Chapter 2 - SHADOWS IN THE MANSION

The grand ballroom was transformed into an interrogation hold. Armed private guards stood at every exit while high-society elites murmured in whispers, their champagne glasses left untouched on velvet-covered tables.

In the private holding study upstairs, Alex watched a medical technician extract a sample of the spilled cider from a soaked velvet napkin Lily had managed to save.

"It’s an organic neurotoxin, Mr. Vance," the doctor reported quietly, shaking his head. "Synthetic, odorless, and completely undetectable by sight or taste. If you had ingested even half a glass, your respiratory system would have failed within ninety seconds. It would have looked like a sudden, catastrophic heart attack."

Alex closed his eyes. Ninety seconds. He was ninety seconds away from death.

He turned to look at Lily, who was sitting on the leather sofa while a nurse finished bandaging her hand. She looked tiny in her oversized server uniform, her face pale, but her eyes held a strange, unwavering resolve.

"Why risk your life for me, Lily?" Alex asked, walking over to sit across from her. "You could have been crushed when you threw yourself into that glass pyramid. You could have been shot by security."

Lily swallowed hard, her gaze dropping to her lap. "Because... you're the only person in this city who treated my brother like a human being before he died."

Alex frowned. "Your brother?"

"Julian," she whispered. "Julian Park. He was a junior accountant at your firm two years ago. The official report said he committed suicide after embezzling money... but I know he didn't. He called me the night before he died and said he found something massive in the corporate ledgers. He said he was going to bring it to you."

Alex felt a cold chill run down his spine. He remembered Julian—a brilliant young analyst whose sudden death had shocked the company. At the time, the police had presented airtight evidence of Julian’s guilt, leaving Alex no choice but to close the case.

"Julian was murdered, wasn't he?" Alex asked, the pieces beginning to connect in his mind.

"Yes," Lily said, looking up with fierce determination. "And the same people who killed my brother just tried to kill you tonight. The poison used on you... it's the exact same chemical substance listed in Julian's classified toxicology report that I managed to leak from the coroner's office."

Before Alex could digest the revelation, the heavy double doors of the study burst open. Clara marched in, flanked by her father, Senator Vance, and two corporate lawyers.

"Enough of this parade!" Senator Vance bellowed, resting his gold-headed cane heavily against the floor. "Alex, you have held two hundred dignitaries hostage in your estate for over an hour! This girl is a lunatic with a personal vendetta. She’s dragging up old corporate ghosts to manipulate you!"

"Is she, Senator?" Alex stood up, taking a step toward the older politician. "Because the toxicology report came back. It was poison. Professional-grade."

Clara gasped, placing a hand over her heart, though her eyes darted nervously toward her father. "Alex, darling... that's horrible! But all the more reason to let the police handle this! Why are you hiding up here with her?"

"Because the security footage from the hallway was erased from our internal servers five minutes ago," Alex replied smoothly. "The only person with administrative bypass codes to my home network—other than myself—is you, Clara."

Clara’s face went dead white. "What? Are you accusing me?"

"I'm not accusing anyone yet," Alex said softly, a dangerous edge in his tone. "I'm simply analyzing the data. And right now, the data says my fiancée had the access, my future father-in-law had the political leverage to quash Julian's autopsy two years ago, and a innocent server is the only reason I'm still breathing."

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Senator Vance slammed his cane against the floor. "Watch your tongue, Alex! My family built your corporate empire! Without the Vance family backing your board, you are nothing!"

"Then let's see what happens to the Vance family," Alex said, pulling a black flash drive from his pocket, "when I release the raw, unedited footage that Lily saved to her cloud server before your hackers could wipe it."