Chapter 7 - THE ALLIANCE IN THE SHADOWSThe lower west wing was cold, damp, and smelled of old dust and forgotten history. The heavy iron-reinforced door slammed shut behind the guards with a deafening thud, followed by the metallic click of the electronic lock engaging.
Ryan slumped against the far wall, sliding down until he was sitting on the cold stone floor, burying his face in his hands. His shoulders shook silently.
I stood near the barred window, looking out over the manicured gardens where Julian’s security patrols were already marching in formation.
"Why didn't you leave?" Ryan’s muffled voice broke the silence of the cell. He didn't look up. "When you walked out to your car... you could have driven away. You could have saved yourself from all of this."
I turned around, leaning my back against the stone wall, folding my arms. "And missed the greatest show on earth? Please, Ryan."
Ryan let out a bitter, self-deprecating chuckle, wiping a stray tear from his cheek with the back of his hand. "You're right. I deserve that. I treated you like garbage today. I believed my mother over my own wife, and I threw you out like trash. Karma is a ruthless bitch, isn't it?"
"It is," I agreed calmly, walking over and kneeling down in front of him. I lifted his chin so he had to look me in the eye. "Are you going to sit here and cry like a beaten dog, Ryan Sterling, or are you going to remember who you actually are?"
Ryan stared at me, surprised by the fierce determination burning in my eyes. "What am I? According to them, I’m a nobody. An impostor. A stolen child."
"You built Sterling Technologies from the ground up over the last ten years," I reminded him sharply, tapping my index finger against his chest. "Julian and Damon might have the corporate charter and the family name, but they don't have your brain, and they don't have the encryption keys to the primary servers. Without those keys, the entire company freezes at midnight."
Ryan’s eyes widened slightly as the fog of despair began to lift. "The master server... My backup biometric key is locked in my private vault at the Swiss Zurich Bank."
"Which can only be accessed with your thumbprint and my signature as your legal spouse," I added with a faint, confident smile. "Technically, our divorce papers were never finalized this morning. You threw me out, but you didn't sign the final court decree."
Ryan stared at me, a glimmer of awe and fierce respect replacing the despair in his eyes. "You planned this?"
"I'm a corporate lawyer, Ryan. I always read the fine print," I said smoothly. "Now, do you want your empire back, or should we help Julian pack his bags?"
Before Ryan could answer, the small sliding metal hatch on the heavy iron door rattled open. A pair of eyes peered through the slot. It wasn't one of Julian’s guards.
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It was Arthur Vance, looking around nervously before whispering through the gap:
"Shh! Keep your voices down. I bypassed the security feed for thirty seconds. If you want to survive and strike back, you need to get to the old underground tunnel beneath the wine cellar. Now."
