Chapter 294:

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“Back them up with the strongest threat possible,” Elisa continued. “Give them ten days, Harvey. A ten-day ultimatum. If the review is not completed and the partnership approved by the end of the tenth day, we file suit. And we don’t just sue for breach. We sue for theft. And we hold a press conference on the steps of the courthouse, detailing every underhanded tactic Vanguard Medical has used to try and steal our IP.”

Harvey’s eyes gleamed with a predatory light. “That’s a declaration of war, Faye. In Wall Street’s rules, that’s going nuclear.”

“She started this war,” Elisa said, her voice dropping to a chilling calm. “I’m just setting the time for it to end.”

She ended the call. The room was silent except for the hum of the servers. Tessa stared at Elisa, a mixture of awe and fierce loyalty in her eyes.

“Prepare a secondary data package,” Elisa instructed, turning back to the hologram. “Scrub the core IP. Leave enough to satisfy a genuine audit, but nothing they can reverse-engineer. Have it ready for when they come begging.”

“Already on it,” Tessa said, a grin spreading across her face.

Elisa’s personal phone buzzed on the table. She glanced at the screen. A text from Jewel.

𝘐n𝗍𝗲𝗇ѕ𝗲 𝘳𝗈𝗺𝖺n𝖼e о𝗻 𝗀𝖺lո𝗼𝗏e𝗹ѕ.𝗰𝗈𝘮

Got a surprise for you. Alastair recommended you. The producer of Capital Minds wants you as a guest expert on AI.

Elisa’s eyebrows rose. Capital Minds was the biggest financial interview show in the country. This was a massive platform.

Before she could type a reply, a second message popped up.

Bad news: To create drama, they also invited Allena Sinclair. She’s repping Vanguard.

Elisa stared at the screen. The cold, calculated war she had just declared in the boardroom was about to become very, very public. She could see it clearly now, the stage was set, the players were in position. A public confrontation was no longer a possibility. It was an inevitability.

She typed back a single word to Jewel.

Accepted.

The offices of Jewel’s production company in Midtown Manhattan were a hive of controlled chaos. Assistants rushed past with clipboards, phones rang incessantly, and the walls were lined with framed posters of award-winning documentaries and Emmy nominations.

Jewel led Elisa into her private corner office, shutting the door on the noise. She walked straight to the espresso machine, the clatter of cups a familiar, grounding sound.

“Here,” Jewel said, pressing a small, steaming cup into Elisa’s hands. “Drink. You’ll need the caffeine.”

Elisa took a sip, the bitter liquid burning a trail down her throat. “Why should I do this, Jewel? Sharing a stage with Allena won’t be a debate. It’ll be a circus.”

Jewel walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the river of yellow taxis crawling through the streets below. “Because the court of public opinion is the only court that matters right now,” she said, turning back to face Elisa. “If you don’t show up, Allena wins by default.”

“She’s the darling of Wall Street right now,” Elisa stated, her voice flat. “The ‘doctor-CEO.’ What’s the point of fighting her on her own turf?”

“The point,” Jewel said, her eyes flashing with a fierce, protective light, “is that she’s a fraud. And if she goes on Capital Minds unopposed, she cements that image forever. Vanguard’s stock will skyrocket. She’ll become untouchable. You’ll never get another shot at her.”

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