The hospital discharge papers were still warm when Jayden stepped out into the plaza again.
Bandages wrapped his ribs, a sling held his arm in place, and every step felt like a war but his eyes were steel.
Sienna stood beside him in a fitted black suit, hair tied back, heels clicking with authority.
Amelia was asleep in the backseat of a bulletproof BMW.
She didn't need to see this part.
"Are you sure you want to do this now?" Sienna asked.
Jayden looked at the plaza.
Bullet holes still scarred the marble pillars.
Bloodstains lingered on the steps like ghosts refusing to leave.
He nodded once. "We rebuild now. Not later."
Jayden didn't waste time.
By noon, every department head from Sienna's company, Hale Ventures, was summoned to the top floor of her corporate tower.
They sat at a long glass table, confused, anxious until he walked in.
Leo held the door open.
Still bruised, still limping but flanking Jayden like a second shadow.
Sienna followed, her presence commanding, her voice cold.
"From this moment forward," she said, "Hale Ventures is no longer a quiet holdings firm. It's a predator."
She nodded to Jayden.
He pulled a USB drive from his coat and slammed it on the table.
"That's your new directive. Inside: a hit list of every corrupt company, every slumlord, every weak empire worth devouring in Orange County."
One executive raised a hand.
"And if they resist?"
Jayden smiled without warmth.
"They won't."
He turned to the CFO.
"Sell every safe asset. Liquidate what you're not willing to bleed for."
"To fund what?" the man asked.
Jayden leaned in. "A revolution."
The next day, they made a move no one expected.
PIXEL Plaza scarred from the war was rebranded RECLAMATION HQ.
The crimson fang of the Park family was torched on livestream burned into a vat of molten steel while Jayden and Sienna stood above it, Amelia holding Jayden's hand.
A massive new insignia was unveiled: a roaring crimson lion clawing through a glass crown.
Jayden looked at the camera.
"To all the tyrants hiding behind legacy and old money we're not just here to compete. We're here to erase you."
The first hostile takeover came fast.
A rival tech firm Corvex Digital had tried to buy out Hale's VR division six months ago.
Now, Jayden and Sienna walked into their high-rise unannounced.
Sienna spoke calmly to the receptionist.
"Tell your CEO that Sienna Hale and Jayden Colman are here for breakfast."
"What? You don't have an"
Jayden flashed a bloodstained business card.
"We'll wait."
Ten minutes later, they were in the boardroom.
The Corvex CEO sat with smug arrogance, flanked by lawyers.
Jayden dropped a thick file on the table. Inside: evidence of tax fraud, data leaks, off book weapons sales.
Sienna smiled.
"You have two options. Sign over majority control, or we leak this to every outlet from TechCrunch to the IRS."
"You're bluffing," the CEO spat.
Jayden leaned across the table, eyes dark.
"I bled on marble for this city. What makes you think I'm afraid to bury a man who prints code?"
The CEO signed.
Sienna wasn't just the mind she became the symbol.
She stepped onto stages in silver dresses, delivered cutting speeches on reform, and made viral statements about shifting the West Coast economy "out of the shadows of dinosaurs."
Behind her, Jayden operated in silence.
Every deal she announced was backed by funds Jayden pulled from secret vaults, silent partners, and reclaimed black market gold.
Their contrast became legend: the Ghost and the Face.
And beneath it all, their bond deepened.
One night, alone on the rooftop of RECLAMATION HQ, Jayden stood with a whiskey in hand, looking over the skyline.
Sienna joined him.
"You're building something no man has ever dared dream."
He didn't speak.
She took his hand, fingers laced.
"You could've died. You almost did. But now…"
Jayden turned to her. "Now we make them watch."
Weeks passed.
Hale Ventures became a house no one could simply utter without consequences
Stock prices surged.
Enemies went silent.
Former Park allies defected, begging for jobs or mercy.
Leo formed a private defense company:
Daddy cop funded, trained, and loyal to Jayden alone.
Jayden purchased land in District Ten once a Park family drug hub and announced plans to build a new, free hospital named Amelia's Haven.
When a reporter asked,
"Are you trying to be a savior?"
Jayden replied: "No. Being a hero is quite boring just sure no child has to cry over another broken promise."
In the basement of the HQ, a hidden room was constructed.
Inside: the war map of Orange County.
Red pins for enemies. Blue for allies. Green for neutral zones to be flipped.
Jayden, Sienna, and Leo stood around it.
"This isn't the end," Leo muttered. "It's the beginning."
Sienna stepped forward, placing her palm flat on the table.
"We don't just build wealth. We build fear. We build power. We build a future."
Jayden looked at them both.
"No kings. No queens. Just lions."
He dropped a fang necklace onto the map the last relic of the Park family.
Crushed it beneath his boot.
"Welcome to the empire."