The Weight of Protection

The steel bulkhead slammed shut with the finality of a verdict. Elena stood in the sudden hush of the penthouse, the city’s neon bleed reduced to a silent smear beyond triple-glazed glass. Lockdown. Julian had triggered it the instant the perimeter sensors screamed.

Marcus’s men were already inside the building.

She kept her hands flat on the marble island, its surface colder than any courtroom table she had ever sat at during the divorce. The unredacted Project Obsidian files she had unleashed hours earlier still burned behind her eyes—every offshore account, every forged signature, every bribe that had once been her husband’s shield. Now those same files were tearing through the Nakamura merger like shrapnel.

Julian moved to the wall of monitors, jaw tight, fingers flying across the

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