Chapter 22: Fractured Alliances
Lisbon's morning air was sharp and salty, the ocean breeze sweeping through the hotel balcony where Elara stood wrapped in a robe, sipping bitter coffee. The city below bustled as if unaware that high above its golden rooftops, a corporate war was brewing—one that could destroy legacies, tear down empires, and fracture the people at its center.
Lucien joined her quietly, his own cup in hand. His gaze was distant, heavy with unspoken thoughts.
"Nikolai messaged," he said without preamble.
Elara turned. "Already?"
"He verified the data overnight. Every file. Every shell company. He said he's in—on one condition."
Her stomach tightened. "What condition?"
Lucien hesitated, then met her eyes. "He wants access to the primary servers in my father's New York tower. Without that, we can't release anything to the public without it being traced—and buried."
"That's suicide, Lucien. That building is monitored twenty-four-seven."
He nodded. "I know. But it's the only way to dismantle the structure cleanly. And if we don't, Leontis will retaliate. Hard."
Elara stepped back into the room, her mind racing. "Then we'll need a plan. And allies."
Lucien raised a brow. "You have someone in mind?"
A name surfaced from her past like a ghost.
"Rachel Lin."
Lucien frowned. "Your old roommate from law school?"
"She's not just a roommate. She's a cybersecurity analyst for the Federal Oversight Bureau. If anyone can help us crack into a fortified corporate server from the inside, it's her."
Lucien considered. "Will she help you?"
"I haven't spoken to her in years," Elara admitted, "but if I can convince her that this isn't just personal, that it's about stopping something dangerous—she might."
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The Call
Rachel answered on the third ring. Her voice was exactly the same—sharp, bright, unfiltered.
"Elara? Wow. What sort of trouble are you in if you're calling me after five years?"
Elara didn't hesitate. "The kind that gets people killed."
Silence.
"Where are you?" Rachel asked.
"Lisbon."
"Jesus. Alright. I'll bite. What's going on?"
Elara took a breath and explained everything—Lucien, the contract marriage, his father's empire, the proof, Nikolai. When she finished, the line was quiet.
Then: "You always had a thing for impossible problems."
"Will you help me?"
Rachel sighed. "Send me everything you've got. I'll need forty-eight hours to set up a secure channel and a plan. And Elara?"
"Yeah?"
"If this leaks back to me… we're both dead."
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Two Days Later – The Map of War
In their temporary suite overlooking the city, Rachel's plan glowed across Lucien's laptop screen. Floor-by-floor schematics of the New York tower. Surveillance schedules. Entry points.
Lucien whistled. "She's good."
"She's the best," Elara said with quiet pride. "But there's a problem."
Rachel's message continued: "There's a mole in your father's upper circle. Someone's leaking information about you. Every move you've made since the contract marriage—it's been tracked."
Lucien leaned forward, jaw clenched. "That explains how they found the safe house."
"Exactly," Elara said. "We can't trust anyone. Not your board, not your staff, not even… Nikolai."
Lucien looked away, anger simmering beneath his skin. "Then we go underground. We use only what we control. We cut out everything else."
Elara stared at the screen, the blueprints of power and betrayal blinking like a countdown.
"Then it starts now," she said. "We take back what they stole. And we burn down the empire—brick by brick."
Lucien reached for her hand.
"Together," he said.
"Together."
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