LOGINMarcus POVThe prototype sat under a white sheet in the centre of the development floor and my engineers looked at it the way people look at something they've built that unsettles them slightly. Like they'd reached for something and found it but it was still a little bit unsatisfying than expected.The word best would mean it was extraordinary."Walk me through it again," I said.Dr. Claire Ashworth, the lead materials engineer, recruited from MIT over a year ago, pulled the sheet back with confidence of someone who had absolute faith in what she'd created.The Phoenix hypercar.I had seen the clay models, the wind tunnel simulations and the component specifications. None of it had prepared me for the actual car. Carbon composite monocoque with structural body panels built with biotech-derived polymer chains that Claire had spent fourteen months developing. It was an adaptation of molecular processes from Catherine's Genesis research, translated into automotive engineering in ways tha
Emily POVThe FIA confirmation letter arrived on a Tuesday morning while I was standing barefoot in the kitchen in Nathan's shirt, making coffee I never planned to share.He came downstairs still half-asleep, hair loose, wearing nothing but track pants and the look he carried before the day had fully claimed him soft, unhurried, slightly rumpled in a way that no amount of tailored suits during business hours could undo. And he was more dangerous in his fancy suit than in a boardroom. Nathan was controlled, thinking every word before it left his mouth. Our seven years of marriage hadn't made that any less disarming. If anything happened, it would have gotten worse."You're smiling at your phone," he said, reaching past me for a mug. His chest brushed my shoulder. I held my tablet screen up without a word.Lotus Racing Full Constructor Entry Confirmed. 2027 FIA Formula One World Championship.He read it once. Set his mug down and read it again. Then he looked at me with an expression I
Emily POVThe genetic files arrived in New York eleven days before trial started.Sarah briefed us in a conference room at the FBI field office me, Nathan, Marcus, Blake. She laid the documents on the table with the careful, neutral expression of someone delivering news they wish they didn't have to deliver.Sebastian had spent months in Geneva building a parallel case. Not just corporate crimes but a documented argument that Nathan Zhou had knowingly married a Genetic-modified woman, concealed genetically enhanced children from regulatory authorities, and used modified individuals to gain unfair advantage in business competition. Under emerging international genetic ethics frameworks, it wasn't just scandalous.It was potentially criminal.Nathan sat beside me and said nothing. His hands were flat on the table and I knew that stillness. I'd learned every version of Nathan's stillness over the years.This one was the version where he was genuinely scared."They can't prosecute him for
Blake POVI didn't sleep after Kezia's file leaked.I Spent the night coordinating legal protection for her, emergency relocation, and temporary housing. Santiago ran monitoring on all ninety-two remaining client files for any further leaks. Sarah Morrison had FBI cyber division working to identify the journalist Sebastian had used.By 4 AM I had a name. The journalist was a freelancer named Carl Bates, based in London. Sebastian had paid him through a media consulting company in Dublin and now we had the transaction.By 6 AM, Carl Bates had been contacted by FBI and had quietly agreed to suppress any further files in exchange for not being charged as an accessory.Sebastian had fired one shot and we'd closed the gun.But the damage to Kezia was already done.I found Vanessa in the operations room at 7 AM, dark circles under her eyes, her coffee going cold beside her keyboard."Kezia is safe," I said. "Relocated, legal protection in place, her former partner's lawyers have been warned
Vanessa POVSandra called at 7 AM and I already knew from her voice it was bad."Three donors pulled out overnight. Forty percent of our annual budget. And the landlord had called someone bought our building lease and he's terminating us in thirty days."I sat on the edge of the bed in the Lothan guest apartment and didn't say anything for a moment. Not because I was shocked but because I wasn't. Sebastian had promised consequences and Sebastian always kept his promises. That was the thing about him nobody understood until it was too late, he wasn't impulsive, he didn't rage. He just waited until he found the thing you loved most and then he took it apart piece by piece while you watched.He wasn't coming after me.He was coming after the ninety-three women I'd spent seven years trying to save."Vanessa? Are you there?""I'm here. I'll call you back."I hung up and sat very still with the phone in both hands. Diane's face came to me, a woman who'd arrived at our door at 2 AM with two
Nathan POVI showed Emily the message of blackmail threats he sent me. Not because I planned to. I had planned to sit on it and come to her with something resembling a strategy instead of the raw, ugly thing Sebastian had dropped on my phone at midnight. Then I walked back from the bathroom and saw her at the window in my old sweatshirt, looking like a woman who had fought the whole night and lost.I handed her the phone.She read it twice. Second time slower."Something about my genetic profile that I don't know." Not a question but just the words turned over and unable to comprehend "He's probably bluffing. Creating leverage before he makes a move.""And if he's not?"I didn't answer. Which was its own answer."Nathan." Her voice was quiet. "Sebastian isn't a scientist. He doesn't run a lab. He didn't discover this alone." She looked at me. "Someone gave it to him."That was the part that had kept me awake all night.I got ready and went to Marcus's office. Nine O'clock sharp.Bla
Emily POVI woke up to voices, Nathan's, Marcus's, doctors speaking in urgent tones. Everything hurts.My throat was sore , my body felt like heavy, and bright lights stabbed through my closedeye lens."Emily?" Nathan's voice, close to my ear. "Can you hear me? Squeeze my hand if youunderstand."
Emily POVFifty-six hours remained when I received the video call. Dr. Petrov appeared on screen,looking exhausted and terrified, speaking from somewhere with concrete walls and harshlighting."Mrs. Zhuo, my name is Viktor Petrov. I created the virus inside you. I'm calling becauseyour husband s
Emily POVThree days after our prison infiltration, I was reviewing Lotus Automotive quarterly reportswhen Blake burst into my office, his face ashen. "Emily, we have a major problem. Jasonnever turned himself in to the FBI like he promised."I looked up sharply. "What do you mean he never turned
Emily POVI woke in darkness, my head pounding, hands zip-tied behind my back. My mouth wasgagged. I was lying on a cold floor-tile, from the feel of it. Hospital tile.Memory flooded back: the facility, Jason's revelation about being a double, Margaret'svideo. I'd been ambushed leaving the wareh







