Lyra stared at him.
"His… father?"
Aurelian didn't answer immediately. He walked to the minibar, poured a glass of water, and drank like a man buying time from his own memories.
"He died," Aurelian said at last.
Lyra waited.
"In a crash test facility fire. Eight years ago."
Her mind struggled to connect the pieces.
"What does that have to do with you?"
Aurelian's gaze was fixed somewhere far away.
"His father was the lead engineer contracted to audit one of our early combustion prototypes. Independent. Brilliant. Obsessive."
A pause.
"He refused to sign off on it."
Lyra's stomach dropped.
"And?"
"And two nights later, the facility burned down during a midnight test run."
Her throat felt dry. "You think Elias believes you had something to do with it?"
"I know he does."
---
Lyra moved closer to him slowly.
"Did you?"
Aurelian's eyes snapped to hers.
Sharp. Clear. Unwavering.
"No."
She believed him instantly.
Not because she loved him.
But because of how offended his eyes looked at the idea.
"He warned the board that the design was flawed," Aurelian continued. "They ignored him. I was 27. I didn't even sit on the executive committee yet."
"But you owned the company."
"Yes."
"And his father died working on your project."
Aurelian nodded once.
"That is enough for a son to build hatred that lasts a lifetime."
---
Lyra sat down.
"So Elias thinks this is revenge."
"It is," Aurelian said. "Just not the kind he thinks."
Her brows pulled together. "What do you mean?"
"He doesn't want to destroy me quickly," Aurelian said quietly. "He wants me to live through it."
Lyra felt cold.
"He's not attacking the company," Aurelian added. "He's attacking my identity."
---
The news got worse by evening.
A second leak.
This time from inside the company.
Anonymous senior staff confirms internal doubts about Valmont engine safety before public release.
Lyra's heart sank.
"That's a lie," she said.
"Yes," Aurelian replied. "But it's believable."
She realized something then.
Elias wasn't inventing stories.
He was rearranging the truth into something poisonous.
---
That night, Lyra found Aurelian sitting on the floor of the suite balcony.
Suit gone.
Tie loose.
Looking like a man stripped of something invisible.
She sat beside him.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
"Do you know what the worst part is?" he asked quietly.
She shook her head.
"I can't even defend myself without sounding guilty."
Lyra leaned her head against his shoulder.
"You don't have to," she said.
He gave a faint, humorless smile.
"In the corporate world, silence is confession."
---
Her phone buzzed again.
She didn't want to check.
But she did.
A link.
A video.
Uploaded anonymously.
Title:
VALMONT: THE FIRE THEY BURIED
Lyra's breath caught.
She opened it.
Old footage.
Burning facility.
Sirens.
A blurred body carried out.
A narrator's voice:
Some say accidents happen. Others say powerful men make accidents happen.
Lyra felt sick.
She handed the phone to Aurelian.
He watched the video without expression.
When it ended, he handed it back calmly.
"This is no longer corporate sabotage," he said.
"This is character assassination."
---
Lyra looked at him.
"You're going to fight back now, right?"
Aurelian shook his head slowly.
"No."
Her eyes widened. "What?!"
He looked at her, and she saw it.
The strategy.
Cold. Patient. Calculated.
"He wants me to react publicly," Aurelian said. "So he can paint me as a man desperate to hide something."
"Then what do you do?!"
Aurelian's voice dropped.
"I let him think he's winning."
Lyra's heart pounded.
"Why?"
"Because men like Elias don't make mistakes when they're careful."
A pause.
"They make mistakes when they feel victorious."
Lyra realized then—
Aurelian wasn't retreating.
He was waiting.
And somewhere, very quietly—
A trap was beginning to form.