Seraphina arrived in Hong Kong just before dawn, seventy-two hours shrinking with every passing minute. Elias Vance’s team had booked her into a suite overlooking Victoria Harbour, a strategic gesture of power. She ignored the opulence, reviewing the dossier on Lu Zheng, the man who held the key to her survival. He was more than a billionaire; he was an academic and a recluse, using his formidable wealth to shield his family and his intellectual properties from what he termed “the greedy hands of the West.”
The meeting took place in the glass tower of Global Technology Consortium’s headquarters. The room was sparse, dominated by a single large table and a breathtaking view. Lu Zheng, a lean man in his late sixties with an intensely intellig
