00:00So, this wasn't a one-off play against Elias.
00:03It was a long game trap with layers.
00:05The attachment said it plainly.
00:07Max Group's bankruptcy was bait.
00:09The bait was meant to drag Elias into a merger that looked like a clean win
00:13and use MI, overseas cash flow,
00:16as a lever to gut every defense Elias had built on Wall Street in the last three years.
00:21The drinks night a few days back, a small move,
00:24its real point had probably been to measure exactly how much I was worth to Elias.
00:28My breathing stopped.
00:30Every drop of blood in me went to ice.
00:32The winter wind outside was a dull blade.
00:35It cut the cold straight into the marrow, even through my trench coat.
00:39I curled into the back seat of the cab
00:41and pressed my fingers hard into the warm phone in my pocket.
00:44Earlier, under the cover of the velvet tablecloth,
00:47I dropped my eyes and hit record without looking.
00:50That recording was my ticket out of this meat grinder.
00:54It was the last rope I had.
00:55I didn't hesitate.
00:56I dialed Arthur.
00:57In the corner of a pub, so dim a shadow couldn't catch on the walls,
01:01I looked across at this man whose face wore his greed openly.
01:05And without breaking my expression, I dropped a bait that would crack him.
01:09I can get you Elias' private seal.
01:12I saw the flash of ecstasy go off behind his eyes,
01:16the look a beast wears when it smells carrion.
01:19I knew right then that this snake who fancied himself the smartest man in any room
01:23had walked into the trap I'd quietly built in reverse.
01:27Early morning, I came back to the apartment.
01:29The second I pushed the door open, that cold, almost lethal scent of tobacco filled my lungs.
01:36The hallway sensor light didn't kick on.
01:38The room was dead silent except for a strip of moonlight against the floor-to-ceiling glass
01:43that turned the whole apartment into a silver tomb.
01:45In the dark, a small orange ember was pulsing on the leather sofa.
01:50Elias was sitting there, long legs crossed, the black suit blurring his outline into shadow.
01:54Only that aggressive pressure of him, mint and cold cedar, was pushing toward me like a slow wave.
02:01Through the drifting smoke, those frozen lake eyes cut across the dark and locked onto me.
02:05He crushed the cigarette out and stood up.
02:08Every step he took landed on my spine and traveled through the rest of me.
02:11He reached out a big calloused hand and traced my fear-tight lip line with the back of his finger.
02:16Punishment and suggestion in the same motion until his fingertips settled hard
02:21against the trembling mole at the corner of my eye.
02:24Who did you see?
02:26And whose life is in your hand right now?
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