Chapter 109: The Presidents
The private conference hall beneath the capital had once been a place for peace.
But today, it had a different purpose.
A cold heaviness was pressing their shoulders...
The kind that cos when two n who should never occupy the sa room walk toward each other again.
Elias Geiger entered first, calmly, almost regal, and he removed his gloves slowly.
His face was still handso in a severe, controlled way, but the years of political exhaustion carved lines around his eyes.
He stood at the far end of the table, one hand resting on the cold surface, his jaw tightening as he listened to the echo of footsteps approaching.
Zack Hale...The very na made Elias’s fingers curl against the marble.
Zack stepped into the room with his usual arrogance.
Tall, confident, dressed in an expensive suit that hid every sin he ever committed.
His hair was graying at the temples, but that only made him look more dangerous, not weaker.
His smile was evil enough to match the president’s.
"Well," Zack said as the door locked behind him. "I see you still like to hide underground. Fitting for a man who crawls his way into power."
Elias didn’t answer at first. He let the insult float in the air.
Then he lifted his head and finally t Zack’s eyes.
"At least I earned mine," Elias replied in a low and controlled voice. "Unlike you."
Zack laughed softly, shaking his head as if Elias were a child who failed to understand sothing obvious.
"You always believed that," Zack said. "But you know what I rember? I rember how you begged to support your first campaign. I rember how you ca to like a dog looking for scraps. And I rember how you used my resources and then stabbed in the back."
Elias’s jaw flexed. "I didn’t stab you. I prevented a criminal from holding office."
"Yes. You prevented ." Zack stepped closer, his eyes darkened. "And now look at the country. Look at the chaos. Look at the cult you claim doesn’t exist in so country. Look at your daughter being hunted. All because you thought you were smarter than ."
Elias froze for half a second at the ntion of Danielle and Zack saw it.
He smiled like a man who had just pressed on a bruise.
"Do not speak her na," Elias warned.
Zack lifted an eyebrow. "Why? Because she is the last thing you care about? Or because you know the truth will reach her soon?"
Elias took a slow breath. "I am not here to trade insults. I called you because the situation has escalated far beyond us."
Zack gave a short laugh. "Oh please. Do not pretend you want my help. You want information. That is all you ever want."
"I want the cult dismantled," Elias replied.
Zack’s expression slipped into a mocking smirk. "No you do not. If you wanted that, you would have destroyed them years ago. But you needed them. Just like I did."
Elias looked away for a mont. Sha flickered beneath the hard exterior, but only briefly.
"We were young," Elias said. "We were desperate. I made a mistake."
"You made many," Zack replied. "Starting with believing you were better than ."
Elias straightened his shoulders. "Zack. They killed one of Theo’s n. They destroyed a helicopter. They are moving openly now. And they are after Danielle."
Zack sat down at the long table with complete calm, crossing one leg over the other, like he was enjoying a show.
"Theo is handling it...Let the boy fight his own battles."
Elias’s eyes flashed. "Danielle is not part of his battles."
Of course, Elias was not telling the truth...he was the one who sent them to see the cult after all. But he had other plans, and he needed Zack’s help.
Zack shrugged. "It seems she is now."
Elias walked to the other end of the table and sat down across from him.
Both n stared at each other, hatred simred like heatwaves between them.
"You used her," Elias said.
Zack tilted his head. "We both did."
Elias’s hands turned into fists. "I protected her."
Zack narrowed his eyes. "You hid her. That is not the sa."
"When I replaced you, I thought I could fix what you broke. I thought I could clean the country. But you infected everything long before I arrived."
Zack leaned back, smiling with triumph. "You never understood the ga. You always thought power ca from the people. But it cos from fear. From alliances. From forcing others to kneel."
Elias’s expression darkened. "Power cos from responsibility."
Zack laughed. "And that is why you are weak."
Elias leaned forward slowly. "They are coming for Danielle. And I know you know sothing."
Zack’s smile faded. "What makes you think I would tell you?"
"Because Theo will kill you if he finds out you hid information," Elias replied. "And you know he will."
For the first ti, Zack’s eyes shifted.
Only for a second, but Elias was quick to notice it.
Zack stood up and walked toward the wall, pretending to study the old map hanging there.
"Theo knows nothing...And it is better that way."
Elias rose from his chair as well. "Don’t fool yourself. The boy is smarter than both of us."
Zack’s jaw tightened. "He is mine."
"He is his mother’s," Elias corrected coldly.
"You don’t say her na."
Elias held his gaze without blinking. "She is the only thing you ever feared, isn’t she?"
Zack stared at him with pure hatred...
"You always loved talking," Zack finally replied in a hushed and low tone. "But fine. I will tell you one thing."
Elias waited.
Zack stepped closer and his face was just inches from Elias.
"The cult doesn’t want Danielle for the reason you think."
Elias’s face froze. "Explain."
Zack leaned even closer. "She was never ant to be a sacrifice."
"Then what was she ant to be?"
Zack smiled slowly. A terrifying, knowing smile.
"Ask the red haired son I sent to visit your daughter."
Elias felt the blood drain from his face.
Zack stepped back. "You are late, old friend. Very late."
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