Chapter 10: Smoke and Mirrors
613 Words
Chapter 10: Smoke and Mirrors
The clock was ticking—nine hours and fifty-three minutes.
Lucy stared at the countdown on the screen, her mind racing. If the vault's contents leaked, everything would fall apart. Jayson’s legacy, the company, their reputations—it would all burn. But if they shut it down the traditional way, it could trigger a failsafe. John had anticipated this.
“We need to be smarter,” Lucy muttered, pacing. “John wants us to panic, to react. What if we do the opposite?”
Jayson looked up. “What are you thinking?”
“We beat him at his own game. Smoke and mirrors,” she said. “Let the countdown run. But we control the narrative. We leak a curated version of the vault ourselves—redacted, reshaped, just enough truth to look real… but not enough to destroy us.”
Jayson slowly nodded. “Spin the scandal before it spins us.”
“And while the world’s distracted,” she added, “we hunt down the rest of John’s plants—his spies, his financial traps, everything. We disarm the real bomb.”
Evelyn entered the room with a tablet in hand. “I’ve isolated the email protocols in the vault. We can h****k the final transmission point and reroute it through a dummy server. No leaks unless we let them.”
Lucy smiled. “Perfect. Let’s craft the perfect storm.”
---
The press conference was scheduled within hours. Jayson stood at the podium, calm and commanding, with Lucy beside him—not hidden, but boldly visible.
He cleared his throat. “Today, we are disclosing historical corporate misconduct buried long before my tenure. The files discovered were part of a legacy I inherited, not one I created. And today, we reclaim that legacy with truth.”
A murmur spread through the crowd.
Online, the redacted files began to circulate. Enough to satisfy the vultures, enough to draw attention. But not enough to kill them.
Behind the scenes, Evelyn and her team traced encrypted signals, identifying internal moles planted by John months ago. By the time the press frenzy peaked, those moles were already arrested or gone.
“Three left,” Evelyn reported. “But the most dangerous one is embedded in our finance team. He’s trying to move company funds offshore.”
Lucy’s eyes sharpened. “Then we go there. Now.”
---
Inside the finance department’s restricted zone, Lucy and Jayson stormed in with armed escorts. A young man with slicked-back hair looked up from his terminal—and froze.
“Marcus Grant,” Jayson growled. “Step away from the computer.”
Marcus bolted.
Lucy didn’t hesitate. She chased him down the hallway, heels be damned, adrenaline pumping. When she caught up, she tackled him to the floor.
“You picked the wrong woman to underestimate,” she hissed.
Security swarmed in.
When she stood up, Marcus was in handcuffs—and the last transfer had failed.
---
Back at the penthouse, Lucy stood with Jayson by the windows, looking out at the city.
“You saved it,” Jayson said quietly. “Everything. You saved me.”
“No,” Lucy whispered. “We saved each other.”
The timer in the vault hit zero.
Nothing happened.
They had beaten the ghost.
But as they turned away, Jayson’s secure phone buzzed.
A text message.
"You win this round. But I’m not done. You took my company. My future. Let’s see how well you protect your heart. – J"
Lucy’s breath caught.
“I think he’s coming for us personally now.”
Jayson took her hand.
“Let him try.”
---
- Writer
