Chapter 36: Chapter 36 – I’m back
The question tugged at the corner of Seraphine’s lips, drawing out a slow, knowing smirk, but she didn’t answer. She let the silence linger, thick and deliberate, watching it do its work.
Corvine shifted beside her, unease crawling up his spine. He hated when she went quiet like that. "What do you intend to do to her?" he pressed.
A scoff escaped Seraphine before she could restrain it, sharp and full of disdain. "Daisy likes gas," she said nonchalantly. "So I’ll give her exactly what she wants." Her eyes glead. "Just not yet."
She leaned back, folding her arms. "First, I have to give Voren what I promised him before his twenty-four hours run out."
Corvine didn’t ask what that ant. He was learning that when Seraphine spoke in asured tones, consequences followed.
Before heading ho, she asked him to drive her to an IT market. The request surprised him, but he didn’t question it.
He watched as she moved from stall to stall with unsettling confidence, picking out components with the precision of soone who knew exactly what she needed. Laptops, encrypted drives, networking tools, things Corvine only vaguely understood.
Later, curiosity got the better of him. He discreetly googled the items she’d purchased, his brows lifting higher with each search. "How do you even know how to use all that?" he asked finally.
Seraphine glanced at him and winked. "There’s a lot you don’t know about , Corvine." Her voice softened just slightly. "And you’ll see how I get back every cent your parents lost because of ."
His chest tightened. He didn’t want repaynt, not like this, and not at all. But what unsettled him more was the quiet certainty in her tone, the kind that ca from experience, not bravado.
It made him wonder what kind of woman could stare down soone like Voren without blinking. The answer ca later that night.
By the ti Seraphine finished setting up, her bedroom no longer looked like a place ant for rest. Screens glowed against the dark walls, cables snaked across the floor, and the hum of machines filled the air. It was a cyber station, efficient, controlled, intimidating.
Corvine stood frozen at the doorway, and that was when it truly sank in. Seraphine wasn’t reckless with her words, and neither was she bluffing. Her threats or promises, had never been empty.
"How can I help?" he asked, his voice serious now, stripped of doubt.
She didn’t look up. "Keep checking your company stocks," she said calmly. "And monitor the news on Ashkael Holdings. The mont anything changes, tell ."
It wasn’t the kind of role he’d imagined for himself, but he nodded and did as instructed. As he worked, he heard her voice drift through the room, low, professional, dangerous.
"I’m back," she said into the phone. "And my minimum paynt is twenty million."
Corvine’s fingers paused above the keyboard. He had no idea who she was talking to, or what world she had just stepped back into, but he didn’t interrupt.
Then ca the sound of rapid keystrokes. He turned, drawn by instinct, and watched her fingers fly across the keyboard, fluid, relentless, as if the machine was rely an extension of her thoughts.
Admiration crept in first, then respect, and beneath it all, sothing heavier, sothing that made his chest tighten as he realized he was watching a force of nature at work.
They labored through the night, and at so point, exhaustion dragged him under. When he woke hours later, disoriented and stiff, the room looked unchanged.
Seraphine was still there, sa position, and sa focus. She hadn’t slept, hadn’t moved. One hand danced over the keyboard while the other held her phone to her ear, her voice calm, controlled, lethal.
Alard, Corvine went to make her coffee. When he handed it to her, she took a sip and murmured a soft thank you without once looking away from the screen.
Then his phone beeped. Once, twice, then relentlessly. His eyes widened as notifications flooded in.
"Our stocks are stabilizing," he said slowly. "But... there’s news about Ashkael Holdings." He swallowed. "Clients can’t access their apps, and people are starting to panic. They think they’re being duped."
He turned to her, dread and awe colliding. "Is this you?"
Seraphine finally lifted her gaze, her eyes bright with calculated satisfaction. "What do you think?" she asked lightly. "Do you really believe I’d sit here and watch your company collapse?"
His breath caught. What she was doing was dangerous, illegal, and brilliant. "What if you’re caught?" he asked quietly.
"That would only happen if I left traces," she replied with a shrug, as if they were discussing the weather. She paused, her expression sharpening. "I usually fix things and get paid for it. This ti, I’m breaking things, so I can be paid to fix them."
A faint smile curved her lips. "What he’s done to your family is just as illegal, by my standards." That smile should have frightened him but instead, it changed everything.
Seraphine wasn’t just intelligent, wasn’t just capable. She was untamable, and it suddenly made sense why Ravyn had never truly seen her. A woman like this couldn’t be possessed, controlled, or reduced. And the more Corvine understood her worth, the more it terrified him.
"So... what’s happening now?" he asked, excitent threading through his fear as he pulled up a chair beside her. Codes spiraled across the screen, aningless to him, but srizing.
"They’re scrambling to salvage the damage," she replied. "So I’m tightening my grip." Her voice dropped. "I won’t stop until he begs, and loses a considerable amount of money for ssing with my family."
’Family.’ The word sent a rush of warmth through Corvine’s chest but before he could speak, his phone rang. "It’s Dad," he said, glancing at her. Seraphine smiled. "Answer it."
He did, switching to speaker just as Desmond’s voice filled the room. "Corvine," his father said tensely, "my secretary just inford
that Voren is here. I hope this has nothing to do with you."
Corvine turned slowly to Seraphine. Her fingers were still flying over the keyboard, but her smile? That smile was dangerous.
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