The morning sun glinted off the marble façade of Reid Medical's global headquarters, now surrounded by yellow tape and news crews. Nova Jin stood on the rooftop terrace of the Phoenix Institute—formerly the Reid rooftop garden—watching the last of Darian Reid's armored limousines crawl through the security perimeter. Echoes of the Senate hearing still hummed in her ears.
Beside her, Xander Reid cradled Leo in one arm, the boy's chubby fingers wrapped around his father's lapel. Nova inhaled the crisp spring air, heart tightening. The guerrilla raid on the server bunker had unleashed a cascade of consequences: emergency injunctions froze all Reid Medical assets, the board was under temporary receivership, and every clinical trial run under Darian's watch was suspended pending independent re
