CHAPTER 2

The Taste of Power

The banging on the door grew more frantic.

"Liora! Please open up! We’re all so worried!" Sarah’s voice was pitched at a perfect level of fake distress, loud enough for the reporters she had 'accidentally' tipped off to hear.

Inside the room, the atmosphere was suffocating. Liora stood a few feet away from Mavric, her heart hammering not out of fear, but out of a dark, soaring anticipation. In her past life, this was the moment her soul was crushed. This time, it was her stage.

Mavric didn't move to open the door immediately. Instead, he buttoned his obsidian-black waistcoat with agonizing slowness. His eyes never left Liora’s face.

"They sound eager," Mavric remarked, his voice a low vibration. "Are you ready to be the most hated woman in the city, or the most envied?"

Liora reached out, her fingers trembling slightly as she straightened Mavric’s silk tie. The proximity was electric; she could feel the heat radiating from his chest. "As long as I’m standing next to you, Mr. Thorne, they can feel whatever they want."

Mavric’s hand suddenly clamped over hers, pinning her hand against his heart. "Remember our deal, Liora. If you play me, I’ll be the one to bury you."

"Then don't let me go," she whispered back.

Mavric’s eyes darkened. Without a word, he turned and threw the door open.

Flash! Flash! Flash!

The hallway was a sea of blinded white light as camera shutters fired in unison. Sarah stood at the front, her face a mask of 'horror' that quickly froze into genuine, bone-chilling shock. Behind her stood Marcus, his jaw dropping so low it looked comical.

They weren't looking at a disgraced, drugged girl and a random thug.

They were looking at the legendary Mavric Thorne, standing tall and protective in front of a woman draped in his own suit jacket.

"S-Sarah?" Marcus stammered, his eyes darting between Liora and the man who could end his career with a single phone call. "What is... why is Mr. Thorne here?"

Sarah gasped, her face turning a ghastly shade of pale. "Liora? I... I thought you were... I mean, we were so worried when you disappeared from the gala!"

Liora stepped forward from behind Mavric, her movements graceful, her eyes cold as arctic ice. "Worried, Sarah? Or were you hoping to find me in a different condition?"

Sarah flinched as if she had been slapped. "What do you mean? We just wanted to make sure you were safe! You know how dangerous these hotels can be..."

"She is perfectly safe," Mavric interrupted. His voice was like a heavy velvet curtain falling over the room, silencing every reporter. He wrapped a possessive arm around Liora’s waist, pulling her flush against his side. "In fact, she has never been safer. She is with her fiancé."

The silence that followed was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Fiancé?!" Sarah screamed, her composure finally breaking. "That’s impossible! She’s engaged to Marcus! They’ve been together for years!"

Mavric tilted his head, his gaze landing on Marcus like a guillotine. "Marcus? You mean the manager of that third-rate construction firm I’m about to blackball?"

Marcus turned white, a bead of sweat rolling down his temple. "Mr. Thorne, there must be a misunderstanding. Liora and I.."

"There is no misunderstanding," Liora cut him off, her voice ringing with a newfound authority. She pulled a velvet box from the pocket of Mavric's jacket something she had snatched from his desk seconds before the door opened. She held up a massive, pear-cut diamond ring that caught the hallway lights. "Marcus was just a placeholder. A girl has to entertain herself while waiting for a King, doesn't she?"

She slid the ring onto her finger. It was too big, but the message was clear.

Sarah felt like she was suffocating. This wasn't the plan. Liora was supposed to be ruined, a social pariah that the White family could discard. Instead, she had just ascended to the throne of the city’s most powerful empire.

"Liora, you can't be serious," Sarah hissed, stepping closer, her voice dropping so only they could hear. "You think a man like Mavric Thorne actually wants a used-up girl like you? You’re just a toy to him!"

Liora leaned in, a chilling smile playing on her lips. "Even if I’m a toy, Sarah, I’m his toy. And you? You’re just a beggar standing outside the palace gates.

Oh, and by the way..." Liora reached out and snatched the jade pendant from Sarah’s neck the one Sarah had stolen in the previous life.

"This belongs to my mother. If I see you touching my things again, I won't just take back the jewelry. I'll take back the very ground you stand on."

Sarah stumbled back, her eyes wide with terror. She didn't recognize this Liora. The 'mouse' was gone. In her place was a predator.

Mavric looked down at Liora, a flicker of genuine amusement and perhaps something more dangerous crossing his face. He looked at the reporters.

"You have your headline," he said coldly. "Now, get out of my sight before I buy your news agencies and fire all of you by dawn."

The hallway cleared in seconds.

Only Marcus and Sarah remained, trembling in the wake of the storm.

Mavric didn't give them a second glance.

He pulled Liora back into the room and slammed the door, locking it.

He immediately released her waist, the coldness returning to his features. "You have a sharp tongue, Mrs. Thorne. And a very fast hand."

Liora looked at the massive diamond on her finger and handed it back to him. "I needed a weapon. You provided it."

Mavric took the ring but didn't put it away. He stepped into her personal space, his shadow looming over her.

"You handled them well. But don't think for a second that this makes us equals. You still owe me the 'Icarus' solution."

"Check your laptop," Liora said, pointing to the silver device on the desk. "While you were buttoning your shirt, I ran a diagnostic bypass. I’ve already isolated the CTO’s backdoor. It’ll take me two hours to rewrite the encryption."

Mavric’s eyes narrowed. He walked to the laptop. His fingers flew across the keys. His expression shifted from skepticism to grim realization, and finally, to a dark, intense fascination.

"You really are a Ghost," he muttered.

Liora leaned against the bedpost, the adrenaline finally starting to fade, replaced by a cold, calculating resolve. "I told you, Mavric. I’m the only one who can save you. And you're the only one who can help me burn them all."

Mavric closed the laptop and looked at her. For the first time, he didn't look at her as a nuisance or a tool. He looked at her as a challenge.

"Two hours," he said, checking his watch. "If the encryption isn't fixed by then, I'll call the wedding off before the sun rises."

Liora smiled. It was a beautiful, lethal sight. "Then you better start planning the banquet, Hubby. Because I don't plan on losing."

END OF CHAPTER 2..