Semua Bab Tangled Truths: Bab 141 - Bab 150

Lucas Arden stares out over the skyline from the upper floor of his penthouse office. The glass is pristine, revealing a panorama of twinkling lights that stretch to the horizon like fallen stars. The city beneath it is alive with movement—cars threading through streets like blood cells through veins, windows illuminating and darkening in the rhythm of countless lives being lived. Yet his own reflection is fractured against this backdrop of vitality, a shadow across the metropolitan glow. His eyes, once warm amber, now reflect nothing but hollowed resolve.Behind him, the gala is long over. The crowd is gone, leaving only the faint scent of expensive perfume and champagne lingering in the air. The music has faded into memory, the orchestra's final notes dissolved into silence. Yet the echo of Flora's voice still lingers in his chest, reverberating against his ribs like a tuning fork that refuses to still."I didn't come to hurt you," she had said, those hazel eyes piercing through her

The boardroom is a cathedral of wealth—high ceilings adorned with subtle gold inlays, pristine marble floors that whisper beneath each footstep, and a long obsidian table that reflects power like a polished mirror. Recessed lighting casts dramatic shadows across the faces of those assembled, creating a chiaroscuro effect worthy of a Renaissance painting. At the head sits Lucas Arden, his sharp jawline shadowed by the dim overhead light, his steel-gray eyes revealing nothing as he surveys his kingdom in distress. The bespoke Italian suit he wears seems to absorb the ambient light, giving him an almost spectral presence. Around him, board members murmur anxiously, their voices weaving a tapestry of concern and frustration that hangs heavy in the air-conditioned silence."The breach penetrated three layers of security," whispers Jacqueline Chen, head of technology, her normally composed demeanor fractured by worry. "And the timing coincides perfectly with the quarterly report leak.""The

Lucas watches Evangeline from across the polished mahogany boardroom table as she speaks—fluid, articulate, effortlessly in control. Her voice glides over quarterly numbers, crisis metrics, projected threats, and preemptive actions with the grace of someone who's danced through darker corridors than most men dare enter. The subtle confidence in her posture, the calculated pauses between her statements—everything about her commands attention without demanding it.The board members hang on every word, their expressions ranging from quiet admiration to barely concealed envy.And so, increasingly, does he.She's not like anyone else in his world. She doesn't flinch at risk. Doesn't rattle at chaos. She meets his ruthless energy with something equally cold—and strangely magnetic. There's an unspoken understanding between them, a recognition of similar shadows that neither acknowledges aloud.They've worked late for three nights straight, the office emptying around them as they dissect prob

Serena's office is a war room now. Stacks of manila case files litter her mahogany desk, their dog-eared corners betraying hours of frantic study. Three laptop screens glow with scanned archives, casting an eerie blue light across her exhausted features. The venetian blinds are drawn tight, sealing them away from the outside world, creating a cocoon of obsessive investigation. A corkboard behind her is filled with red strings connecting names, aliases, corporate holdings, and one photo at the center—Evangeline Reed. The woman's immaculate features stare back at them with cold calculation, a portrait of elegant menace."She's a ghost," Serena mutters, her fingers flying across the keyboard as she scrolls through another encrypted dossier. Dark circles rim her eyes, evidence of sleepless nights and caffeine-fueled determination. "No birth records, no school history, no tax filings, no trace before 2016. It's like she materialized from thin air."She taps on a blurred black-and-white im

Serena's fingers fly across the keyboard, her brow furrowed in deep concentration as the screen flashes with red-coded firewalls and encrypted blocks. The harsh blue glow from her monitor bathes her face in an eerie light, casting sharp shadows across her tense features. Outside her apartment windows, the city twinkles like a constellation of artificial stars against the velvet backdrop of the 3:00 a.m. sky. The rest of her apartment lies in darkness, as if the world beyond her digital hunt has ceased to exist."Come on, come on..." she murmurs, her voice barely audible over the soft whirring of computer fans. Her eyes dart across the screen, tracking each new security protocol as it emerges. "You think you're clever, but everyone leaves footprints."Sweat beads on her upper lip as she bypasses another layer of password protocols. The complexity of the security speaks volumes—whoever designed this wanted to remain hidden at all costs. But Serena has spent years perfecting her craft, l