The day after the calculated destruction of the Goliath News Network stock, air in the Titan penthouse thick with the scent of victory the residue of adrenaline. The Titan team, utilizing documents stolen in Operation Ledger, successfully submitted their detailed anonymous report to the Financial Crimes Oversight Board (FCOB).
The response immediate. By 11:00 AM, the Sterling Group's stock suspended pending a massive regulatory review. News alerts flashed across every screen: "Sterling Group Implodes Amid Unprecedented Fraud Allegations." "The first domino has fallen," Julian stated, watching the market news with detached satisfaction. He stood by the panoramic window, the city his chess board. "The FCOB moving faster than I predicted. The internal rot being exposed before they could spin the narrative."
Eliza, however, couldn't shake the chill left by the last scene of Chapter 4—the image of Vicki collapsing in pain. The thrill of corporate victory muted by the cold horrifying reality that she not just ruining a person, but deliberately engineering a terminal illness. "Julian, I need the medical records," Eliza stated, walking to the console. "Vicki rushed to the Seraphim Clinic yesterday. We need to know the official diagnosis. We need confirmation that the transfer working, how fast it progressing."
Julian looked skeptical. "That a highly protected clinic, Eliza. It would take a week to legally subpoena those records, the intrusion would alert them to our true motive." "I don't need a subpoena, I need a ghost," Eliza countered. "The Seraphim Clinic's system operates on an outdated 2005 architecture I studied during my university internship; they only patched the firewall. The legacy maintenance portal they plan to decommission in 2020 still open. Give me ten minutes an encrypted connection to the clinic's server; I can pull the diagnostic scans through a back channel they never closed." Julian, recognizing the technical competence necessary recklessness, nodded. "A ghost it is, Mrs. Seo. If you tracked, the full force of the Sterling Group will come down on us, not just for corporate sabotage, but for medical data theft."
*The Digital Ghost*
Eliza worked with terrifying speed, her fingers flying across the custom keyboard. She bypassed firewalls, exploited legacy ports she herself created years ago, within nine minutes, had the comprehensive digital file on Victoria Hayes. She pulled up the latest image: a high-resolution MRI of Vicki's brain. Eliza stared at the screen, her breath hitching in her throat. There it was: a faint spider-web-like cluster of abnormal cells near the frontal lobe—exactly the same morphology as the lesion that developed in her own body during her terminal illness in the original timeline.
The pain, the fatigue, the death—it all now tethered to Vicki Hayes. "It confirmed," Eliza whispered, her voice strained. "The diagnosis aggressively early-stage, fast-growing. It the same fate, Julian. We done it. We fully transferred the core misfortune." Julian stepped closer, looking at the scan, his expression softening not with pity, but with a complex mix of dread vindication. "This confirms the danger of what we doing. The misfortune real, Eliza, it relentless. The transfer not just a switch; it a compressed disaster for her. Our moves accelerated the fate timeline massively. We have to finish the job before it finds a new way to snap back at us." Eliza closed the file quickly, a wave of nausea washing over her. She wished her cousin to ruin, but seeing the cold clinical proof of her eventual death a brutal self-inflicted blow. I am a survivor, she is the sacrifice.
*The Corporate Schism*
The FCOB investigation had an immediate crippling effect. Assets frozen, key executives detained, the Sterling Group's primary patriarch, Arthur Sterling (Vicki's grandfather the founder of the empire), forced to call an emergency board meeting. Julian Eliza, though not present, able to listen in using Julian's covert listening technology placed weeks ago—a necessary precaution against a future where the Sterlings tried to bug Titan Investments. The meeting a cacophony of fear betrayal.
"Director Sterling, you assured us the Philippines subsidiary clean!" boomed the voice of Mr. Park, a longtime board member. "I was misled! The documents falsified by the accounting division to secure the Titan merger!" Director Sterling shouted back, desperately trying to save himself. "This the fault of that woman, Eliza Chen! She working with Julian Seo! They used her past knowledge to orchestrate this sabotage!"
Then, the cold powerful voice of Arthur Sterling, the Patriarch, cut through the noise. "Silence! You sound like a child blaming his toys. The only reason this 'nobody' analyst had access to information that could dismantle us because you trusted her, then betrayed her, then failed to erase her! You created this ghost, Director." The confrontation escalated quickly, culminating in the formal fracturing of the corporate power. "Director Sterling," Arthur announced with chilling authority. "Effective immediately, you suspended from all decision-making roles. The board requires a clean scapegoat. We will sacrifice you to the FCOB to protect the primary assets." "Father, you can't! I your son! I built this!" Director Sterling pleaded. "You failed. You showed weakness. And you made enemies of people you should have destroyed. Your daughter, Victoria, also suspended from all operational duties pending her 'health crisis.' The future of the Sterling Group now rests with my remaining loyalists."
The schism complete. Vicki's father, the man Eliza originally sought revenge against, now ruined, sacrificed by his own family to save the larger empire. This an unforeseen acceleration of the future—Eliza's revenge faster deeper than expected.
*A New Moral Line*
Later that evening, the penthouse quiet, the screens displaying benign market data. Eliza felt emotionally drained. She sought revenge on her killer (Director Sterling), he now a fallen man, stripped of power. She secured the fate swap, condemning her rival (Vicki) to her own past terminal illness. She sat on the edge of the couch, holding a glass of water, the silence heavy between her Julian. "The first stage complete," Julian observed, his tone measuring her reaction. "The ledgers have been weaponized, the Sterling Group fractured, the man who ordered your death ruined. Your primary objectives met."
Eliza looked up, her gaze haunted. "But the fate swap isn't complete until her death, Julian. The patriarch, Arthur Sterling, still standing. He will reorganize he will target us, relentlessly." "He will," Julian agreed. "And we now fighting a purely defensive war against a man who knows nothing about the future, which gives us an insurmountable advantage." Eliza stood, walking to the windows, looking out at the glittering uncaring city. "I never wanted her to suffer... that much. The fate swap a necessity, but seeing the scan… it makes me feel like the killer, Julian."
Julian walked to her side, his presence a silent wall of stability. "You not the killer, Eliza. You a survivor. The universe demanded a sacrifice for your second chance, you simply ensured the one who betrayed you the one who paid. We can't stop the fate now; it tethered to her. But we can ensure we stay one step ahead of Arthur Sterling." He turned her gently to face him, his eyes serious. "We must shift our strategy. Arthur Sterling will need new leverage. He will try to separate us. He will try to find a weakness in Titan. We need to secure an asset he cannot touch, something that solidifies our legal power." "What did he try to acquire in the future, Julian?" Eliza asked, focusing on strategy to escape the moral weight. "What asset was untouchable?" "The Daejong Telecom majority stake," Julian replied immediately, accessing a future memory. "In 2018, Arthur tried to acquire it to leverage political influence, but he failed due to a sudden cash shortage. If we acquire it now, we cut off his future political leverage secure a key pillar of Titan's power." "Then we buy Daejong Telecom," Eliza said, her resolve returning. "We don't wait for Arthur Sterling to find his feet. We finish the corporate annihilation secure our future."
The moral line drawn, Eliza knew she crossed it. But with her former killer ruined her rival fated, she now had only one path left: survival. The next move had to be about permanent unassailable power.