Chapter 7: An Unholy Alliance
Madam Zhao remained silent for a long time, her gaze shifting from the yellowed police report to Nathan, and finally down to the wooden stick resting against the side of her desk. The implement that had symbolized her absolute authority and cold vengeance now looked like a relic of a misplaced war. She slowly reached out, picked up the wooden stick, and placed it horizontally across the mahogany surface, setting it aside like a weapon she no longer had the right to wield. "If Vance orchestrated the fire, why did he let you rebuild your life?" she asked, her voice regaining a fraction of its controlled composure.
"Because he didn't expect us to survive the fallout," Marcus answered, pulling out a second file from the metallic briefcase and laying it next to the police report. "We spent ten years clawing our way out of bankruptcy, working odd jobs, sleeping in cars, until we finally managed to patent a secure encryption algorithm for financial transactions. Vance didn't notice us again until our company went public six months ago. That's when he started using you to dismantle us from the inside, feeding you falsified records and making us look like ruthless usurpers."
Nathan walked back to the desk, resting his hand near the edge. "He gave you the debt contracts on my company, didn't he? He wanted you to force me into bankruptcy so he could swoop in and acquire my intellectual property for pennies on the dollar, while letting you take the moral blame for destroying my family," Nathan concluded, laying out the entire blueprint of Vance's conspiracy with chilling clarity. Madam Zhao closed her eyes, breathing in deeply through her nose as she processed the extent of the betrayal she had suffered at the hands of the man she considered a father figure.
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"What do you propose we do?" Madam Zhao asked, opening her eyes and looking directly at Nathan with a gaze that had shed its malice and replaced it with cold, focused calculation. The dragon embroidery on her qipao seemed to catch the amber light with renewed vigor. "Vance is hosting the annual mayoral charity gala tomorrow night at the Grand Meridian Hotel. He plans to announce a massive municipal acquisition of downtown real estate—an acquisition funded largely by the assets he stole from your company and the leverage he manipulated through me," she revealed, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
Nathan exchanged a quick, knowing glance with Marcus. A slow, determined smile touched Nathan's lips as he realized they had been handed the exact opportunity they needed to dismantle Vance's empire in a single stroke. "We don't fight him in court, and we don't fight him in the shadows," Nathan said, his voice firm and resolute. "We expose him publicly in front of every major investor, politician, and media outlet in the city. And we do it using the very system he built to protect himself." Madam Zhao reached across the desk, extending a hand toward Nathan. For the first time all evening, the air between them carried no threat—only the dangerous, exhilarating promise of retribution.
