The sun hadn't risen, but war had already begun.
Ava stood in the penthouse's security room, flanked by Lucien and Damien. The monitors flickered with surveillance feeds from around the city — Blackwood Global's satellite offices, safe houses, and key holding companies.
One by one, they were going dark.
"She's not waiting," Lucien said grimly. "Someone hit our Vancouver holding at 4:17 AM. Simultaneous breach in Zurich. Servers wiped. It was professional."
Damien's jaw flexed. "This is her warning shot."
Ava stared at the screens, heart pounding. "No. This is the beginning."
Lucien pulled up a file. "The names from Valkyrie's elimination list — three of them were found dead this morning. One was your father's former CFO. Another was a Blackwood board member who defected last year."
Her stomach turned. "She's tying up loose ends."
Damien didn't speak. He didn't blink. He just stood there, calculating, until finally, he said, "Pull back all overseas agents. Activate silent protocols. I want every Blackwood subsidiary under lockdown by noon."
Lucien nodded and left.
Ava remained, watching Damien in the dim glow of the monitors. He looked colder than he had in days — like the man from the first night of their marriage. Ruthless. Controlled. Dangerous.
"I've seen you like this before," she said softly. "But never when it mattered."
He turned toward her. "This matters more than anything."
Ava stepped closer. "Then don't shut me out."
His gaze softened, just a little. "I'm not. I'm trying to protect you."
"By becoming the man she wants you to be? Cold? Strategic? Alone?" Her voice was firm, but her hand slid into his. "Don't give her that power."
He exhaled, and for a moment, the walls cracked.
Then his phone buzzed.
Lucien's voice came through the speaker. "We have a situation. The media just released confidential documents about Sinclair Pharmaceuticals. False reports. Fabricated trials. They're linking Ava's name to it."
Ava's chest tightened. "What?"
"She's framing you," Damien said. "Destroying your credibility before we can go public."
"She won't stop," Ava whispered.
"No," he said. "But neither will we."
---
By mid-morning, Ava and Damien were seated with their legal team, PR agents, and a cyber-defense specialist. The room was like a pressure cooker — everyone tense, alert, rapid-fire strategy bouncing off the walls.
"She's weaponizing Ava's past," the PR chief said. "The media are calling her a 'spoiled heiress turned fraud cover-up.' Public sympathy is tanking."
"I don't care about sympathy," Ava snapped. "I care about proof. We have everything we need in that server room."
"Yes, but if we leak it now," Damien said carefully, "we lose control of the narrative. She'll twist it. Frame it as desperate revenge."
"Then what do we do?"
"We bait her."
A hush fell over the room.
Damien looked at Ava. "She thinks you're a liability. A princess playing rebel. She doesn't know what you've become."
Ava met his eyes. "Then show her."
---
That night, Ava walked into the press gala alone.
Her figure was wrapped in a deep crimson silk gown — the color of blood and war. Cameras exploded around her, microphones shoved in her face, but she didn't flinch.
She wanted them to see her.
She stood at the podium, chin lifted, voice steady.
> "I know what they're saying about me. I know what the media is spinning. But you don't know the truth — yet. You don't know what my family has done behind closed doors. But you will. Soon. Because I'm not hiding anymore."
The crowd stirred.
Damien watched from the shadows, pride darkening his expression. She wasn't just surviving this.
She was becoming the weapon.
---
Back at the penthouse, they stood in silence as news feeds replayed her speech on a loop. The public reaction was immediate: curiosity. Disbelief. But most importantly — attention.
"She took the bait," Lucien said, stepping into the room. "We just intercepted a signal. She's setting up a decoy meeting in Berlin next week. And get this — she's using a burner line Ava used years ago. She wants us to follow."
"She wants me alone," Ava said. "And isolated."
Damien's mouth tightened. "Then she doesn't know you have me."
Ava turned toward him. "We go together."
"No," Damien said, crossing to her. "I go first. You wait for my signal."
She shook her head. "If we're doing this, we do it side by side."
He hesitated… then gave a slow, reluctant nod.
"This ends in Berlin."
---
That night, as they lay in bed, he wrapped her in his arms, tighter than usual. His fingers slid into her hair, his lips resting at the hollow of her throat.
"Promise me something," he said quietly. "If I don't make it out—"
"No." Her voice cracked. "Don't say that."
"Promise me."
Ava turned, pressed her palm to his cheek. "We walk into this together. And we walk out the same way."
His breath caught.
And then he kissed her, fiercely — like a vow.
Because for the first time, everything was on the line.