Elena wasn't a superhero; she was a woman who had just burned her entire world to the ground and was still covered in the soot.
"Drink," Silas said.
He didn't offer a fancy toast or a comforting smile. He just shoved a heavy crystal glass into her hand, the amber liquid swaying against the rim.
Elena took a swallow. The cognac burned her throat, a harsh, medicinal heat that made her cough, but it successfully stopped the trembling in her fingers.
She looked at Silas in the dim, blue glow of the SUV's interior. In this light, he looked less like a savior and more like a complication she wasn't ready to solve.
"You've been watching me this whole time," she said, her voice raspy, sounding like she'd been screaming for years.
"You let me iron that man's shirts while you sat in your ivory tower. Did it entertain you, Silas? Seeing a Luo Princess scrubbing toilets?"
Silas's jaw tightened, a muscle jumping in his cheek.
"I didn't let you do anything, Elena, you chose to hide. I respected that choice, even if it turned my stomach every time I saw his hand on your shoulder."
"Respect?" Elena laughed a dry, bitter sound that died in the small space of the car.
"You could have ended it with a single phone call."
"And you wouldn't be the woman sitting here today," Silas countered, his eyes locking onto hers, dark and unyielding.
"You wanted to see the bottom so you'd know exactly how high to build your throne. Don't pretend you didn't enjoy the look on his face when you signed that paper. That wasn't a victim's signature, Elena thatt was an executioner's."
Elena looked out the window, thee rain was blurring the neon signs of Solana City into streaks of garish color. She thought of Maya her little girl, currently sleeping in the care of a trusted nurse. Maya was the only clean thing to come out of those six years of filth.
"I did it for her," Elena whispered.
"Tom would have turned her into a pawn he would have sold her off just like he tried to sell me."
The SUV turned into the gravel driveway of the Luo Estate. The sound of the tires crunching on stone was a ghost from her childhood the sound of safety, bu as the massive, heavy doors of the mansion swung open, Elena felt a wave of nausea.
She stepped out into the mud. She didn't care that her expensive heels were sinking into the dirt; she needed to feel the cold earth. She needed to know she wasn't dreaming.
Inside, the hallway felt too large, too silent. Elder Chen stood there, looking like a relic from a past life. When he reached out a trembling hand to touch her arm, the "Princess" mask Elena had been wearing finally cracked. Her eyes welled with hot, stinging tears.
"You're thin, child," Chen whispered.
"You look like you haven't slept in a decade."
"I haven't, Chen," she replied, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand a gesture far too common for a royal, but perfect for a survivor.
"I've been awake, watching for the moment the world turned its back on me."
She walked toward the study, her legs feeling like they were made of lead. She didn't want to look at "Project Phoenix" or digital files.
She wanted to scream, She wanted to go back to that penthouse and slap the smug look off Sandra's face one more time.
She sat in her father's oversized leather chair. It was too big she felt like a child playing dress-up in a dead man's office.
"The files," she snapped, trying to regain her edge. "Give me the dirt on Sandra. I want to know every secret she's hidden in that fake belly of hers."
Chen placed a folder in front of her. Elena didn't just read the words, she felt the rage boiling in her gut.
Sandra hadn't just stolen her husband; she was a vulture picking at the bones of a company Elena had secretly kept afloat with her own blood and sweat during the late nights Tom was out partying.
"She's pregnant with the rival CEO's child?" Elena whispered, a cold, dark smile finally touching her lips.
"Tom traded his life for a lie? He really is a special kind of fool."
"These are the secret agreements Sandra made with the rival shipping firms," Chen explained, pointing to highlighted clauses
"She was selling Phoenix's trade secrets to fund her lifestyle. She thought she was being clever, but she was using Luo-owned servers to send the emails. We've logged every single one."
Elena leaned back, the high leather back of the chair cradling her. A surge of pure adrenaline replaced her exhaustion.
"So, Sandra wasn't just a mistress, she was a corporate spy. Tom is going to love finding out that the woman he left me for was the one bleeding him dry." Elena let out a sharp, cold laugh.
"He traded a diamond for a piece of broken glass that's about to cut him to the bone."
Silas leaned against the doorframe, watching her with a dark smirk.
"Hahaaa, the betrayal is poetic, but it gets better. We intercepted the lab results. She isn't eight weeks along, Elena. She's barely four. The timeline doesn't match Tom's business trips. It matches the rival CEO's visit to the country."
Elena picked up her father's jade seal. It was heavy and freezing. She pressed it into her palm until it left a deep red mark.
"Silas," she said, not looking up.
"Tomorrow, I don't want a limousine. I want to walk into that office. I want Tom to see me coming from a mile away. I want him to feel the dread in his chest with every step I take."
"Tomorrow at 9:00 AM, I want the press at the Phoenix headquarters. I want the board to see the evidence of Sandra's treason and I want Tom to be the one who has to hand me the keys to the building."
"And after that?" Silas asked, stepping closer.
Elena looked up, her gaze as sharp and unbreakable as a diamond.
"After that, we begin the public liquidation. I don't just want his money, Silas, I want his reputation, I want the name 'Tom Phoenix' to be a synonym for failure. I want him to realize that the 'Second Choice' was always the one holding the hammer."
Silas watched her, his expression unreadable.
"As you wish, Elena, but remember... once the Lion roars, the world never looks at you the same way again. Are you ready to be feared?"
Elena stood up, the silver brooch on her chest glinting in the firelight.
"I've spent six years being pitied, Silas. I'll take fear any day."
Why this is "Contract-Safe":