Chapter 37

The interior of the Horizon Group’s offshore office was the opposite of Sterling Tech. Where Liam’s world was all glass, light, and transparency, Marcus Thorne lived in the shadows. The room was clad in dark wood and brushed steel, located in a high-security bunker beneath a private estate on the Connecticut coast.

​I sat across from him, a glass of water on the table between us that I hadn't touched. The air was pressurized and cold. I could still feel the sway of the ship in my legs, a phantom motion that reminded me I was no longer on solid ground.

​"You’ve caused quite a stir, Isabella," Thorne said. He leaned back in his leather chair, his eyes scanning me like a predator assessing a new type of prey. "An abstention from Liam Sterling. A resonance frequency threatening to tear down his crown jewel. And a debt call that has Arthur Vane scrambling for liquidity. It’s a busy morning for a woman the world thinks is 'isolated.'"

​"The world thinks what Eleanor Vane tells them to think," I replied. I kept my posture rigid, my hands folded neatly in my lap. "I’m here because you’re the only fund with the infrastructure to bypass the Sterling-Vane legal blockades."

​"And why would I do that?" Thorne asked. "The DOJ is all over this. Helping you is a reputational risk I usually avoid."

​"You avoid risks with low returns," I countered. "The Medusa architecture isn't just a biometric signature. It’s the key to the next generation of predictive encryption. If Horizon controls the rights to my 'status,' you control the security protocols for every major bank on the continent."

​Thorne’s eyes flickered. I had hit the mark. He didn't care about my blood or my marriage. He cared about the leverage.

​"Liam won't let you go," Thorne said. "He’ll claim marital privilege. He’ll claim fiduciary duty."

​"Liam has no standing," I said, the words coming out sharper than I intended. I forced my tone back to a professional chill. "He abstained. In the eyes of his own board, he’s signaled that I am a liability. I am merely following his lead by seeking independent management."

​"Independent," Thorne chuckled. "You’re seeking a war chest."

​"I’m seeking a clean slate," I said. "I have the access codes to the Eleanor Vane Legacy Fund. Forty percent of Vane Global’s debt is currently sitting in an Aethelgard shell. I need Horizon to provide the legal front to call those notes without the Sterling board blocking the transaction."

​I leaned forward, the shadows of the room deepening the lines of my face.

​"You provide the shield. I provide the keys. We dismantle Vane Global by sunset, and we leave Sterling Tech to deal with the fallout of their own indecision."

​Thorne watched me for a long beat. The silence in the room was absolute, the kind of silence that precedes a massive shift in power. He was weighing the cost of a war with Liam Sterling against the profit of owning the Medusa legacy.

​"You're very cold, Isabella," he murmured. "People said you were the heart of the Vane-Sterling merger. It seems they were wrong."

​"Heart is for people who can afford it," I said. "I'm a synthesized asset, remember? I'm just following my programming."

​Thorne smiled. It wasn't a kind look. It was the smile of a man who had found a kindred spirit. He tapped a button on his desk, and a digital contract appeared on the screen between us.

​"The terms are simple," Thorne said. "Horizon takes a sixty-percent stake in Aethelgard. In exchange, we provide a full legal defense, a private security detail, and a seat on our executive board. You become an independent contractor under the Horizon umbrella. The Sterling board won't be able to touch you without declaring war on me."

​"And the debt call?"

​"Initiated as soon as you sign," he promised.

​I looked at the contract. This was the moment. If I signed this, I was no longer a Sterling. I was no longer the girl who had waited on a bridge for a man to save her. I was a player in a game that didn't have room for love or loyalty.

​I thought of Liam, trapped in that tower. I thought of the resonance frequency—my voice, screaming through the vents. The observer has left the building.

​I picked up the digital pen.

​"Isabella," Thorne said, his voice dropping an octave. "You realize that if you do this, Liam will lose everything. The board will use your alliance with me as proof that he’s lost control of the 'asset.' They’ll strip him of his remaining shares."

​"He already lost everything when he chose silence," I said.

​I signed the document.

​The blue light of the confirmation screen illuminated the room. It was done. The alliance was real. I was now a part of Horizon.

​"Welcome to the dark side," Thorne said, reaching out to shake my hand.

​I took it. His skin was dry and cold.

​"Now," I said, "let’s talk about the gala. Arthur thinks he’s going to be crowned the 'Neutral Trustee' tonight. I want to make sure he’s crowned a bankrupt."

​We spent the next hour moving assets. It was a beautiful, cold-blooded dance of capital. Millions moved across the globe in seconds. Vane Global’s credit rating began to crater in real-time. I felt a surge of adrenaline, a sharp, metallic high. This was what power felt like when it wasn't filtered through someone else's permission.

​But then, a red light began to pulse on Thorne’s desk.

​He frowned, tapping his screen. "That’s an internal alert. One of our Sterling monitors."

​"What is it?" I asked, my heart skipping a beat despite myself.

​Thorne’s expression shifted from amusement to genuine concern. He pulled up a live feed of the Sterling Tower. The building was glowing with emergency lights, but there was something else. A fleet of black SUVs was screeching to a halt at the entrance.

​"The board didn't wait for the deadline," Thorne said. "They’ve issued an emergency 'Asset Recovery' order. And they’ve tracked your IP to this bunker."

​"How?" I demanded. "The encryption was absolute."

​Thorne looked at me, a strange light in his eyes. "It wasn't the encryption, Isabella. It was the biometric handshake. Even though you recalibrated, the core in your marrow is still pinging the Sterling network. They’re using the tower’s resonance to find you."

​He tapped another key, and my blood ran cold.

​On the screen, a news alert was flashing across every major network.

​WARRANT ISSUED FOR ISABELLA VANE: ACCUSED OF CORPORATE ESPIONAGE AND ALLIANCE WITH HOSTILE FUNDS.

STERLING BOARD REVEALS: LIAM STERLING ABSTAINED TO FACILITATE RECOVERY OPERATION.

​I stared at the words. To facilitate recovery operation.

​"He didn't abstain to be neutral," Thorne whispered, looking at me with a mix of pity and awe. "He abstained to trigger the tracker. He didn't lose control, Isabella. He used you to find me."

​The sound of a heavy door slamming echoed through the bunker above us.

​"They’re here," Thorne said, standing up.

​The cliffhanger wasn't that I was caught. It was the realization that even when I thought I was free, I was still just a part of Liam Sterling’s plan. And now, I had just handed him the keys to the only man powerful enough to stop him.