"Sir... what if it’s that woman from yesterday?" Pete asked carefully, his voice low and asured, as though afraid the walls themselves might overhear. He swallowed, seeing no reaction from his boss, and added, "She gave you twenty-four hours, and the servers started collapsing right on ti."
Voren froze this ti. It was the first ti since the crisis began that his composure cracked.
The room, once filled with frantic motion and overlapping voices, seed to shrink around him as doubt crept in, cold, invasive, and unwelco.
His mind reeled back to Seraphine’s calm, almost amused expression when she had issued that warning. Twenty-four hours, precise, and yet unyielding.
Could it really be her? No, Voren clenched his jaw. That was impossible. Seraphine had always been pack business, politics, power, loyalty, but not this.
Not cyber warfare and collapsing systems. Still, disbelief did not erase coincidence, and the timing was too clean to ignore. "It won’t hurt to confirm," he muttered under his breath, but aloud, he straightened and said, "excuse for a mont."
Pete nodded imdiately and exited the conference room, closing the doors behind him. The silence that followed was heavy, as Voren reached for his phone and dialed Ravyn’s number.
To his surprise, the call connected almost instantly, and Ravyn sounded exhausted. "Voren," Ravyn said, his voice strained. "I was just about to co see you."
Voren paused. Under normal circumstances, he would have welcod the visit without hesitation. Now, with his empire bleeding in real ti, he wasn’t sure whether this was good timing or catastrophic.
Still, Ravyn was a seasoned CEO. If anyone could offer insight, it was him. "Alright," Voren said carefully. "I’ll put my reason for calling on hold. Where are you right now?"
"Just a few minutes away," Ravyn replied in the sa tone of urgency. Relief slipped through Voren despite himself. "Good."
It wasn’t long before Pete returned, leading Ravyn into the conference room. He excused himself quickly, shutting the door behind them and leaving the two n alone.
Ravyn didn’t waste ti with pleasantries. He needed to find the solution to stabilizing his stocks or he might lose another or more shareholders. "Voren, I need your help," he said, his tone serious.
For a fleeting second, Voren almost laughed. The irony was sharp and bitter. He needed help just as badly, maybe worse, but he swallowed his urgency, forcing himself to listen. "What’s the problem?" Voren asked evenly.
Ravyn drew a breath. "I need a loan, just enough to stabilize my losses. As soon as the stocks begin to recover, I’ll pay it back in full." Taking a loan from Voren was better than the bank because there would be no interest component like the bank would demand.
But a sad, strained look crossed Voren’s eyes, and he shook his head slowly. "Even if I wanted to, I can’t."
Ravyn frowned. "Why?" He had not checked the news due to the pressure he was facing and Voren’s response numbed him.
"A virus," Voren said grimly. "It’s eaten through my servers, and my assistant suspects your ex-wife because she ca to warn when I went against the Stone Group for you."
Ravyn stiffened. "Seraphine?" His shock was genuine. Voren lifted a brow. "Is there another ex-wife I should be worried about?"
"No," Ravyn said quickly, then frowned. "But Seraphine is all pack business. What does she know about cybersecurity?"
"That’s exactly what I thought," Voren agreed, then the realization struck him, sudden and brutal.
"But she turned out to be your anonymous investor," Voren continued slowly. "With that kind of money, she had to earn it sohow...right?"
The words hung between them like a dark revelation, both n fell silent, the implications settling in with disturbing clarity.
"Maybe she paid soone," Ravyn said finally. "We should confront her." His jaw tightened. "It’s starting to feel like she wants to destroy ."
Before Voren could respond, the door burst open without a knock. "Sir," Pete said urgently, hurrying toward them, "you need to see this. Our stocks are plumting because of the server issues, and the Stone Group has just jumped to number six on the Forbes list."
He paused, as if catching his breath, then he made the final revelation. "Their stocks doubled overnight."
The blood drained from Voren’s face, and for a mont, he couldn’t feel his hands. Goosebumps rippled across his skin as he turned sharply to Ravyn, accusation blazing in his eyes.
"This is your fault," Voren snapped. "You dragged into a war with your crazy ex-wife and now she’s coming for too."
Ravyn looked like he might cry. "How can you say that?" he shot back. "There’s no proof she’s behind this. Whoever she hired, we can outbid them, double their price. The best stockbrokers in the world are the King brothers, let’s contact them."
Voren exhaled slowly, forcing himself to calm down. His hands trembled slightly as he dialed the number.
"What’s happening to my stocks?" he demanded the mont the call connected. "Yes, there’s a problem with my server, but it’s not enough to justify the losses of this magnitude."
He was still number one on the Forbes list, but millions were evaporating every second. No businessman could watch that without panic clawing at his chest.
"Mr. Ashkael," the broker said carefully, "I’ll be honest with you. Our lead stockbroker and chief adviser terminated her contract with us. I suspect she’s now working exclusively for the Stone Group."
Voren’s grip tightened on the phone. "The Stone Group?" He swallowed. "And... a she?"
"Yes." The broker responded, Voren’s mind snapped back to Seraphine. She was calm, calculating, and unapologetic when she issued the threat. "What’s her na?" he asked.
There was a brief pause. "I’m sorry," the broker replied. "Her identity is confidential. But I believe in your abilities, sir. Perhaps you should speak directly with the CEO of the Stone Group."
The line went dead, Voren remained still, the phone pressed to his ear long after the call ended.
"What did he say?" Ravyn asked quietly.
Voren didn’t answer imdiately. He looked at Pete instead, Pete understood at once and left the room after murmuring a quick apology.
Only then did Voren turn back to Ravyn. "Ravyn, I really hope it’s not what Pete said and if it is?" he said slowly, his fingers curling into tight fists.
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