Chapter 647:

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Ayla gently traced the angry, tight line of his jaw with her fingertips. “No one is taking me from you,” she whispered, her voice a soothing balm on his raw, jagged emotions. “Especially not him. It was all part of the plan.”

“I know,” Cassius said, closing his eyes and letting out a long, shaky breath as he buried his face in her neck. “But I’m going to destroy him anyway. And Ayla… I swear to God, I never want to put you through a performance like that again. The words tasted like ash in my mouth.”

“It was necessary,” Ayla murmured, her fingers tangling in his hair. “And it worked. We have the full chain of evidence now. Marcus, Serena, Vulture Capital — all of them are tied together. And we have proof that they were involved in Julian’s death.”

Cassius’s body went rigid. For years, he had hunted the men responsible for his little brother’s helicopter crash. For years, he’d thought it was an accident. Now he had proof it was murder.

𝖶e 𝘶p𝗱a𝘁𝖾 𝗲v𝖾𝘳у 𝘄𝗲𝘦𝗄 𝘰𝗇 𝗀𝗮𝗹ո𝗈𝘷𝖾𝗹𝗌.c𝗼m

“Then it’s time to end this,” he said, his voice cold and final. “For Julian.”

The late afternoon sun cast long shadows across the penthouse living room. Ayla stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, watching the city lights begin to glitter to life. She held a tablet, the final logistics for the launch glowing on its screen.

Cassius came up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist. He rested his chin on her shoulder, his gaze following hers out over the sprawling metropolis.

“The trap is set,” Ayla said softly, her voice a low hum of satisfaction. “Serena has leaked the final vulnerable code to Vulture Capital. They’re fully committed. They believe the launch will be our public execution.” She paused, a strategic glint in her eye. “But a live failure, even a staged one, would cause real, lasting damage to our brand. We’re not going to give them the satisfaction. The moment their short positions are maxed out, we’re not going to fail the demo — we’re going to cancel it entirely. Pull the rug out from under them.”

“A kill switch,” Cassius replied, his voice a deep rumble against her ear. “Brutal. I love it. While you command the battlefield here in New York, I need to handle the political front.” He placed a soft kiss on her temple.

Ayla turned in his arms to face him, her expression serious. “Washington?”

He nodded, his jaw tight. “The Fitzpatricks and their allies on the Senate finance committee are using this crisis as an excuse to push for a full-scale antitrust breakup of the Group. They smell blood. I need to go to D.C. and remind them who they’re dealing with. I need to secure our flank before you spring the trap.”

It was a perfect division of labor — the queen on the front lines, the king handling the shadow war in the halls of power. It was the ultimate expression of their partnership.

“How long will you be gone?” she asked, a flicker of something unreadable in her eyes.

“Forty-eight hours. Max,” he promised. “Vance is already prepping the jet. I’ll be back the morning after the launch. The second this is over.”

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