Part 45 –
Betrayal does not come with a scream
It comes with a handshake.
With a familiar voice calling your name,
While slipping a knife between your ribs.
The Meeting Behind Closed Doors
The boardroom at Wolfe Tower had never felt so cold.
It was ten a.m. sharp. Lila sat at the head of the long glass table, flanked by Ethan and Marion. The air hummed with tension as the board members took their seats each one unaware of what was about to unfold.
Except one.
Alaric Dane walked in last, smooth as ever, his salt-and-pepper hair perfectly groomed, a calm smile on his lips. He wore the scent of quiet authority, the same he had always wielded in her father's shadow.
"Lila," he greeted warmly. "You wanted this emergency meeting?"
"I did." Her voice was steady. Controlled. "I wanted to talk about betrayal."
Chairs creaked. A few board members exchanged curious glances. Alaric raised a brow, amused.
"Do go on," he said.
The Evidence Unfolds
Marion tapped a key. The room dimmed slightly as the large screen lit up behind Lila.
"Three months ago," Lila began, "Wolfe Industries suffered a coordinated internal breach. It began with a leak of Project Eden projections, and it escalated into an attempted manipulation of our public image."
Slides began appearing charts, data logs, maps.
"And all of this traces back to a single person within this room."
She clicked again, and the final slide appeared: an encrypted server log, unmasked.
Sender: [email protected]
Recipient: Helix Financial Holdings – Zurich Proxy (Lucien Luthor's alias shell)
Gasps broke out around the room.
Alaric leaned back in his chair, expression unreadable.
"I thought I taught you better than to come to war with half a blade," he said quietly.
A Legacy of Lies
Lila stood.
"You were my father's confidant. You advised him, shielded him… and then you helped bury his secrets. Secrets I inherited the moment he died."
Alaric chuckled. "And what have you done with those secrets, Lila? Turned Wolfe into a charity parade? You think Eden makes you clean?"
"I'm not trying to be clean," she said. "I'm trying to be better. You, on the other hand, sold your loyalty to the one man who tried to destroy my family."
Alaric rose from his seat. "You don't understand the game, child. Lucien is not a man. He is a tide. You don't stop the tide. You ride it. Or you drown."
The boardroom fell into stunned silence.
The Counterstrike
Marion stepped forward, holding a thick folder.
"This is a formal motion to remove Alaric Dane from the board of Wolfe Industries. Permanently. We have the votes."
Alaric narrowed his eyes. "This company was built on wolves. Not sheep."
"And that," Lila said, "is exactly why it's time for the wolves to evolve."
With a simple nod from Lila, security entered. Alaric didn't resist. He simply turned to her as they reached the door.
"You're just like him, you know. Richard Wolfe. You think you're different but power never changes its skin. It only learns how to smile while it devours."
He walked out, leaving a heavy silence in his wake.
The Unspoken Truth
Later that evening, Lila sat alone in her father's old office.
She pulled out his final journal again the one with the cryptic notes and names. One passage kept haunting her.
"A.D. knows the car was tampered with. He helped cover it. I asked him to."
Her hands trembled slightly.
Her father's death hadn't been an accident.
It had been engineered. Possibly by himself. Or maybe… Lucien.
Her phone buzzed.
A message from an encrypted number:
"Now that you've cut the weak link,
Shall we begin the final round?
–L"
Lucien wasn't finished.
And neither was she.