Chapter 466:
“No,” Aurora said. She pulled a tablet from under her arm. “We discuss it here.”
She tapped the screen. Behind her, the massive digital display that usually showed stock tickers flickered and changed.
It displayed a chat log.
“This,” Aurora said, pointing to the screen, “is a transcript of your private messages from the ‘Apex Club’ internal network. The encrypted channel you thought was secure.”
Lee’s eyes bulged. “You… you hacked the club?”
“I didn’t have to,” Aurora said, swiping to the next image. “Your partner in crime, the one you tried to cut out of the deal last week, sent me the decryption key. There is no honor among thieves, Mr. Lee.”
The text on the screen was massive.
Lee: “The bitch is sinking the ship. Sell everything. I’m going to short the stock on the way out. Let’s bankrupt the Thorne brat and buy the scraps for pennies.”
A collective gasp went through the lobby.
Lee’s face drained of blood. He looked like a ghost.
“That… that’s fabricated!” he stammered. “It’s AI! Deepfake!”
“It’s authenticated,” Aurora said coldly. “And here is the trade confirmation where you shorted us. You bet against the company you claimed to love. You bet against the livelihood of three thousand employees.”
She took a step down.
“This isn’t a ‘market strategy,’ Mr. Lee. This is betrayal. And Vance-Thorne Solutions has a zero-tolerance policy for traitors.”
Lee was shaking now. The cameras were flashing, capturing his humiliation in high definition.
₥ₒᵣₑ ᵤₚdₐₜₑₛ ᵢₙ gₐₗₙₒᵥₑₗₛ.𝒸ₒₘ
“You can’t do this!” Lee screamed, his voice cracking. “I know people! I’ll ruin you!”
He lunged. It was a desperate, clumsy move. He reached for Aurora, his hand raised as if to grab her arm or strike her.
The air shifted.
Before Lee could get within two feet of her, a shadow moved. Elias Thorne stepped out from behind a pillar. He moved with a speed that blurred the eye. He caught Lee’s wrist in mid-air.
There was no dramatic snap of bone, only a calculated, paralyzing pressure on the radial nerve.
“Agh!” Lee shrieked, dropping to his knees as his arm went numb. He clutched his wrist, his face contorted in agony.
Elias didn’t look at him. He looked at his own hand, grimacing slightly. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a silk handkerchief, and deliberately wiped his fingers.
“Your hands are dirty,” Elias said, his voice low but carrying to every corner of the room. “Do not touch her.”
He tossed the handkerchief onto Lee’s sobbing form.
“Get him out,” Elias ordered the security team.
The guards grabbed Lee by the armpits and dragged him backward across the marble floor. His shoes squeaked, leaving scuff marks. He was still wailing about lawsuits as the revolving doors spun him out onto the street.
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