The Woman Behind the Glass
The first thing Clara Bellweather did after dismantling Jerry's empire was not to go home. She went upstairs.
The executive floor of Stellar Management had once belonged to the old president. A man who liked mahogany desks, brass lamps, and walls decorated with framed magazine covers featuring stars he had exploited. Clara had those removed within hours of taking control. The walls were bare now. White and Clinical.
The room looked less like an office and more like a command center.
At exactly 9:00 p.m., she activated the secure video channel. Leila Vance appeared on the wall.
She was seated in a chair of pale leather, one leg crossed elegantly over the other. Behind her stretched a wall of glass that revealed a nighttime skyline, a distant city glowing like a constellation.
Her dark hair was pulled back, and her expression was calm.
"Well?" Leila said.
Clara did not sit. She remained standing, hands clasped behind her back like an officer delivering a field report.
"It is done," Clara replied. "Jerry is neutralized. Financial recovery is underway. We will retrieve approximately eighty four percent of the stolen funds. The rest was already laundered."
Leila nodded once.
"And Xavier?"
"He was informed only of the outcome, not the mechanics. Per your instruction."
Leila's lips curved faintly.
"Good. Did Jerry try to reach him?"
"Yes."
"And?"
Clara hesitated. Only slightly.
"He did. Xavier arranged a private meeting. The conversation was… unusual."
Leila's eyes sharpened.
"Define unusual."
"He was not surprised. He did not express gratitude. He treated the situation as though it had been orchestrated by him rather than for him."
Silence.
Then Leila laughed quietly.
"Of course he did."
"He told Jerry that he was a pawn," Clara continued. "And that someone else had overstepped."
Leila's smile widened.
"So he knows I exist."
"He knows someone exists. He does not know who."
"Even better."
Leila leaned forward, resting her elbows lightly on the desk in front of her.
"Clara, do you know why I did not tell you everything about Xavier?"
"You said you wanted operational deniability."
"That too. But more importantly, I wanted you to observe him without my influence. I wanted to know whether he was broken… or merely waiting."
"And?"
"He is waiting," Clara said. "He is dangerous. Not impulsive. Calculating."
Leila's gaze softened with something close to affection.
"Perfect."
Xavier Thorne did not sleep that night.
He sat in the darkness of his penthouse, city lights bleeding through the floor to ceiling windows like distant fire. His phone rested on the glass table in front of him, untouched.
Jerry had tried to call again.
He did not answer.
Instead, Xavier replayed Clara's words in his mind. Not the ones she spoke aloud, but the ones beneath them. The way she had looked at him when she informed him of Jerry's termination. Not with sympathy, nor with fear, but with appraisal.
Someone had moved the board for him. That much was clear, but whoever it was had underestimated one thing.
He did not belong to anyone.
He stood and walked toward the window, gazing down at the city that adored him without knowing him.
Millions of people, all of them convinced that Xavier Thorne was a beautiful, untouchable fantasy.
None of them knew how sharp he was.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown Number.
He smiled.
The message was simple.
You are now under new representation.
Your assigned liaison will contact you tomorrow.
You are protected.
Do not interfere.
Xavier's fingers hovered over the screen.
Then he typed.
Protected from what?
The response came instantly.
From people who mistake you for something they own.
Xavier laughed aloud.
Leila watched the exchange in real time.
"See?" she murmured. "He pushes back. I like that."
Clara stood beside her now, physically present in Leila's office. The glass walls made it look as though they were suspended above the city.
"He will be difficult," Clara warned.
"I do not want easy."
"You are playing a dangerous game."
Leila turned, eyes glowing.
"No, Clara. I am correcting an injustice."
She moved toward the window, looking down at the streets below.
"They fed on him. They sold him. They stole from him. They hollowed him out while smiling for cameras."
"And now?"
"And now," Leila said softly, "he gets to find out what it feels like to be untouchable."
The next morning, Xavier arrived at Stellar Management to find the building transformed.
Security had doubled, the reception desk was new, and the waiting area was empty of the usual cluster of desperate clients.
The atmosphere was quiet. Controlled.
Clara met him personally in the lobby.
"Mr. Thorne," she said. "This way."
They walked through corridors that had once been familiar but now felt alien.
"Jerry?" Xavier asked casually.
"Gone."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"How merciful."
Clara stopped at a door.
"This is now your wing."
She opened it.
Beyond lay a private suite. Office. Lounge. Conference room. All reserved for him. No other client would enter this space.
"You have your own team," she continued. "Three publicists. Two legal advisors, a financial strategist, a personal security and all answer to me."
"And you answer to?"
Clara held his gaze.
"The board."
Xavier smiled.
"Of course."
They entered his office. On the desk lay a single black folder.
"What is this?"
"Your future."
He opened it.
Contracts, scripts, brand deals, global campaigns.
All handpicked. All aligned with one vision.
"They finally realized your worth," Clara said.
Xavier closed the folder slowly.
"Someone finally decided to invest."
"Yes."
"But not out of kindness."
Clara said nothing.
Xavier leaned back in his chair, studying her.
"Tell me something, Clara. Do you enjoy being someone's knife?"
A flicker passed through her eyes.
"I enjoy being effective."
"Who is she?"
Clara's jaw tightened.
"You do not need to know."
Xavier smiled again. Wider this time.
"That means I will."
Across the city, Leila felt it.
Not in any mystical sense, but in the shift of data. The way her systems lit up. The way Xavier's behavior changed.
"He's hunting me," she said.
"Should I intervene?" Clara asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because I want to see how far he can go."
Leila's smile was slow and predatory.
"Let him try to find me."
The game had begun seriously this time.
And for the first time in a very long while, neither player intended to lose.