?Chapter 1533:


    “I can help you, but I need proof you are serious about this partnership. Fifty million. Wire it to my overseas ount. You have half a day. Let that window close, and we are done.”


    The demand caught Ninapletely off guard. Fifty million was not just sitting in her ount, waiting to be moved. “Amon, you already know the position I am in…”


    Why couldn’t he simply wait? When everything fell into ce, wouldn’t his cut be just as substantial?


    “Every deal needs coteral up front. You cannot produce fifty million today? Then what makes you think I will believe you can drop a hundred million on meter without blinking?”


    Nina’s jaw clenched. “Fine. You will have it in your ount tomorrow. I will arrange for the USB drive to reach you as well. Keep this between us — no one else hears about it.” She ended the call and crossed to the wine cab, pouring another generous ss with an unsteady hand.


    Lines creased her forehead. Paying half upfront left her with exactly one choice: borrowing from someone with deep pockets. Fifty million was serious money, and gathering that amount alone in twelve hours was impossible. But opportunities like this did not knock twice. This was her shot at finally taking William down, and walking away was not something she could stomach.


    She weighed her options, thenposed a message to Arlo. Sheid out the circumstances with calcted honesty and made her request — fifty million, loaned on trust.


    Arlo’s response came faster than expected. The transfer hit her ount within minutes, apanied by a single warning: “Nina, don’t disappoint me. This falls apart, and I am collecting double.”


    The moment the funds cleared, Nina forwarded every cent to Amon’s overseas ount. That fifty million passed through her hands in under an hour.


    Seven days crawled by.


    Nina wore circles into the hotel carpet, anxiety gnawing at herposure. The n called for Amon to act duringst night’s exhibition. By dawn at the absolutetest, the stolen data should have been waiting on herptop.


    Yet every time she checked, the folder stared back at her — stubbornly empty.


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    From the moment she woke that morning, she had been hitting redial obsessively. Every attempt met the same result: his phone stayed dark and unreachable.


    Cold dread settled into her bones, heavy and suffocating. One exnation made sense, though she hated admitting it: Amon had failed too.


    William possessed a razor-sharp mind, coupled with an almost paranoid awareness of counter-espionage. Amon had failed against him once before, andunching another attempt now meant courting the same disastrous oue.


    Nina copsed onto the sofa and dragged both hands through her hair, agitation radiating through every trembling muscle. She had convinced herself that she had anticipated every possibleplication, that the operation would proceed without a single hitch. Yet here she sat, confronted with Amon’s failure — an exact replica of Marc’s catastrophic oue. Worse still, every attempt to reach Amon met with silence. The probability loomed heavy and undeniable: he had already fallen into William’s hands.


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