Manhattan's skyline stood like a defiant crown against the night—but even the strongest crowns crack under siege.
Dominic watched the city from the helipad on the roof of Blackwood Tower. He didn't need to see the chaos in the streets to know it was already creeping in—he felt it.
The files Daniel released had gone viral in less than six hours.
News anchors stuttered as they reported the largest coordinated corporate scandal in American history. Social media exploded. The Department of Justice launched an emergency inquiry. The SEC froze Blackwood International's key accounts.
Dominic Blackwood was trending worldwide—for all the wrong reasons.
Aria joined him, her face pale.
"They're coming for you," she said. "Politicians. Journalists. Protesters. Even your own employees."
"They'll tear this company apart," he muttered.
"Daniel's making good on his promise," she added. "He's taking everything from you."
Dominic's eyes narrowed. "Then we don't give him the pleasure."
Two hours later, Dominic called an emergency meeting of his remaining board members. Only six of the twelve showed up.
The rest had resigned.
He stood at the head of the conference table, power gone from his name but not his presence.
"I won't defend the past," he said. "Blackwood was built on blood, ambition, and betrayal. But I refuse to let it end in cowardice."
One of the members, Charles Mason, scoffed. "Your brother released classified records. We're being subpoenaed. Do you even have a plan?"
Dominic stepped forward. "Yes. We pivot. We restructure. I liquidate assets and cut ties with compromised partners. But we keep the company afloat. And we expose the other side of this war."
"What other side?"
He threw a thick dossier on the table.
Inside were surveillance photos, financial records, and documents tying WRAITH to political campaigns, arms deals, and assassinations.
"WRAITH isn't just my past," he said. "It's Daniel's present. And I'm going to show the world what he really is."
Meanwhile, Daniel held his own meeting in a penthouse across the city.
It wasn't corporate.
It was tactical.
His lieutenants sat in silence as he outlined his next steps.
"Blackwood Tower has three vulnerabilities," Daniel said. "A hidden data cache on the sub-basement level. Two safe rooms wired for offshore access. And a hidden vault behind Dominic's office."
"Should we destroy them?" one of the operatives asked.
Daniel looked out the window, into the night.
"No," he said. "We take them. Control the narrative. Control the resources. Make them bleed from within."
As the city cracked under the weight of exposure, riots began outside Blackwood Tower. Protesters filled the streets. Police lined the block. Media vans formed a fortress around the front entrance.
Aria stood beside Dominic in the control room.
"They're not leaving," she said.
"They won't have to," he replied.
He turned to the security lead. "Prepare the tunnels. If this goes south, we'll need an extraction route."
The man nodded and disappeared.
Aria looked at him. "Is this what war looks like to you?"
He met her eyes. "This is what it always looked like."
That night, someone breached the perimeter.
A silent alarm tripped on Sub-Level 2.
Dominic and Aria raced to the elevator.
They arrived at the server room to find the guards unconscious—and a message spray-painted on the wall in red:
"EITHER YOU BURN IT… OR I WILL."
Aria read the signature below.
Daniel.