Chapter 4: The Last Stand
Vanessa was not one to go down without a fight. If she was going to burn, she was going to take everyone with her. She gathered the last of her resources—the secret slush funds, the compromised emails of her former board members—and tried to launch a smear campaign. She leaked "proof" that Apex Neural Dynamics was cutting corners on safety.
It was a lie, of course. A desperate, pathetic lie.
She released the documents on a burner blog at 3:00 AM. By 8:00 AM, the FBI was at her door.
It turned out, in her rage, she had leaked documents that contained sensitive government contracts—contracts that Julian and Elena were facilitating. The fallout was not just professional; it was legal.
She was arrested in her own foyer, the same place she had once felt like a queen. The cameras were there, capturing every moment of her humiliation. As they led her away, she saw a car pull up. It was a sleek, black limousine.
Elena and Julian sat in the back, watching.
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They didn't gloat. They didn't taunt her. They simply looked at her with the same indifference one might show a flat tire on the side of the road. Elena’s hand was resting on her stomach, a small, knowing smile on her face.
Vanessa realized then that she had never been a threat. She had just been a mosquito, and they had finally decided to use the swatter.
