Elena wasn't a superhero she was a woman who had just burned her life down to the ground.
"Drink," Silas said.
He didn't offer a fancy toast he just shoved a heavy crystal glass into her hand.
Elena took a swallow the cognac burned her throat, making her cough, but it stopped the trembling in her fingers. She looked at Silas in the dim blue light of the car, he looked less like a savior and more like a complication.
"You've been watching me this whole time," she said, her voice raspy.
"You let me iron that man's shirts while you sat in your ivory tower, did it entertain you, Silas? Seeing a Luo Princess cleaning toilets?"
Silas's jaw tightened.
"I didn't let you do anything, Elena, you chose to hide. I respected the choice, even if it turned my stomach every time I saw him touch you."
"Respect?" Elena laughed, a dry, bitter sound.
"You could have ended it with one phone call."
"And you wouldn't be the woman you are today," Silas countered, his eyes locking onto hers.
"You wanted to see the bottom so you'd know exactly how high to build your throne don't pretend you didn't enjoy the look on his face when you signed that paper."
Elena looked out the window, the rain was blurring the neon signs of Solana City.
She thought of Maya her little girl, the only good thing to come out of those dark years.
"I did it for my daughter Tom would have turned her into a pawn just like he tried to do to me."
The SUV moved forward as it turned into the gravel driveway of the Luo Estate. The sound of the tires crunching on stone was a sound from her childhood a sound of safety but as the massive doors of the mansion swung open, Elena felt a wave of nausea.
She stepped out into the mud, not caring that her expensive heels were sinking into the dirt. She needed to feel the earth. She needed to know she wasn't dreaming.
Inside, the hallway was too big, too cold. Elder Chen stood there, looking like a ghost from a past life. He reached out a trembling hand to touch her arm, and for the first time that night, Elena's eyes welled with tears. The "Princess" mask slipped for a split second.
"You're thin, child," Chen whispered.
"You look like you haven't slept in a decade."
"I haven't, Chen," she replied, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, a gesture far too common for a royal.
"I've been awake, watching for the moment the world turned its back on me, because of my poor judgement," she said.
She walked toward the study, but her legs felt like lead. She didn't want to look at "Project Phoenix" or digital files. She wanted to scream.
She wanted to go back to that penthouse and slap the smug look off Sandra's face one more time.
She sat in the oversized leather chair her father's chair and it felt too big. She felt like a child playing dress up.
"The files," she snapped, trying to regain her edge.
"Give me the dirt on Sandra I want to know everything she's hidden in that fake belly of hers."
Chen placed a folder in front of her.
Elena didn't just read the words, she felt the rage boiling up in her gut. Sandra hadn't just stolen her husband, she was a vulture picking at the bones of a company Elena had secretly kept afloat with her own blood and sweat.
"She's pregnant with the rival CEO's child?" Elena whispered, a cold, dark smile finally touching her lips.
"Tom traded his life for a lie? He really is as stupid as I thought."
"These are the secret agreements Sandra made with the rival shipping firms," Chen explained, pointing to a set of highlighted clauses.
"She was selling Phoenix's trade secrets to fund her 'luxury lifestyle? She thought she was being clever, but she was using Luo owned servers to send the emails, we have logged every single one." Chen said.
Elena sat in the leather chair with a high back, which was the same one her father had used. She felt a surge of adrenaline.
"So, Sandra wasn't just a mistress, she was a corporate spy. Tom is going to love finding out that the woman he left me for was actually the one bleeding him dry hahaaa, things are going to be interesting."
Elena let out a sharp, cold laugh, the irony was perfect.
"So the 'heir' he wanted so badly isn't even his? He traded a diamond for a piece of broken glass that's about to cut him deep."
Silas leaned against the doorframe, watching her with a dark smirk.
"The betrayal is poetic, but there's more. The medical records for her 'pregnancy? We intercepted the laboratory results. She isn't eight weeks along, Elena. She's barely four weeks the timeline doesn't match Tom's business trips. It matches the rival CEO's visit to the country,"
She picked up the jade seal. It was heavy and cold. She pressed it into the palm of her hand until it left a red mark.
"Silas," she said, not looking up.
"Tomorrow, I don't want a limousine. I want to walk into that office. I want Tom to see me coming from a mile away. I want him to feel the dread in his chest with every step I take."
"Tomorrow morning at 9:00 AM, I want the press at the Phoenix headquarters, I want the board members to see the evidence of Sandra's treason and I want Tom to be the one who has to hand me the keys to the building."
"And after that?" Silas asked, stepping closer into the light.
Elena looked up at him, her gaze as sharp as a diamond.
"After that, we begin the public liquidation. I don't just want his money, Silas. I want his reputation, I want the name 'Tom Phoenix' to be a synonym for failure in this city, I want him to realize that the 'Second Choice' was always the one holding the hammer."
Silas watched her from the doorway, his expression unreadable.
"As you wish, Elena. But remember... once the Lion roars, the world never looks at you the same way again. Are you ready to be feared?"
Elena stood up, the silver brooch on her chest glinting in the firelight.
"I've spent six years being pitied, Silas. I'll take fear any day."