The new location was quiet. Too quiet for someone who'd just declared war on stagnation.
Lucas stood alone in a glass elevator, thirty stories up in a sleek satellite building on the west edge of the corporate campus. Behind him: a private analytics suite Cyrus had never put on any blueprint.
The walls shimmered with passive-screen tech, invisible until activated.
ATHENA's voice emerged like silk over steel.
"New access granted. Welcome to Observation Node One. This facility was used by Cyrus Han for strategic decision calibration, predictive modeling, and surveillance on key corporate and political adversaries."
Lucas raised an eyebrow as the room came online.
One wall exploded into global heat maps—energy grids, financial clusters, trending data feeds. The center screen pulsed with blinking faces.
Not names. Faces.
Familiar ones.
Competitors. Allies. Enemies. Potential lovers. Government regulators. Tech CEOs.
"This is illegal," Lucas murmured.
ATHENA replied without flinching."Unregulated. Not illegal. Legacy mode is still active. Would you like to filter the feed?"
"Filter for Frances Luo."
The room shifted.
Charts loaded.
Bank transfers. Conversations. Real-time facial tension tracking.
Lucas took a slow breath. "She's calling in favors."
"Affirmative. Leverage attempts initiated. Legal pathways being probed through dormant offshore accounts. She's aligning with two former board members and one family-controlled equity group based in Singapore."
"Counter?"
"You've already countered. Your public stance on the Blackwell project has triggered a 3.8% spike in investor trust. Frances's financial partners are showing early hesitation. By tomorrow, two will pull back."
Lucas paced once, then stopped at the far wall.
"Give me an overview of global reactions to the meeting."
The wall shifted again.
Social feeds. Financial blogs. Anonymous chatter on encrypted investment forums. All swirling around one name:
Lucas Pan.
ATHENA began reciting:
"Keyword dominance in North American and Middle Eastern energy sectors. Media trust rating: +17%. Internal sentiment: rising fear. External sentiment: rising curiosity. Thirty-seven new strategic meetings requested. Four covert feelers from political liaisons. Two potential marriage probes from second-tier royal houses. One surprise visitor arriving at this location in—"
The elevator chimed.
Lucas turned.
The door slid open.
A woman stepped out.
Tailored suit. Sunglasses. Confident as a missile.
He recognized her face from a security file he hadn't had time to open.
ATHENA's voice turned to crystal."Talia Ren. CEO of the Wujing Global Trust. Holder of 4.2% voting rights in Han Technologies. Also... your late father's former negotiating partner. She arrived without an appointment."
Lucas didn't blink.
But his mind sharpened.
Talia took off her glasses, eyes sharp as razors.
"You've been busy," she said. "I thought it was time we had a real conversation."
Talia Ren didn't wait for permission to step fully into the room. She moved like someone who already knew the security codes, whose heels belonged on marble.
Lucas didn't offer a handshake. Just watched.
Talia removed her sunglasses slowly, folding them with precision. "I'm not here as a shareholder," she said. "Though, yes, Wujing controls just over four percent."
She paused, letting the numbers hang—deliberate, not boastful.
"I'm here," she continued, "because your father once promised me something I didn't ask for. And never delivered it."
ATHENA pulsed silently in his ear."Cross-referencing all past contractual entanglements. No open agreements found. Possible verbal pact or informal debt."
Lucas tilted his head slightly. "You'll have to be more specific."
Talia smiled, but it didn't soften her face.
"Twenty-three years ago, Cyrus Han signed the first backdoor licensing deal with my grandfather's shell firm. You won't find it on paper—we didn't want it there. He used that leverage to launch two startups with our tech foundations. Very smart. Very dirty."
Lucas crossed his arms, listening.
"I didn't care," she went on, "until your father made one mistake. He promised me a seat at his real table. And then he married Frances."
ATHENA, quietly:"Emotional variable detected. Historical romantic tension: confirmed."
"So you were in love with him."
"I was in power with him," she corrected. "Love complicates things. He knew that. I respected him for it—until he gave everything to a boy I'd never met."
Lucas didn't flinch. "You want it back?"
Talia smiled. "No. I want something new."
She stepped closer.
"You've shaken the boardroom, the press, and your enemies. But you're going to need capital no one tracks. Influence no one audits. And allies who don't show up on quarterly reports."
Lucas kept his expression neutral. "And you're offering that."
"I'm offering a favor your father couldn't afford to repay. You can."
He studied her face, parsing what she wasn't saying.
"What's the price?"
She handed him a slim data card.
"You take a meeting next week in Zurich. No PR, no ATHENA, no cameras. Just you. And the ones who make sure real money moves quietly."
Lucas weighed the card in his fingers.
ATHENA whispered:"Caution advised. Potential gains: extremely high. Risk level: above board-level clearance. Recommend strategic preparation."
Talia turned.
At the elevator, she paused—one hand lightly brushing the panel, the other resting at her hip. Her gaze slid over her shoulder, landing on Lucas with a gleam that was more calculated than casual.
"Oh—and Lucas?" she said, voice like velvet dragged across steel. "Don't bring your stepmother. That part of Cyrus's legacy is already expired."
Lucas didn't move from his spot, just gave a faint, amused lift of one brow.
"You know," he said, voice low and smooth, "my father was a lot of things—brilliant, driven, legendary. But for you?" His eyes flicked over her perfectly tailored silhouette. "He was a little too old."
Talia's lips parted—first with mock offense, then curling into a sharp, wicked smile.
"Mmm. That's what made him interesting," she said, turning fully to face him now. "But you? You're dangerous for a very different reason."
Lucas tilted his head. "Which is?"
"You're just the right age to know better," she murmured, stepping backward into the elevator, the doors beginning to close around her, "and still stupid enough to say yes."
The elevator sealed shut with a whisper.
ATHENA's voice slid into his ear, perfectly timed."Vital signs: elevated. Hormonal response: 9.6% spike. Strategic restraint: barely maintained."
Lucas exhaled, a crooked grin flashing for a second before it disappeared again into something more focused.
He straightened his jacket, turned away from the elevator, and muttered—
"She's going to be a problem."
ATHENA replied immediately."Correct. And also… statistically irresistible."
Lucas turned toward the wall interface, still half-grinning. "File her."
ATHENA responded instantly."Compiling all open-source and internal data: Talia Ren, CEO of Wujing Global Trust. Primary assets include real estate holdings in twelve countries, a shadow banking arm connected to maritime logistics, and personal equity in over twenty-seven stealth-funded tech firms. Fluent in four languages. Currently unmarried. Highly ranked in internal threat-stability matrix."
Lucas raised an eyebrow. "That's the sanitized version. Give me something real."
There was a brief pause. Then—
"Cyrus Han maintained a private file. Not archived digitally. Video format. Labeled: 'Ren, Talia – Conditional Contingency.'"
Lucas froze. "Play it."
A soft hum pulsed through the walls as ATHENA unlocked a sealed partition from Cyrus's legacy node. The lights dimmed slightly.
Then the screen activated—grainy at first, then sharpening.
Cyrus appeared. Younger than Lucas remembered. Shirt sleeves rolled, collar open, leaning against a glass desk with a whiskey in hand. The skyline outside was dusk.
He looked straight into the camera.
"If you're watching this, kid… it means she came to you, not the other way around."
Lucas stepped closer.
"She's smart. Smarter than most people in any room. And if she wants something, she's already planned three ways to get it. Don't trust her. But don't lose her either."
Cyrus paused, then smiled faintly. "She never loved me. Not like that. But we were sharp together. The kind of sharp that cuts everything in the way."
He took a slow sip. "If you get the chance to cut with her—be better than I was. Aim for precision."
The screen went black.
ATHENA's voice returned, quieter this time."Cyrus rated her as both an asset and a liability. But he never deactivated the file."
Lucas stood silent for a moment, hands in his pockets, eyes still on the empty screen.
Then he muttered, "Send flowers. Something expensive and complicated."
ATHENA replied, deadpan."Arrangement ordered. I've also selected a card: 'Danger suits you. Let's make a mess worth remembering.'"
Lucas smiled without showing teeth.
"Also," he said casually, turning away from the screen, "schedule flowers for the hundred-day mark since we met. Her birthday. Valentine's Day too."
ATHENA responded immediately."Confirmed. Floral arrangements will escalate subtly in rarity and symbolic nuance. Card messages drafted in three tonal variations: poetic, ambiguous, and devastatingly suggestive."
"And remind me three days in advance each time," Lucas added.
"Naturally."
Lucas walked toward the elevator, hands in his pockets.
ATHENA's voice followed him, crisp and smug."You're either making an ally… or starting a war the diplomatic way."
"I'm doing both," Lucas said. "But I'm going to look good doing it."
The elevator doors closed behind him.
And the game moved forward again.