Chapter 7 - The Alliance of the DamnedSebastian didn't look surprised. He walked slowly into the vault, took the file from my hand, and tossed it onto the mahogany table without even glancing inside.
"I know," he said quietly.
I stared at him, the words dying in my throat. "You knew? When?"
"Two hours ago," Sebastian replied, his voice chillingly calm. "I hacked my grandfather's private server while you were sleeping. Every file, every wiretap, every manipulated contract—it's all downloaded onto an encrypted drive on my desk."
"And you're just standing here?" My voice rose, tinged with disbelief and outrage. "Your own flesh and blood treated your life like a chess game! Why aren't you tearing this place down right now?"
"Because a sledgehammer makes too much noise, Elena," Sebastian said, stepping closer until I could feel the heat radiating off him. "If I go to war with my grandfather openly, his board of directors will invoke the mental incapacity clause, oust me, and sweep everything under the rug. To destroy Jonathan Vale, we have to strike where his armor is weakest: his financial lifeline."
"Which is?"
"The upcoming government energy grid acquisition," Sebastian said, a dangerous smirk touching the corner of his lips. "The board thinks we secured the exclusive bidding rights through legal channels. But my grandfather bribed the federal regulatory committee through an offshore shell company managed by none other than Daniel Mercer."
I slowly began to understand the scale of the trap he was building. "You're going to hand the evidence to the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
"Better than that," Sebastian corrected. "I'm going to let my grandfather finalize the acquisition tomorrow morning at the annual board meeting. The second the ink dries on the contract, I will trigger an automatic federal audit that freezes every single Vale asset, strips my grandfather of his title, and transfers controlling stake of the corporation to the primary heir."
"Which is you," I said.
"Which is us," Sebastian corrected softly, reaching out to tuck a stray lock of hair behind my ear. His touch sent an electric shock through my skin that I hated myself for feeling. "Under the prenuptial agreement grandfather forced us to sign—which my legal team just found a fatal loophole in—our renewed marriage contract invalidates his corporate control clause."
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Before I could pull away, the heavy security doors of the library suddenly slammed shut with a deafening metallic clang.
Emergency red warning lights began to flash overhead. A mechanical voice echoed through the intercom: Perimeter breached. Lockdown initiated.
