direction. Red and blue lights flashed, blinding anyone who looked directly at them.A crowd had gathered behind the yellow police tape. There were hundreds of them. Reporters held cameras high above their heads. They shouted questions that no one answered."Is the CEO inside?" one reporter yelled."Did the servers explode?" asked another.Ronan walked straight toward them. He wore a faded black hoodie and jeans. He kept his head down. His hands were deep in his pockets.To the crowd, he was nobody. He was just a scared guest escaping the fire. A cameraman actually shoved Ronan’s shoulder to get a better shot of the burning building."Move, kid! You're blocking the view!" the camera
Chapter 8: Served Cold
The lights in the penthouse office died instantly. A heavy click echoed through the room, followed by the low hum of the backup generator.Suddenly, red emergency lights flashed on. They bathed the luxury suite in a bloody, pulsing glow. The shadows in the corners grew long and twisted.Jax jumped back. His confident smile vanished. "What did you do, Ronan?" he shouted. His voice cracked a little.Ronan stood by the window. He did not move. He did not blink. The red light washed over his face, but he looked like a statue made of ice. He looked down at the street below."Listen," Ronan said softly.From far away, the sound grew louder. Wail. Wail. Wail.Sirens. Many of them.Jax let out a nervous laugh. He adjusted his expensive tie, trying to look brave. "You hear that? That is for you, little brother. I told you. You lost. They are coming to take you away for fraud."Ronan turned slowly. He put his hands in his pockets. He looked relaxed. "Are they?"Elena was sitting at the heavy oa
Chapter 7: The Crash
The air in the boardroom was hot and heavy. It smelled like sweat and expensive coffee. On the giant screen at the front of the room, a digital clock counted down.00:59… 00:58… 00:57.Jax sat at the main control desk. He was not looking at the crowd. He was looking at his laptop. His fingers flew across the keyboard. Click-clack-click-clack. He hit the "Enter" key hard.A red box popped up on his screen. ACCESS DENIED."No, no, no," Jax whispered. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand. His skin was wet and shiny. He typed again, faster this time. He tried to break through the firewall. He was the CTO. He was supposed to control the system. But the system was fighting back."Jax?" a board member asked from the table. "Why is the screen turning red?""Quiet!" Jax snapped. He typed a new code.ACCESS DENIED.Ronan stood on the stage. He was perfectly still. He looked like he was waiting for a meal, not destroying a billion-dollar company. He watched Jax struggle."It is a comp
Chapter 6: Panic in the Penthouse
The air in the luxury penthouse was cold, but the people inside were sweating. Crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling like frozen rain. Below them, twenty of the city’s richest investors held glasses of expensive champagne. They wore Italian suits and fake smiles.Ronan stood near the window. He looked calm. He wore a simple black suit that made him look like a shadow in the bright room. Next to him, Elena stood tall. She wore a dress the color of blood. She looked like a queen, but her eyes were darting around the room. She was nervous."Ladies and gentlemen," Elena said, raising her glass. Her voice was smooth like silk. "Forget the drama. Today, we launch the new system. Today, we double your wealth."The investors clapped. They liked money.Then, Ronan touched his phone. He did not look at it. He just tapped the screen once.On the giant wall monitor, the green line stopped. It froze.A loud beep echoed through the room. It sounded like a hospital heart monitor when a patient
Chapter 5: Source Code
The feedback noise was like a knife in every ear.Screech!The high-pitched sound blasted through the massive speakers of the Grand Hall. Investors covered their ears. Expensive champagne glasses shattered on the floor."Cut it!" Elena screamed from the side of the stage. Her face was twisted with panic. She pointed at the sound booth in the back. "Cut the mic! Turn it off now!"Inside the glass booth, the technician was frantically hitting buttons. He looked terrified. He pressed the master power switch, but the lights on his board stayed green. He grabbed his walkie-talkie. "I can't, Ms. Elena! The system is locked out. I have no control!""Pull the plug!" Elena yelled, her voice barely audible over the screeching noise."It’s not the hardware!" the technician yelled back, his face pale. "It’s the software. Prometheus… it has taken full control of the building. It won’t let me in!"Suddenly, the screeching stopped.It didn't fade away. It cut to total silence instantly.The silence
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