Chapter 5 - Chapter 4: The First Cut

Elara Nyx stood at the edge of her balcony, the night air thick with salt and exhaust. Below, Victoria Harbour shimmered like liquid obsidian, ferries cutting slow silver paths through the dark. She held a burner phone—new, never used, bought with cash in Mong Kok that afternoon. The dossier from Anonymous had been the final push. Family leverage. Unborn child. Grandson. The words burned behind her eyes. She dialed the only number programmed into the phone. It rang once. A voice answered, calm, measured, familiar in a way that made her skin crawl."Elara."Viktor Hale. She hadn't heard that voice in twelve years—not since the day she walked out of his encrypted office in Singapore and never looked back. The man who had taught her how to hide in code. The man who had once called her his best student. Now he sounded like a ghost who knew he was already dead."You used my decoy," she said. No greeting. No pretense. "I needed you to look," he replied. "You always were the only one who could see the whole board." "The reset," she said. "You're behind it." "Not alone." A pause, almost regretful. "But yes. The dollar has to die so something stronger can rise. Order from chaos. You understand that better than anyone." "I understand leverage," she shot back. "My family is not leverage." "They already are." His voice softened, almost paternal. "You can still walk away, Adira. Let the system fall. The new one will be cleaner. Fairer. You and your children—your grandson—will be protected. I give you my word.""Your word," she repeated, the word tasting like ash. "The same word you gave when you told me the dark web was just a tool for good."Silence on the line. Then: "You have twenty-four hours. Step back, or I start pruning the branches closest to you. Starting with the unborn one."The call ended. Elara stared at the black screen, pulse roaring in her ears . Twenty-four hours. She turned back inside, locked the balcony door, and opened her main terminal. If Viktor wanted a war, he would get one. But she would fight it on her terms . She began compiling the first package: proof of the reset seed, the Elara Holdings resurrection, and the dossier naming her family as targets. She would send it to every journalist, whistleblower network, and resistance channel she knew . And if Viktor thought he could prune her family, he would learn what happened when you tried to cut down a fox. She typed one last line into the encrypted draft: The shadows are moving. And I'm moving faster.