Silas Kade sat alone in his penthouse, his silk tie undone and the lights low. The city sparkled beyond the glass walls, but tonight, it wasn't a view—it was a threat. Every blinking light, every moving car… one more possibility that Elsa Jefferson had reached deeper than he thought possible.
"She's cutting us off," his assistant said, barely hiding the tremor in her voice. "Three front companies collapsed in the last six hours. One of the biotech streams is already flagged for investigation. She's dismantling Sovereign before it launches."
Silas's knuckles whitened around his tumbler of scotch.
"And where were you when she started crawling into my systems, Harper?" he said, voice low and ice-edged.
"I—I didn't know she had this reach. She's not even using Jefferson Global's public team—this is black-ops level coordination."
Silas didn't answer. He turned and stared at the giant tactical board on the wall—his empire, his structure. Red marks now riddled the map. His fortress wasn't falling, but it was bleeding.
"So... she wants a war," he muttered. "Let's give her hell."
⚔️ The Counterstrike Begins
Within hours, Silas activated dormant assets under Aeris Shadow Division—mercenary-level ops that didn't exist on paper.
Private surveillance traced Kip Tagora's digital footprint to a secondary server—Kip's "honey pot" node, purposely laced with bad data.
Fake intel was sent back up the chain, painting a target on a Jefferson subsidiary Elsa wasn't even watching.
A well-timed leak to a regulatory bureau triggered a surprise audit of one of Elsa's most discreet shell funds.
He wanted her distracted. Spinning. Frustrated.
And for a moment—it worked.
🔥 Disruption at Home
The next day, Kip burst into Elsa's war room.
"We've been hit. Not big, but annoying. Someone threw sand in our gears—your Hong Kong shell fund's frozen, and we lost half our cover routes for Sovereign."
Elsa frowned. "Silas knows we're coming. He's baiting us now."
"Well, I bit."
"Good. He thinks you're the sharp end of the spear."
She leaned forward, eyes flaring with that now-signature mix of rage and poise.
"But we're holding the blade by the hilt."
🥶 The Ice Prince Returns
As the chaos swirled, Jefferson Tower received a visitor.
Silas.
Unannounced.
Unapologetic.
He walked in like the building owed him its silence, dressed in a charcoal suit with a snakepin on his lapel. Security didn't dare stop him—he was that kind of powerful.
He entered the boardroom where Elsa was mid-briefing.
"You're busy," Silas said smoothly, interrupting everything. "But not too busy to play with shadows."
Elsa's expression didn't flicker. "I thought rats avoided daylight."
The room tensed.
"You've made some impressive moves," he said, sitting across from her. "Really. This little war game of yours? I almost admire it."
"Almost?"
"Until I remembered you still don't know what Sovereign really is."
Elsa's eyes locked on his.
"And I remembered you don't know what I'm becoming."
Silas smiled. But it didn't reach his eyes.
"Let's raise the stakes then."
He dropped a file on the table—photos, documents... names.
Elsa flipped it open.
Her jaw tightened. These were her deep assets. People only Kip and a few core allies knew about.
"You think you're untouchable," Silas said, rising. "But even queens bleed."
He turned and walked out, smooth as glass.
The room stayed frozen long after he'd gone.
💀 Elsewhere…
Miles away, in a nameless private room under Velmora's oldest library, Chess Golding poured himself a glass of old wine.
Lance entered with a frown.
"He just threatened her. Silas went straight to her table."
Chess's eyes didn't lift.
"Did she flinch?"
"No."
"Then let him swing."
A pause.
"It's not time to intervene?"
Chess finally looked up.
His eyes held something ancient. Something dangerous.
"Not yet. But soon... very soon, I'll move my piece."