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The Ivory cage
Last Updated:
2025-08-17 04:21:54
Latest chapter
Crossed Lines Chapter 73: The Cracks we keep
POV: ElaraThe morning after was worse than she’d feared.Her phone buzzed relentlessly, screen flashing with alerts, pings, and unread messages. She ignored them until one headline forced her thumb to stop:Duval Heiress and CrossTech CEO: Power Couple of the Year?Her stomach turned.Swipe.From Consulting firm to Society Pages: Elara Duval’s Stunning Move.Swipe.Clarisse Duval Declines Comment on Stepdaughter’s “Romance.”Her grip tightened until the phone creaked. Of course Clarisse had refused comment. The silence itself was strategy, a sharpened knife dressed as poise. Every second Clarisse stayed quiet, the story grew in the press’s imagination.By the time Elara arrived at CrossTech, the lobby was packed with reporters. Cameras flashed like lightning storms.“Miss Duval! Over here! Did you and Mr. Cross meet through business or romance?”“Was the merger between CrossTech and Duval Holdings part of a courtship strategy?”“Are wedding bells already in sight?”She forced her chi
Crossed Lines Chapter 72: Fire in the press
POV: ElaraIt should have been a routine day.Elara had wrapped a long strategy session with Damon’s senior engineers, hours spent tracing the threads of the cyberattack that had nearly crippled CrossTech weeks ago. By the time she left the boardroom, she was bone-tired, head filled with lines of code and contingency maps. All she wanted was to go home, brew coffee, and sink into silence.The lobby was crowded, but not unusually so. A handful of suited employees moved briskly past the security gates, their badges flashing. The only anomaly was the subtle hum of outside noise; voices bleeding through the glass doors, too loud, too many.She didn’t realize what was happening until Damon stepped out of the elevator behind her.The instant his tall frame came into view, the lobby erupted. Cameras flashed, shutters clicked, voices barked questions in rapid succession.“Elara! Elara Duval…are you confirming the rumors?”“Mr. Cross! How long have you and Ms. Duval been seeing each other?”“I
Crossed Lines Chapter 71: The Edge of Trust
POV: Damon Damon had barely touched his scotch when the alert pinged across his private server. Not CrossTech’s systems, those were locked down beyond reproach, but his own, the quiet threads he’d woven through Duval Holdings months ago. Someone was ghosting through the perimeter. Not breaking. Testing. Probing. His jaw tightened, a flicker of recognition flashing in the lines of code. He knew the signature, the rhythm. Elara. For a long moment, he sat in silence, glass poised but untouched. He’d given her the evidence, offered her partnership and still, she moved ahead, reckless, brilliant, unwilling to wait for him. A curl of pride tangled with irritation in his chest. She was fire, untamable. And fire burned everything, even allies. He set the glass down, pulled up the console, and traced her movements. She was clever, leaving no fingerprints, only shadows. If he hadn’t known her, he might not have caught her at all. “Damn it, Elara,” he muttered under his breath. “Always o
Crossed Lines Chapter 70: Cutting the lines
POV: Clarisse The ballroom glittered with crystal chandeliers, the kind of light designed to blind and flatter at once. Clarisse moved through the crowd as though it were her court. Handshakes, smiles, air-kisses, each gesture measured, each word polished. She lived for nights like these. Nights where the city’s elite bent toward her orbit, where Duval Holdings was whispered as untouchable, where even her enemies smiled because they couldn’t afford not to. Onstage, the banner read “Future Horizons Initiative.” A joint venture she was unveiling; philanthropy dressed as innovation, an entire façade built to cement her dominance. Every camera was pointed at her. Every headline already written. “Mrs. Duval,” a reporter called as she stepped toward the podium, “what do you hope this new program will achieve?” She gave them the practiced smile, warm yet distant. “A brighter tomorrow,” she said, her voice carrying across the hall. “Duval Holdings is proud to lead the way in shaping a fu
Crossed Lines Chapter 69: Fault lines
POV: ElaraShe didn’t need the alert to know something had shifted. It was in the air, the kind of static hum she’d learned to trust long before ShadowByte even became a name whispered in dark forums.Elara sat at her desk, hands still on the keyboard, her gaze fixed on the flow of code that looked clean, way too clean. Clarisse’s people had pulled back. No probing signals, no fumbling attempts. Just silence.Which meant they’d learned enough to know the game wasn’t one-sided anymore.Her stomach knotted.She closed her laptop and leaned back, staring at the ceiling of her apartment. Damon’s voice from the boardroom replayed, calm but cutting. ‘Good. Then you’ll be ready for what comes next’.Maybe he hadn’t been warning her. Maybe he’d been preparing her.Her phone buzzed across the desk, and she snatched it up too quickly. Not Damon. Not Hailey. A message with no sender ID, just a single line of text:Nice trap. Careful who you bait.Elara’s fingers went cold. Clarisse hadn’t spoken
Crossed Lines Chapter 68: Hands on the board
POV: DamonThe office was quiet, long after it should have emptied. The skyline stretched beyond the glass, fractured into a thousand lights, but Damon’s gaze wasn’t on the city. It was on the dossier open in front of him.Not a company report. Not a merger draft.Elara.She had left the dinner with Clarisse looking composed, but Damon knew better. He had watched the way her shoulders had held too stiff, the way her eyes lingered on the exits. A perfect mask, yes. But masks always cracked in private.His fingers tapped lightly on the arm of his chair. He didn’t have to guess to know what Clarisse was circling. Clarisse was predictable in her arrogance. If she thought she smelled blood, she’d press until she either owned it or destroyed it.But Damon had already confirmed what Clarisse only suspected.Elara wasn’t just another name on his acquisition sheet. She was ShadowByte.And that changed everything.He leaned back, the leather creaking faintly. ShadowByte had left footprints agai
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