Chapter 218

No.1

The morning air in New York was crisp and biting after the rain.

Elisa stepped out of the private elevator into the expansive, marble-floored lobby of Aethel Intelligence Headquarters. She wore a razor-sharp,charcoal-gray tailored suit that perfectly concealed her spinal brace. Her posture was rigid-forced into flawless alignment by the carbon-fiber shell and sheer willpower-radiating the absolute,untouchable authority of a CEO.

Near the heavy revolving glass doors, a commotion was unfolding.

Three large Aethel security guards were physically blocking a woman from entering the building.

It was Allena.

She looked completely unrecognizable. The pristine white designer suits and perfect blowouts were gone. Her hair was a tangled, frizzy mess.She wore a wrinkled trench coat, and her face was pale,devoid of makeup, and swollen from crying. She looked like a cornered, desperate animal.

Allena saw Elisa step out of the elevator.

No.2

"Elisa!" Allena shrieked, her voice cracking with hysteria.

She violently shoved one of the guards, slipping past his arm, and sprinted across the marble floor.She was moving so fast and recklessly that one of her expensive stiletto heels snapped. She stumbled, almost falling, but caught herself and threw her body directly into Elisa's path.

The security guards rushed forward to grab her, but Elisa raised a single, calm hand, stopping them.

Elisa looked down at the woman panting in front of her. Her eyes were blank, completely devoid of empathy.

"Sister, please!" Allena sobbed, tears streaming down her ruined face. She reached out, her trembling fingers desperately trying to grab the sleeve of Elisa's suit. "You have to stop this! You have to call the prosecutor and tell them it was a misunderstanding!"

Elisa took a deliberate half-step backward,avoiding the touch as if Allena were covered in a highly contagious disease.

"There is no misunderstanding," Elisa stated,her

No.3

voice echoing coldly in the large lobby. "You poisoned a child."

Allena shook her head frantically. "I didn't mean to!I just wanted to scare you! Please, we share the same blood! Dad had a minor heart attack last night because of the stress you're causing!"

The words 'same blood' hit Elisa's ears.

A slow, terrifyingly dark smile curved Elisa's lips.It was a smile that made the security guards instinctively take a step back.

"The same blood?" Elisa whispered. She leaned forward slightly, her dark eyes piercing straight through Allena's pathetic facade. "When you and your mother stole my father, stole my inheritance,and left my mother to die in a coma in the mountains... did you think about our shared blood then?"

Allena's face drained of the last drop of color.She realized the family card was useless. She immediately switched tactics, her desperation turning into frantic bargaining.

"I'll give you everything!" Allena babbled, her hands shaking wildly. "I will sign over all my shares in Vanguard Medical! I will leave New York forever! I will never speak to August again! You can have him

No.4

back!"

Elisa stared at her. The sheer, unadulterated stupidity of the offer was almost offensive.

"You think you have leverage?" Elisa asked, her voice dropping to a freezing, absolute zero."Vanguard Medical's stock is going to be delisted by Friday. It's worthless paper. And as for August Chambers..."

Elisa let out a short, dismissive breath. "He is a piece of garbage I threw out months ago. If you want to keep playing in the trash, be my guest."

Allena's psychological dam finally broke.

Her knees buckled. Right there, in the middle of the corporate lobby, in front of the security guards and passing employees, the great medical prodigy collapsed. She fell to her knees on the cold marble floor, sobbing uncontrollably, her face buried in her hands.

"Please let me see Alastair," Allena begged, her voice muffled by her hands. She still believed she could manipulate a man if she just got him alone."He'll understand."

No.5

Elisa looked down at the pathetic heap on the floor.

"Alastair thinks looking at you would infect his

eyes," Elisa said softly. She checked her heavy silver wristwatch. "The federal judge signed the warrant ten minutes ago. The police are probably kicking down the door of your penthouse right now."

Allena let out a blood-curdling scream of pure terror. She curled into a tight ball on the floor,shaking violently.

Elisa turned to the head of security.

"Throw this trash out onto the sidewalk," Elisa commanded, her voice hard and professional. "If she steps foot in this building again, you are all fired."

The guards immediately grabbed Allena by the arms, hauling her up and dragging her screaming toward the revolving doors.

No.6

Elisa turned and walked out the side exit toward her waiting Maybach. She breathed in the cold city air.She felt no joy. She only felt a deep, lingering exhaustion.

As she reached for the car door handle, her phone pinged. It was a news alert. "Allena Mills, heiress and socialite, detained by NYPD outside Aethel HQ." The news had broken faster than she expected. A moment later, a massive, custom black

Rolls-Royce Phantom swerved aggressively to the curb, cutting off her Maybach. The car had blacked-out windows and custom vanity plates that simply read "CHMBRS".

The heavy rear door swung open.

August Chambers stepped out onto the sidewalk.He wore a dark gray bespoke suit. His face was a mask of cold, hard granite. He was flanked by four massive bodyguards.

He didn't look at Allena, who was currently being dumped onto the wet pavement by the Aethel guards twenty feet away. He walked directly up to Elisa, his tall frame blocking the sun.

He looked down at her, his eyes burning with a dark,arrogant intensity.

No.7

"Name your price, Elisa," August said. His voice was a low, vibrating rumble of absolute capital power. "How much money will it take for you to drop the charges and let her walk?"①