Chapter 200

No.1

The subterranean parking garage of Mather Medical Center was a cavern of concrete and flickering fluorescent lights. The air smelled of damp exhaust and industrial cleaner.

Elisa walked toward the black armored Maybach idling in the shadows.

Alastair was sitting in the driver's seat. He looked like a storm about to break. As soon as Elisa slid into the passenger seat, he slammed his hands against the leather steering wheel.

"You gave up your position," Alastair growled,his voice vibrating with barely contained fury. "You let that lying, talentless parasite force you out of your own company.I would have burned my stock to the ground before I let her win."

Elisa didn't flinch at his anger. She reached into the inner pocket of her cashmere coat.

"I didn't let her win, Alastair," Elisa said calmly. "I gave her enough rope to hang herself."

She pulled out a small, matte-black USB drive. It was secured with a biometric thumbprint scanner.She pressed her thumb to the sensor. A tiny green LED flashed.

She plugged the drive into the Maybach's central media console.

No.2

'vvnat is tnis?" Alastair asked, his brow furrowing.

"Play it," Elisa instructed.

Alastair tapped the screen. A high-definition video file opened.

The angle was high, looking down from the ceiling vent of VIP Room 4. The time stamp in the corner indicated it was recorded exactly twelve minutes before the Code Blue alarm sounded.

The video showed the empty hospital room. Tate was asleep on the bed.

Then, the door opened. Allena slipped into the room. She looked over her shoulder, her face twisted in a mask of calculated malice. She pulled a small, pre-filled syringe from her designer bag.She walked directly to the IV pole, jammed the needle into the port, and pushed the clear liquid into the line.

She threw the syringe back into her bag and hurried out of the room.

The footage was crystal clear. It was undeniable,premeditated attempted murder.

No.3

Alastair stared at the screen. The anger vanished from his face, replaced by a look of absolute,predatory shock.

"How did you get this?" Alastair breathed. "The hospital security system doesn't have cameras in the VIP rooms."

Elisa leaned back against the leather seat. A cold,ruthless smile played on her lips.

"They don't," Elisa said. "But you know who does?The Netflix documentary crew that's been following Allena around. They planted hidden B-roll cameras in the vents last week to catch 'candid'footage of her so-called medical genius. They forgot to take this one down. I sent an encrypted ping to your cybersecurity team the moment l realized what she'd done, and they pulled this from the production company's cloud server five minutes ago."

Alastair threw his head back and let out a deep,echoing laugh of pure, vicious delight.

"You are a terrifying woman, Faye," Alastair said,looking at her with profound admiration. "We send this to the NYPD Major Case Squad right now. She will be in handcuffs before midnight."

"No," Elisa said, her voice dropping to a lethal whisper. "If we arrest her now, August will claim she acted alone. He will distance himself and survive. I want her to hold a press conference. I want her to publicly claim the patents.I want her to stand at the absolute peak of her lies, with August standing right beside her."

Elisa looked out the dark window. "And then, we broadcast this video to the entire world. We don't just put her in prison. We destroy the Chambers Group's credibility forever."

No.4

Alastair nodded slowly, a dark grin on his face. "A public execution. I love it."

"I need to go back up to the lobby," Elisa said,

opening the car door. "I have to sign the official HR suspension paperwork. The illusion of my defeat must be perfect."

Ten minutes later, Elisa stepped out of the elevator into the massive, marble-floored main lobby of the medical center.

The space was crowded with doctors, patients,and executives.

As she walked toward the administrative desk, a figure stepped into her path, blocking her way.

It was Cyprian. A thick white gauze pad was taped to the side of his neck, covering the bloody scratches. He looked down at her, his posture radiating that familiar, suffocating aristocratic arrogance.

"Elisa," Cyprian said, his tone dripping with condescending pity. "Look at what you've done to yourself. If you just go up there right now,apologize to August, and beg for his help, he might still protect you from the federal prosecutors.Don't be stupid."

No.5

He actually believed he was doing her a favor. He believed his bleeding neck gave him the right to lecture her.

Elisa stopped. She tilted her head slightly, looking at Cyprian.

Her eyes held no anger. Nohatred. Only a pure,clinical,physiological disgust, as if she were looking at a cockroach twitching on the floor.

She didn't speak a single word. She didn't even blink.1

Elisa simply stepped to the side,walked around him,and continued toward the desk,completely erasing his existence from her reality.

Cyprian's mouth fell open. A hot flush of extreme humiliation burned his face. He stood frozen in the middle of the lobby, utterly emasculated by her absolute silence.

Ding.

The private VIP elevator doors opened at the far end of the lobby.

No.6

August Chambers strode out, surrounded by a phalanx of lawyers and security guards. His eyes immediately scanned the room and locked onto Elisa, who was turning away from the admin desk,heading toward the main exit.

August stopped. He stood tall, adjusting his suit jacket. He prepared himself. He knew she had just signed her suspension papers. She was stripped of her title, facing prison, and completely isolated.

This was the moment. She was going to walk up to him. She was going to break. She was going to ask for his protection.

Elisa walked toward the exit. Her path took her directly past August.

Ten feet. Five feet. Three feet.

August's breath hitched. He slightly turned his body toward her, ready to deliver his cold, conditional

offer of salvation.

Elisa kept walking. She didn't slow down. She didn't turn her head. The lobby was swarming with people,creating a chaotic blur of movement, but her path was razor-straight. She was acutely aware that ignoring him in such a public space technically violated the terms of their secret pact, but right now, she didn't care. She would rather face Germaine's wrath later than acknowledge his existence for a single second. Her eyes remained fixed on the revolving glass doors ahead.She walked past August Chambers as if he were a ghost.As if he were a blank patch of drywall.

No.7

The physical displacement of air as she walked past him hit August like a sledgehammer to the chest.

He stood paralyzed in the center of the crowded lobby. The sounds of the hospital faded into a dull ringing in his ears. He watched her push through the glass doors and disappear into the cold Manhattan night.

A sudden, violent panic seized his heart.It wasn't the panic of losing control. It was the apocalyptic realization that to Elisa Wilder, he no longer existed at all.