Chapter 3 The last straw

Alexander's expression hardened into stone. “No, he didn't.” Alex replied with a sneer. “Because his white moonlight might need a glass of water. While his real wife was here fighting for her life after a violent accident.”

“That is the type of man you choose to waste your life, your brilliance and your love on.” He closed his eyes, trying to control of his emotions.

“I warned you three years ago. You walked away from an empire that was yours, that was waiting for you. For a man who doesn't care if your alive or dead. I was going to wait patiently for you until you come to your sense. To get tired of playing house, but this ends now. It's over.”

“Alex. I know that now.” Elara replied, voice shaking and filled with tears.

Alex's expression softened. “Good, because we don't have the time to cry, Elara. We have a war to fight, and we need you. Elara, the real you. The one that the world never saw.”

“The one who earned two advanced degrees from Stanford and the London school of economics at the same time. Before Damien Thorne even knew your name.”

“The one who designed and built the defense protocol for our Asia's sector. Before you threw it all away for a man, to manage his house and cook his food.”

“Who is the adversary,” Elara asked her voice becoming steady.

“Victor Lee.” Alex replied, confirming her suspicion and worst fear.

Elara's eyes widened silently. Victor Lee, the man who has been her father's greatest rival for twenty years. The one rival that the Vance group had never defeated, they had only been able to contain it.

“Victor Lee,” Elara whispered. “But, he's been dormant for years, we were told he retired.”

“That's right. He disappeared allowed us to relax. But then he showed up six weeks ago.” Alexander explained, pulling out a tablet and showing Elara a complex financial flow chart.

“He is strategically buying up smaller debt portfolios attached to our most important subsidiaries. using a maze of shell companies. He's not after money, Elara; he’s after control. And he is specifically targeting our tech division, our Intellectual Property acquisition department, and our logistics network in the Far East.”

Alexander ran his finger across the chart, hitting a specific node. “His primary strategy is destroying the one department that you were trained to manage: the international IP acquisitions.”

“It's like he studied us all. He knows my operational strengths and Dad's financial strengths, and he’s bypassing them completely by attacking us where we don't have coverage.”

“The rest of us, father, the board, even me. We can't make any move that won't trigger a full blown panic crashing our stock and giving Victor Lee the perfect advantage.”

“But you,” he said “you were trained for this. And you have the perfect cover for being an ex-wife. No one will suspect your involvement. You are a ghost, Elara. A forgotten asset.”

“We need you back, Elara. Not as a prodigal daughter but as a strategic executive. You are the only one that can stop this.” He paused, letting his words settle on her shoulder.

“You choose to risk your life trying to save a marriage that was never supposed to be. Now you have the chance to save the inheritance that truly belongs to you. To take back the power you once sacrificed.”

Alexander dropped the vance emergency phone, the one used only as a last resort, on her blanket.

“Activate the phone and tell me where to pick you up. A private jet is fueled and waiting at the nearest air strip. You leave this hospital and this city within the hour.”

Elara looked at herself in the darkened screen of the monitor, her face pale, tired and defeated. The woman she saw was a warrior not a victim.

The man I loved rejected me for a lie. He chose shadow over substance, she thought. I have wasted three years trying to save a dead marriage. It ends now. This marriage is over. Now the debt collection begins.

She ignored the emergency phone for a moment, focusing entirely on the complex financial chart Alexander had displayed.

“Tell me exactly what Victor Lee's current position is, Alexander,” Elara said. “His acquisition strategy? I want the full financial breakdown of his debt portfolio and his political leverage. I want to know every vulnerability he possesses, professional and personal.”

She reached for her bedside buzzer. “Tell the nurse I am checking out immediately. Call my security team, not the one Damien assigned, but the Vance Group detail. I need my personal vault delivered to the airport.”

Then, she looked up, her gaze cutting through Alexander’s surprise. “And prepare a custom-made gown for the upcoming International Business Gala. A statement piece. A gown that tells the entire world the true owner of the Vance name is not to be toyed with.”

Alexander simply nodded, a rare flicker of pride in his eyes. "Consider it done. What else?"

Elara took the emergency burner phone and activated it with a decisive thumb press.

"It's time to call the board, Alex," she stated, her lips curling into a cold smile. Then, she added the final, chilling declaration: "Damien Thorne may have kill

ed his wife, but he has just declared war on the Empress.”