The storm broke at midnight.Not in the sky — but in him.
Julian Thorne entered the Thorne Group tower like a blade drawn from its sheath.Security doors hissed open one by one as he strode through the halls, his expression carved in ice.He'd spent the entire evening reviewing the file Elara had "hidden" — every forged number, every shadowed transaction, every timestamp that screamed guilt.
If she wanted war, he was done pretending peace.
Elara was still in her office when the door slammed open.
She didn't flinch.She simply looked up from her paperwork and said quietly, "You're early."
Julian's eyes burned like frost. "You're reckless."
He threw the folder onto her desk. The papers scattered, flashing with the fake account statements she'd planted.
"What is this?" he demanded.
Elara's tone was even. "Evidence."
"Of what?"
"Of how far you'll go when you think someone's turning on you."
Julian slammed his hands against the desk. "Don't test me, Elara. Not again."
"Again?" she said softly, rising to her feet. "You mean the last time I trusted you and lost everything?"
His jaw clenched. "You walked away."
"I crawled away," she corrected. "There's a difference."
Silence cracked between them — sharp, brittle, dangerous.Julian stepped closer, too close, his voice low but shaking with control.
"I gave you everything."
"No," Elara whispered. "You took everything, then convinced me to thank you for it."
For a moment, the façade broke. Julian's eyes flickered — not anger, but something deeper. Regret. Memory.
"You don't understand," he muttered. "You were supposed to be safe—"
"Safe?" she laughed bitterly. "I was supposed to be silent."
Julian's hand curled into a fist. "You think I don't know what you're doing? I saw the encryption trail. The late-night access. You're feeding someone data."
Elara's expression didn't move. "If I were, you wouldn't be standing here accusing me — you'd already be ruined."
That stopped him. Just for a heartbeat.The woman before him wasn't the Elara he remembered — the one who used to whisper apologies even when she wasn't wrong.This one looked like she'd already walked through hell and learned to dance in the flames.
Julian took a step back, studying her. "You've changed."
"No," she said quietly. "I've remembered who I was before you made me forget."
He left without another word, the echo of his footsteps fading into the storm outside.But as Elara stood alone in the office, her composure finally cracked — not from fear, but from something she didn't want to name.
Julian was angry.But worse — he was watching.
The trap was working…But so was his.
He leaned back, smiling to himself."Perfect," he murmured. "Let the king and queen destroy each other. Then the crown will be mine."