Rainshed against the windows of Victoria Kane''s office, matching her dark mood. She sat rigid in her leather chair, eyes fixed on therge screen mounted on the wall. The security footage ying before her


    Martin, her head of security, stood nearby, his face grim as they watched Rose Lewis slip into a side entrance of an upscale restaurant. The timestamp showed 9:43 PM, two days ago. "Pause it," Victoriamanded.


    Martin pressed a button on the remote. The image froze, capturing Rose mid-


    step, her face partly hidden byrge sunsses despite thete hour. Even in disguise, the hatred Victoria felt for this woman burned in her stomach


    like acid.


    "Continue."


    The footage resumed. Rose moved through the restaurant, head down, until she reached a private dining area in the back. A walter pulled aside a curtain, revealing a booth where someone already waited. The "Can you get a better view of his face?" Victoria asked, leaning forward.


    Martin shook his head. "No, ma''am. We''ve tried enhancing from every angle. The restaurant''s security system isn''t positioned to capture that corner clearly. It seems..."


    "Deliberate," Victoria finished for him. "As if they knew exactly where to sit to avoid identification."


    "Yes, ma''am."


    Victoria''s fingers tapped against the polished wood of her desk, a habit she allowed herself only in moments of deep concern. "What else?"


    Martin changed to another video feed. This one showed Rose and the mystery man leaving separately. First Rose, ncing nervously over her shoulder, then twenty minutester, the man, still with his back to backed confidence of someone used tomand.


    "We followed her?" Victoria asked.


    "Yes. She went directly to her apartment." Martin hesitated "We tried to track the man, but he had a car waiting ck Bentley, tinted windows, changed license tes twice before we lost him in Queens." Victoria''s eyes narrowed. Amateur mistakes weren''t made by Martin''s team. "He knew you were following."


    "It appears so." Martin''s professional pride seemed wounded. "Whoever he is, he has resources. And training." Victoria stood, moving to the window. Below, New York sprawled out, glistening wet from the rain, how me the other encounters," she ordered, turning back


    Martin pulled up four more video clips, different locations different days. A coffee shop in Brooklyn. A bench in Central Park. The lobby of a hotel. A dock at the marina. Always the same pattern: Rose and the mystery man, faces hidden or obscured, meeting in locations that seemed randeni but Victoria recognized as strategically selected for minimal surveince.


    "They''re nning something," Victoria murmured, more to herself than to Martin.


    "Without question." Martin pulled out a tablet and handed it to her. "There''s more. Financial records show Rose has essed emergency funds we weren''t aware of. Not much, two hundred thousand dors, bu Victoria swiped through the banking records, a cold knot farming in her chest. "And the man?"


    "Nothing. No financial trail we can follow. Which suggests someone who knows how to cover his tracks."


    The rain beat harder against the ss. Victoria felt her age today, the weight of it pressing down on her shoulders. She had lived through corporate wars, personal tragedies, and countless attacks on her empire screamed danger.


    "Where is Camille now?" she asked.


    "At the engineering facility with Ms. Zhao, reviewing the final blueprints for the Grid. Mr. Pierce is with her."


    At least she was safe, Victoria thought. Protected by Alexander''s presence


    and his own security team. But for how long?


    Victoria moved back


    to her desk and pressed the inte. "Sarah, cancel my meetings for the rest of the day. And-


    have the car ready in twenty minutes."


    She released the button and looked at Martin. "I want our security doubled at the groundbreaking ceremony. Triple it around Camille without making it obvious. And I want every second of Rose''s day tracked, where she goes, who she meets, what she buys." "Yes, ma''am." Martin''s expression remained neutral, but Victoria caught the faintest flicker of concern in his eyes. "And the man?" "Find him," Victoria said, her voice going sharp as a de. "Whatever it takes."


    Martin nodded and left the office. Alone, Victoria pulled open her desk drawer and removed an old photograph, herself and Sophia, thirteen years ago, at the hospital fundraiser where Sofia had met Charles Pre The ache in her chest surprised her. Victoria Kane did not indulge in regret, it was unproductive, wasteful. Yettely, watching Camille begin to open her heart to Alexander, seeing glimpses of the woman she had been before Rose''s betrayal, Victoria wondered about the costs of her methods.


    "Necessary," she whispered to the empty room. Everything had been necessary. The surgery. The training. The calcted revenge. She had forged Camille into a weapon that could strike back at those who ha


    her.


    But weapons, once created, didn''t always stay in the hands that made them.


    Her phone buzzed with a message from Alexander:


    *Camille found inconsistencies in the Grid blueprints. Minor but concerning. Someone may have tampered with them, Hannal investigating*


    Victoria''s breath caught. More evidence of a coordinated attack. She texted back


    Keep her close. Coming to you now.


    She grabbed her coat and moved toward the door, then paused, turning back to look once more at the frozen image on the screen, Rose and the shadow of a man whose face they couldn''t capture. "Who are you?" she asked the figure. "And what game are you ying?"


    The image, of course, gave no answer. But Victoria felt something she hadn''t experienced in years, a flutter of unease. Not fear, never fear. But a premonition that patterns were shifting, that variables she hadn'' For the first time since taking Camille under her wing, Victoria wondered if she might be outmaneuvered. The thought sent a chill through her that had nothing to do with the rain- cooled air.


    In her private elevator descending to the garage, Victoria pressed her palm against the hidden scanner, granting ess to the securemunications system built into the wall. "Connect me to Alexander Pierce. Encrypted line."


    A soft beep, then Alexander''s voice filled the small space. "Victoria."


    "Can you speak freely?"


    "Yes. Camille is with Hannah reviewing the altered sections of the blueprints. We''re alone.”


    Victoria kept her voice low despite the elevator''s secure design. "We have a situation. Rose


    has been meeting with someone, a man. We can''t identify him."


    A pause. "Someone helping her target the Grid?"


    "It seems likely. The timing, the secrecy. My security team couldn''t track him, he knew they were following." "Professional."


    "Yes." Victoria watched the floor numbers tick down. "Alexander, I''ve never asked about the full extent of your resources. I know they''re substantial. More substantial, perhaps, than you''ve officially disclosed."


    Another pause, longer this time. "What exactly are you asking, Victoria?"


    "Your surveince capabilities. They exceed standard corporate security, don''t they?"


    The elevator reached the garage level but Victoria pressed the hold button, keeping the doors closed. "They do," Alexander admitted finally.


    "Then I need you to find this man. Identify him. My team can''t, and we''re running out of time."


    "You''re asking me to use methods that aren''t strictly legal


    Victoria smiled thinly at his careful phrasing. "I''m asking you to protect Camille. By any means


    necessary."


    The silence stretched between them. When Alexander spoke again, his voice had hardened. "I''ll find him. But Victoria, this is for Camille, not for you. I need you to understand the distinction." The words stung more than Victoria would admit. "Just do what needs to be done. And Alexander?"


    "Yes?"


    "Don''t tell Camille about this yet. Not until we know what we''re facing. She needs to focus on the Grid."


    "She won''t appreciate being kept in the dark."


    “She''ll appreciate being blindsided by another attack even less." Victoria''s tone left no room for debate. "Twenty-


    four hours. Give me that before you tell her."


    "Twenty-four hours," Alexander agreed reluctantly. "But not a minuta me passing


    Victoria ended the


    call and released the hold button. The elevator doors slid open to reveal her waiting car. As she stepped out, her phone buzzed again. A text from Martin:


    *Rose just entered Madison Park. Meeting someone. Team in position."


    Victoria slid into the back seat of her car. "Change of ns, James. Madison Park. As quickly as possible." The driver nodded, pulling smoothly out of the garage into the rain-


    slick streets. Victoria stared out at the city, her mind racing ahead, calcting risks and countermoves. Rose Lewis was a snake, dangerous but predictable in her hatred. But this new yer, this shadow man w he was the true threat.


    Victoria had spent a lifetime anticipating her enemies'' moves before they made them. It was how she had built her empire, how she had survived when others fell. But this felt different. The pieces on the board were moving in patterns she couldn''t quite grasp.


    For Camille''s sake, she needed to see this enemy''s face. Understand his motives. Know his weaknesses.


    The car sped through the rainy streets, carrying Victoria toward Madison Park and perhaps, toward answers. But as the familiar skyscrapers of midtown gave way to the lower buildings surrounding the park, the She couldn''t shake the feeling that for once in her long career of calcted risks and strategic victories, Victoria Kane might be toote.