The triumphant headlines from the CEO Charity Ball—splashed with photos of Julian and Eliza's passionate convincing kiss—temporarily silenced Arthur Sterling's annulment claims. But the victory short-lived, replaced by the cold dread of an unknown threat. The name Mark Sterling surfaced in a desperate coded message sent from the Seraphim Clinic, a last-ditch attempt by a weakened furious Vicki Hayes to secure an ally.
Julian, back in the Titan war room, pulled up the data file. "Mark Sterling. In my original timeline, he a political fixer a lobbyist with immense influence, but he operated entirely outside the Sterling Group's corporate structure. He joined Arthur's operation years later, bringing with him a deep network of political debts." "Vicki accelerating the future timeline again," Eliza noted, a deep furrow in her brow. "She not just adapting; she reaching out to power players before they ready. She trying to create a shield against us. Mark Sterling a political assassin; he won't attack Titan's stock, he'll attack our regulatory legal leverage."
Julian walked to the glass wall, looking out at the glittering cityscape, which suddenly felt less like a conquest more like a maze. "We need to stop him from meeting with Vicki. If he gets to the clinic, he'll recognize her desperation, confirm her story, begin plotting. We need to cut off his funding destroy his reputation before he can act."
*The Political Achilles' Heel*
Eliza Julian dove into their memories of the future, searching for the key vulnerability of Mark Sterling. They found it not in business, but in his personal history. "Mark Sterling's entire career, even his political power, built on a single massive lie," Eliza recalled, scrolling through future news archives that now seemed terrifyingly real. "He publicly claimed he inherited a vast trust fund from his deceased father to start his lobbying firm. But in reality, his father bankrupted by a massive unresolved tax fraud scandal in 2008." "He started his firm using dirty money, claiming it clean inheritance," Julian finished, his eyes lighting up with professional recognition. "And the original tax liability never settled. It simply delayed by a corrupt government official who retired a year later."
The strategy clear: they would weaponize an eight-year-old tax fraud case that had yet to come to light. They weren't just attacking a rival; they collapsing the entire foundation of his political career before it even began.
*Operation Clean Slate*
The plan, dubbed Operation Clean Slate, a two-pronged assault.
Prong One: The Financial Attack. Julian used Titan's offshore liquidity to quietly purchase the distressed decades-old debt owed by Mark Sterling's deceased father. This gave Titan Investments direct legal standing to prosecute the case.
Prong Two: The Public Leak. Eliza, with Julian's security team managing the exposure, meticulously prepared an anonymous encrypted dossier detailing the original 2008 tax fraud, the subsequent fraudulent establishment of Mark Sterling's trust fund, the precise legal filings. "We don't leak this to the press, Julian," Eliza insisted, her focus absolute. "We leak it to his rivals. We send this entire packet to the Leader of the Opposition Party—the one Mark was hired to destroy in 2018. If his enemy exposes him, it looks like a political hit job, not a corporate retaliation from us." Julian smiled, a genuine rare expression of respect that made Eliza's heart flutter briefly. "You think like a predator, Eliza. You don't just kill the enemy; you make his enemies finish the job." The dossiers sent at midnight.
*The Unexpected Visitor*
The following morning, Julian Eliza waiting for the inevitable news alerts detailing Mark Sterling's implosion when a discreet alarm went off in the penthouse. Julian's security team reported a breach: a woman in a dark coat, claiming to be Julian's distant relative, slipped past the first layer of security now in the foyer. Julian's face tightened with cold immediate alarm. "No one should know that identity. This not Arthur Sterling. This personal."
He pulled up the live feed. The woman older, elegant, but her eyes held a profound familiar sorrow. "It Mrs. Chung," Julian whispered, a tremor in his voice that Eliza never heard before. "She the wife of the man who drove the truck that hit me in my past life. I knew her from my police work; I helped her family after the accident." Eliza understood instantly: the universe correcting a moral imbalance. Julian used his second chance to save his former partner (Kyung), but the consequence of his death—the death he used to justify the fate swap—now seeking him out. "She looking for the Julian Seo who died," Eliza realized, watching the screen. "She needs closure, she found the current Julian Seo. If she mentions your 'death,' the political rivals will seize on it. We must get her out of here now."
Julian gripped the edge of the desk, battling the conflicting emotions of his two lives. "I can't let her near the press. It will expose the entire truth to Arthur. But I also can't just dismiss the wife of the man whose accident secured my second life."
*A Moral Debt*
Julian made a fast agonizing decision. He sent his Head of Security to greet Mrs. Chung, offering a private discreet meeting in a secure offsite location later that day, promising to discuss the charity fund Julian's "family" established in memory of the accident victims. The diversion worked, but the encounter shook Julian to his core. "I playing God with lives fates, Eliza," Julian said, pacing the room. "I fine manipulating Mark Sterling's tax fraud, but facing the human cost of my own supposed death… it a terrifying reminder of the line we crossed."
Eliza, seeing his emotional turmoil, walked to him placed a hand on his arm—a natural comforting gesture that now far beyond the terms of their contract. "We survivors, Julian. And if you still paying moral debts to the people from your old life, then you a good man. Arthur Sterling not. We use that goodness to keep us alive."
*Vicki's Desperation*
Later that afternoon, the news broke: Mark Sterling facing a massive career-ending tax fraud probe initiated by the Opposition Party. His entire political leverage dissolved instantly. The new variable neutralized before it could even enter the game.
But the final news alert of the day the most disturbing. Julian's security team at the Seraphim Clinic reported that Vicki Hayes, despite her neurological issues, managed to completely sabotage the clinic's communications system, causing a blackout in her wing. When the systems came back online, Vicki gone. "She forced an emergency transfer," Julian confirmed, reading the frantic report. "She used the chaos to get moved to a less secure facility—the St. Gabriel's Rehabilitation Center. She knows the Seraphim Clinic too close to her father's control, now that her communication line to Mark Sterling been cut, she running out of options."
"She making her move, Julian," Eliza said, her eyes fixed on the map of the city. "She desperate, sick, cornered. She going to strike personally physically. Where did she try to hurt me in the original timeline after the ledgers came out?"
Julian met her gaze, his expression grim. "After the ledgers, she couldn't hurt you financially. She tried to hurt the only thing you cared about then. She tried to destroy your memory of your mother by burning down the old family farmhouse where you stored all your mementos." Eliza's heart sank. "The farmhouse. It still empty, still packed with everything my mother owned. She going there tonight."
The corporate war been fought won. The personal war against fate now about to erupt into physical violence.