Chapter 18: Digital Guillotine

Lucas sat in the back of the luxury sedan and watched the mogul across from him wait for an answer.

Victoria Sterling was a woman who built an empire by anticipating market crashes and crushing her rivals.

Right now she was looking at him like someone ready to sever a limb to save the body.

His Micro-Motive Perception skill broke down her rigid posture.

The tight line of her mouth and the subtle narrowing of her eyes did not stem from anger.

They stemmed from a primal fear of losing the untouchable status she had spent two decades building.

"Yes," Lucas said. He kept his voice steady and maintained eye contact. "Camilla has the records."

Victoria stopped breathing for a fraction of a second. She did not yell. She picked up her encrypted smartphone from the leather seat next to her.

Her manicured thumb hovered over the screen as she prepared to call her financial fixers and order a massive scrub of her hidden offshore accounts.

Lucas reached across the small space between them.

He placed his hand gently over hers and pressed the phone down against the seat.

The privacy partition separating them from the driver remained raised but the air in the back of the sedan grew dangerously heavy.

Victoria stared at his hand covering hers.

Junior employees did not touch the CEO.

They certainly did not physically stop her from making a phone call during a crisis.

"Remove your hand," Victoria warned in a voice barely above a whisper. "Before I have my security team break your fingers."

"If you make that call you are going to federal prison," Lucas replied. He did not pull his hand away. "She wants you to move the money."

Victoria frowned. The threat of violence faded from her eyes and was replaced by sharp analytical focus.

She was ruthless but she was not stupid. She listened.

"Camilla left her private tablet unlocked on her nightstand while she took a shower," Lucas explained while releasing her hand and leaning back into the leather seat.

"It was a trap. She wanted me to see the medical files and the offshore holding companies. She expected me to panic and report it to you so you would try to destroy the evidence."

Victoria stared at him. The digital data on her own tablet suddenly made sense.

"The ping requests," Victoria murmured as the realization set in.

"Her forensic team is waiting for you to authorize a transfer or close the accounts," Lucas confirmed. "The stolen files she has right now are just dead data. They cannot prove you own those holding companies without a verified digital link. But if you try to hide the money her team will capture the authorization signature and hand it straight to the authorities."

Silence fell over the interior of the car. The only sound was the quiet hum of the luxury engine.

Victoria leaned her head back against the headrest and closed her eyes. She let out a long slow breath.

The tension draining from her shoulders was visible.

She had almost walked into a digital guillotine because of her own paranoia.

A broke college dropout had just saved her empire from collapsing.

A pleasant chime echoed in his skull.

[Crisis Averted.]

[Target Dependency Level increased by 20%.]

[Victoria Sterling recognizes your strategic value. The target no longer views you as disposable bait.]

Victoria opened her eyes and looked at him. The cold professional distance she usually maintained was gone.

She studied his face as if she was seeing him for the first time.

"You sat in her bedroom and deduced a forensic cyber trap while she was in the shower," Victoria said softly. "You did not panic. You did not call me on an unsecured line. You just waited."

"I told you I wanted to make myself useful," Lucas said.

A faint smile touched the corner of her lips. It was a rare and dangerous expression.

"You are doing a lot more than that," Victoria noted. She picked up her tablet and tapped a few commands to cancel her previous security alerts.

"We leave the accounts alone. We let Camilla search empty networks until she goes crazy. Keep playing the devoted fiancé. Keep her distracted until the gala."

She reached out and adjusted the lapel of his wrinkled suit jacket. Her fingers lingered against his chest.

"You may continue on," Victoria ordered softly. "Do not let her suspect you know about the trap."

The luxury sedan pulled up to the curb a block away from his crumbling building. Lucas stepped out into the biting morning air.

He watched the sleek black vehicle merge back into the city traffic before turning his attention to his own miserable logistics.

He found a local locksmith who charged him an outrageous emergency fee to drill the lock on his apartment door.

The sun was fully up by the time he stepped into his cramped living space.

The familiar smell of old laundry and cheap cleaning supplies greeted him.

He grabbed his spare keys from the kitchen counter and shoved them into his pocket.

He took a fast shower to wash off the lingering scent of Evelyn’s vanilla perfume and the stress of the morning.

He changed into a fresh white dress shirt and slipped his bespoke charcoal suit back on.

He checked his phone. It was eight in the morning.

He had an hour to get to the penthouse for Camilla’s press briefing.

Lucas walked out of his apartment and headed down the stairs.

He bypassed Evelyn’s basement unit without making a sound. He did not want to force another awkward interaction.

He pushed through the front doors of the building and stepped onto the sidewalk.