Semua Bab The Billionaire’s Gilded Cage: Bab 31 - Bab 40

RESURRECTION PROTOCOL The ocean wind tore through the cliffs below Jeju Island, wild and electric with the scent of storm. Somewhere beyond the horizon, history was still bleeding. But inside the candlelit war room of the reclaimed Lee Estate, silence reigned—except for the faint hum of the screen that blinked one word over and over:Yoo Min Status: Active.Location: Unknown.Chaewon stared at the screen like it was a ghost.“She died,” Jian said beside her, jaw tight. “I saw the reports. Your father… your supposed father… stood over the casket.”Han clicked through the decrypted metadata. “The file was embedded in Ezra’s root drive. Triple encrypted. Timestamped just two weeks before the final siege.”Chaewon didn’t blink. “He knew.”Han looked up. “Ezra knew she wasn’t dead. He was tracking her.”Jian’s voice sharpened. “Why keep it hidden?”“Because,” Chaewon murmured, “if Yoo Min lived, the narrative broke. Ezra couldn’t paint himself as the heir betrayed. He needed her dead to j

THE SPIDER’S WEBThe light from the hologram moved across Chaewon’s face, casting sharp, almost cruel shadows beneath her cheekbones. She didn’t blink. Didn’t move. The image hovered above the table—her own face, slightly altered, speaking words that weren’t hers."Phase Three initiated. Target: Circle nodes. Phoenix is now obsolete."Han swore under his breath and slammed his hand on the metal table. “She’s rewriting the Vesper protocols in real-time. She’s inside the root OS. Nothing is secure anymore.”“You’re telling me she’s not just copying our strategy,” Jian said, voice tight. “She’s living in our system.”“No,” Haon muttered as he sifted through lines of code on his tablet. “She’s rewriting it.”Yoo Min remained silent in the far corner of the room. Her presence now felt more ghost than human. Regret clung to her skin like frost.Chaewon’s hands were clenched on the edge of the console, white-knuckled. “Where’s she hitting next?”Han hesitated. Then turned the screen.Seven r

MASQUERADE OF BLOODVENUE: THE SERAPH CHAMBER, VIENNA — RED WEB MASQUERADEThe violins wept behind silk-draped chandeliers. Red lights shined like a heartbeat through the ballroom, throwing shadows on figures in black-and-crimson masks. The entire hall was gilded with decadence—flawless, seductive, threatening.Every guest had been personally invited. No one knew who sent the invitations. But everyone knew what they meant. You were either one of the elite… or one of the expendable.Chaewon stepped out from the vintage Bentley in a blood-red gown that hugged her curves like molten armor. Her mask was lined with obsidian feathers. A single black one curled behind her ear—the same shape as the mark on her back.Beside her, Jian wore a white suit, crisp and clean, with his hair slicked back and his jaw sharp enough to cut through the tension in the air.“You know this is suicide, right?” Han’s voice buzzed in her earpiece. “You're walking into a snake pit, unarmed, without extraction clea

THE FALL OF THE PHOENIX CIRCLELocation: Geneva, Switzerland — Emergency Blacksite (12 Hours After Vesper Ruins Explosion)The bunker smelled like antiseptic and metal. Steel walls. Low lights. No sound beyond the slow, steady beeping of Eve’s monitor.Chaewon stood with her arms folded, watching her reflection in the mirrored window of the infirmary. But her eyes weren’t on herself.They were on the woman lying unconscious on the couch inside, Eve. Bandaged. Bruised. But alive. And tethered to an IV drip, restrained at the wrists.Behind her, Jian’s voice was quiet. “You shouldn’t have saved her.”“She saved me first,” Chaewon replied.“That doesn’t mean she won’t kill you next.”“I know.”He stepped closer, jaw tight. “You think this is mercy,” he said, “but this is strategy. You’re keeping her alive because she’s your leverage.”“No,” Chaewon said, her voice low. “I’m keeping her alive because she’s the last person who knows what’s coming next.”Jian stared through the glass. “She’

SERAPHINA’S RETURNLocation: Dubai — The Ember Summit (Private Elite Ball)Chaewon stepped into the mirrored ballroom like a ghost returning to the scene of her own betrayal. Her gown shimmered like blood under crystal chandeliers—deep scarlet silk lined with black, slashed across the hips, revealing just enough skin to make even the predators in the room hesitate.Every eye turned. Every breath stilled.Because she wasn’t just a guest anymore. She was the storm they thought they’d buried.Jian walked a step behind her. A white suit. Black silk gloves. Eyes like a man who’d already killed to protect her once—and would again, without hesitation.Her voice was calm in her earpiece. “Has the target arrived?”Han replied, voice tight. “Just now. Third floor. She’s got four guards. Armed. And she’s wearing your necklace.”Chaewon’s fingers twitched against the crystal pendant resting on her own collarbone.“Copy that.”Jian leaned in. “You sure you want to do this?”“No,” she whispered. “Bu