Elena stared at the photo until the image blurred into a smudge of grey and crimson.
The red stone on the Patriarch's finger didn't look like jewelry anymore, it looked like a drop of fresh blood sitting in a sea of grainy shadows. She looked at Silas's hand at the cool, calm blue of his own sapphire and felt the world tilt.
"The real power?" Elena's voice was a dry rasp her palms were flat against the mahogany table, her fingers digging into the wood as if it were the only thing keeping her from floating away into the dark.
"You're telling me that the man from that night... the man who left me broken in that hotel room... is the head of the entire Luanda Empire? That he is the one you answer to?"
"The Hidden Patriarch," Silas said his voice was grim, devoid of its usual silver polish.
"He doesn't sign contracts, Elena. He doesn't show his face at board meetings to be photographed by the press, he moves the world from behind a heavy silk curtain, he has never married; my own grandfather hasn't seen him with a woman in thirty years, and yet, seven years ago, he was at that gala."
Elena shoved the photo away. It felt hot, as if the paper itself were burning her skin.
"So Tom didn't just find me he saw that man leaving. He saw an opportunity to steal the title of 'Father' just to get his hands on the Luo fortune, he didn't just steal my life, Silas he hijacked a god's legacy."
"And that god has no idea Maya exists," Silas added, his shadow falling over her.
"In his world, blood is the only currency if he finds out you kept his heir in a servant's quarters... he won't just take the company he'll take the girl, and he will erase anyone who stood in his way."
The intercom on the desk suddenly screamed a high-pitched buzz that made Elena jump.
"Madam CEO!" Elder Chen's voice was distorted by panic.
"Mr. Phoenix is at the service entrance! He bypassed the scanners he has a master key we haven't deactivated yet! He's heading for the private elevator! He looks... Madam, he looks insane!"
Elena's eyes snapped to the security monitor. Tom was there, but the man in the video wasn't the arrogant husband she knew.
His expensive suit jacket was gone, his white shirt was yellowed with sweat and grime, and his hair was a wild, matted mess but it was his smile that stopped her heart.
It wasn't a smile of joy, it was the smile of a man wearing a suicide vest, ready to pull the pin.
"He doesn't want the company anymore," Elena realized, the air leaving her lungs.
"He knows he's lost he's going to use the Patriarch to destroy us both."
The elevator dinged. The sound was soft, but in the silent boardroom, it sounded like a gunshot.
Tom didn't burst in. He stumbled. He smelled of stale alcohol and desperation, a walking wreck of a man clutching a thick manila envelope as if it were a holy relic.
"You think you won, Elena?" Tom's laugh was a harsh, dry sound that made the remaining board members shrink into the shadows.
"You think you can just click your heels and go back to being a Princess? You think the world just forgets seven years of filth?"
Silas moved like a panther, stepping between them. His hand drifted to the small of his back, the lethal intent in his eyes enough to freeze a normal man.
"One more step, Tom, and you won't live to see the sunset."
"Kill me then!" Tom shrieked, waving the envelope.
"I already hit 'send'! The courier is halfway to the Luanda Sanctuary! The truth is already in the air!"
Elena felt the floor sway. The Sanctuary. The private residence of the man with the red stone.
"What did you send, Tom? What lies did you write?"
Tom's eyes bulged, glittering with a terrifying triumph.
"The DNA results, Elena! Not just yours and Maya's I kept a wine glass from that gala seven years ago, the 'Guest of Honor' left it behind, and I kept it as insurance. I've been waiting for the day you tried to leave me."
He turned to the room, screaming at the board members.
"She's been raising a bastard! The heir to the man who could wipe the Luo family off the map with a whisper!"
"Tom," Elena said, her voice trembling with a mix of rage and confusion.
"You weren't even in the country that night how could you plan this? What did I ever do to you but love you?"
"Love?" Tom sneered, spit flying from his lips.
"I wanted you to sleep with Ochanda! I wanted a scandal I could use to control your father! But who knew you'd have the luck to stumble into the bed of a god? I've been in communication with the Luanda Patriarch for years! On WhatsApp! He promised me—"
Silas let out a cold, barking laugh it was a sound of pure pity.
"You've been talking to the Patriarch on WhatsApp? Tom, our family head uses an old Nokia. He doesn't have social media. He doesn't even know what an 'app' is. You haven't been talking to a Lion... you've been talking to a ghost."
Tom froze.
"What? No. I have the messages! He promised me the ports! He said if I kept the girl hidden—"
"You've been talking to a scammer, or a shadow," Silas interrupted, his fingers suddenly locking around Tom's throat. He slammed him against the mahogany doors with a bone-jarring thud.
"You're a fool, Tom. You played a game you didn't understand, and now the real Lion is waking up." Silas said to Tom.
This man has been a CEO for many years but still as blind as a pig.
"Tom, I honestly can't believe that I Elena Luo married such a man, a man like you," Elena said.