The morning after the tribunal, the sky over Draxon's estate cracked open with a heavy downpour. Raindrops tapped on the windows like fingers reminding Elias Thorne that time was running out.
Elias stood in his private chamber, staring at the city through the tall glass panels. He hadn't slept. He didn't need to. The fire inside him burned hotter than exhaustion.
Behind him, Jude entered with a tablet in hand. "We have a problem," he said without preamble.
Elias didn't turn. "Of course we do."
Jude handed him the screen. "A leak. Again. Not a video this time it's a list. Names. Associates. Assets. Off-the-books acquisitions."
Elias scanned the document. Some entries were real. Some were fabrications. All of it dangerous.
"This isn't just sabotage," Elias muttered. "They're drawing a map. A war map."
Elsewhere, Inside Duchess Corporation Headquarters. Celeste Rain leaned over her desk, eyes gleaming.
"You underestimate him," said her assistant, a pale young woman named Emery. "Thorne's not folding. If anything, he's growing stronger."
Celeste clicked her tongue. "And that's why we escalate."
She pointed to a dossier on her desk marked "Operation Silence."
"Launch this tonight. I want Magritte discredited by sunrise."
"But she hasn't"
Celeste's eyes narrowed. "I don't need a reason to ruin her. I need a stage. And we're building one."
Back at the Estate,The Basement Vault, Lewis and Magritte were deep in the underbelly of Draxon headquarters, tracing code through analog backups and black market tools.
"I've confirmed the pattern," Lewis said, pointing to a messy but conclusive string of data. "They're planning to use Phantom Ledger to cause a market collapse and pin it on Elias."
Magritte gritted her teeth. "The Tribunal won't believe he didn't order it."
"They don't have to believe," Lewis said. "They just need the illusion."
Magritte stood, pacing. "We need to turn the illusion against them."
"How?"
She smirked. "We feed them a false trigger. One that leads back to Maxwell's private fund."
Lewis blinked. "You want to out-con the cons?"
She nodded. "Let's make them chase their own ghosts."
Later That Day, The Draxon Executive Office, Valerie Dexter entered Elias' office, dressed sharply in emerald silk. She dropped a file onto his desk.
"Your allies in Parliament just pulled their support," she said. "You're being painted as a destabilizer."
Elias flipped through the file. "Of course I am."
Valerie crossed her arms. "You need to push back. Publicly. Stop playing defense."
"Too early," Elias said. "We let them grow confident."
"You keep saying that," Valerie said coldly. "But what if they get so confident they destroy everything?"
Elias leaned forward. "Then we make sure they burn with it."
A long pause.
"I don't know whether to be scared of you or impressed," Valerie said softly.
"Be both," Elias replied.
Duchess Corporation's Private Server Farm: Midnight, Magritte, dressed in all black, moved like a whisper through the shadows. She bypassed security with tools only a rogue agent could obtain tools from her forgotten past.
Lewis whispered in her earpiece. "You've got two minutes before the patrol returns."
"Plenty," she said.
Inside the server room, she planted a duplicate trojan one coded to mimic Phantom Ledger, but instead of draining accounts, it would redirect internal transaction data straight to the Financial Tribunal.
"Poetic justice," she whispered.
On her way out, she paused before Celeste's private terminal.
A voice in her ear, Don't. It's not the mission.
Magritte hesitated. Then smiled.
"This part is personal."
She uploaded a fragment a corrupted memory from Celeste's old files. Just enough to plant seeds of doubt among her own allies.
Next Morning, Chaos Unfolds, The news hit like a lightning bolt.
BREAKING: Internal Duchess Documents Leaked Celeste Rain's Hidden Fund Linked to Shadow Transactions
Parliament in Uproar, Motion to Suspend Duchess Corporation Licenses Underway.
In her penthouse, Celeste screamed, hurling a vase at the wall.
"How?" she shouted.
Emery trembled. "It's Magritte. She must have gotten in."
Celeste grabbed a cigar cutter and slammed it down on the table.
"Then it's time we kill the ghost. Permanently."
At Draxon Headquarters, Elias walked into the boardroom as silence fell. The directors looked at him differently now. Not as a man under fire, but as someone who had survived it.
"You have something to say?" one of them asked.
Elias nodded. "I've bled in the shadows for this company. And I will keep bleeding if it means watching our enemies drown in their own lies."
He dropped a folder on the table.
"Inside is evidence of Duchess Corporation's internal sabotage campaign, routed through offshore proxies. You'll find names, transactions, and a confessional from a former agent."
Gasps. Eyes widened.
"I'm not the problem," Elias said. "I'm the reckoning."
That Night. In the Garden, Magritte found Elias sitting on the marble bench beneath the moonlight.
She slid beside him. "We did it."
"For now," he said. "They'll regroup."
She looked at him. "You're changing, Elias. You've grown colder."
"I have to be," he said. "The world doesn't reward warmth anymore."
Magritte took his hand.
"Then let me be your warmth."
Elias turned, his gaze softening. "You already are."
They leaned in and kissed, not as warriors but as two broken people clinging to something real.