Marcus Delaney didn't sleep.
He spent the night combing through flagged emails, phone logs, and internal messages Dev had pulled. Nothing concrete—just shadows. Whispers.
That made it worse.
At 4:00 a.m., he sent out a memo: a new policy initiative on "governance tightening," framed as a routine integrity audit.
By 8:00, Dev had delivered a list of mid-level staff Marcus suspected were loyal to Anita. Two were quietly let go. No press. No noise. Just erased.
By 9:30, Marcus was smiling at the weekly GNV press briefing, flanked by executives, pretending nothing was wrong.
But his grin was tight. The mask cracked at the edges.
At precisely 10:05 a.m., Anita made her move.
It was subtle. Elegant.
She stepped out of an elevator at a sustainability conference GNV had all but ignored for years—then walked directly onto the keynote stage, uninvited but welcomed, thanks to a discreet call the night before.
She spoke about GNV's future. Her vision. Ethical reinvestment. Long-term viability.
No one mentioned Marcus's name. But no one needed to.
The press noticed.
So did the board.
She stayed after, photographed beside investors, young founders, and key public sector partners.
The headline by noon: "GNV's Anita George Emerges as a Thought Leader for New Corporate Ethics."
And just like that, the narrative began to shift.
Marcus saw the story flash across his screen. He didn't finish reading it.
He hurled the tablet across the room, shattering it against the wall.
"Pull the video feed. Every camera angle. Find who invited her."
Dev stood at the doorway. "We think Julian Greer brokered it."
Marcus froze.
Julian. The ghost of GNV's early days. He hadn't realized how close he'd drifted back into Anita's orbit.
Marcus turned to the window, jaw clenched.
She was circling his empire.
Tightening the net.
He still had cards to play.
But for the first time in a long time, Marcus felt something he wasn't used to.
Pressure.
Anita sat in the back of a black car, scrolling through headlines on her phone. The driver didn't speak.
Julian had done his part.
The speech was only the beginning.
Next came the trap.
She smiled quietly to herself.
Not long now.