Chapter 18 - CHESS WITH GHOSTS
The rain returned to the city by late afternoon, washing over the dark glass windows of the Vance headquarters.
Elena sat in her private subterranean control room, surrounded by dozens of glowing blue terminal screens.
Her chief technical analyst, a pale young man named Leo, worked frantically on his keyboard.
"Run the scan again, Leo," Elena commanded, standing behind his chair.
"I scanned the entire file three times, Lady Vance," Leo stammered, pulling up a series of complex data trees.
"The phone call was routed through seven proxy servers in Zurich, Tokyo, and New York."
"It's completely untraceable."
"Nothing is untraceable," Elena said coldly.
"What about the biological match from three days ago?"
"The blood test from the warehouse?"
Leo paused, his fingers hovering over the glowing keys.
He looked hesitant to speak.
"Speak, Leo," Elena growled, her voice dropping into a dangerous register.
"If you hide a single byte of data from me, I will throw you out into the street myself."
Leo swallowed hard and hit the enter key.
A new document appeared on the main screen.
It was the original DNA comparison report from the warehouse lab.
"The test you saw three days ago... the one showing Sofia was Marcus's daughter..." Leo whispered.
"It was forged."
Elena didn't move a muscle.
"Forged by whom?"
"The upload came from an internal terminal inside this building four days ago," Leo revealed, pointing at the IP stamp.
"Before the party at the diner even started."
"Someone planted that file on your server to make sure you would see it."
"They wanted you to believe Sofia was Marcus's victim."
"They wanted you to save her."
"They wanted you to bring her into your inner circle."
Elena stared at the screen as all the pieces of the nightmare pulled together into a terrifying truth.
Sofia hadn't been an arrogant, ignorant heiress who accidentally stumbled into a war.
The confrontation at the diner...
The screaming...
The wet trash thrown at the staff...
The humiliation in front of the billionaires...
It was all a calculated performance.
Sofia had staged her own public downfall to make Elena view her as a harmless, pathetic victim.
She had let herself be dragged through sewers, trapped in burning archives, and beaten on concrete stairs...
...just to gain Elena’s absolute trust.
To get close enough to step into the shadow behind the throne.
"Where is she now?" Elena asked softly.
"She boarded the private jet for Singapore twenty minutes ago," Leo replied, checking the radar telemetry.
"The plane is currently over the ocean."
Elena pulled out her satellite communicator.
"Contact the flight crew," Elena ordered.
"Tell them to turn the plane around immediately."
Leo typed rapidly, then froze.
"Lady Vance... the plane’s navigation system has been locked out from the inside."
"They aren't flying to Singapore."
"Where are they flying?"
Leo looked up, his face white as paper.
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"They are returning to Zurich."
"To the central vault."
