Titan Vale Headquarters | CEO's Office
Titan Vale Corporation never slept.
Even at midnight, its headquarters pulsed with life.
On the lower floors, analysts parsed through financial data, legal teams buried themselves in contract clauses, and security officers monitored every inch of the skyscraper. The digital war room ran constant surveillance on global markets, looking for shifts that could signal opportunity or threat.
Deals were made, wealth shifted, and somewhere in the chaos—Nevaris Vale was once again causing trouble.
Freya sighed, arms crossed as she stood in the center of his private office.
It was past midnight. Most executives had long since gone home, but Nevaris had never followed conventional business hours. Work happened when he felt like it, which often meant odd hours, sporadic bursts of chaotic genius, and a complete disregard for the need for sleep.
Tonight was one of those nights.
He was sprawled across the couch, a laptop balanced on his stomach, scrolling through financial reports with the same casual amusement as someone reading a particularly juicy gossip thread. His golden eyes flicked across the screen, absorbing complex market data at a speed that would overwhelm most people.
Freya had seen it before—the way he processed numbers, patterns, and probabilities in real time, as if the entire financial world was just a puzzle for him to solve.
"Alright," he said suddenly, sitting up. "Time to push the first domino."
Freya arched an eyebrow. "And what's your plan, oh Demon of Contracts?"
Nevaris smirked. "Simple. We make Astralis bleed."
Freya pulled up a chair and sat across from him. "How?"
Nevaris set his laptop down and leaned forward, fingers drumming against the glass surface of the coffee table. "Astralis thrives on secrecy. We don't know who is backing them, but we do know what's keeping them afloat—their liquidity reserves."
Freya nodded, already following his train of thought. "They're playing high-risk. Rapid acquisitions, aggressive market positioning. That requires cash flow."
Nevaris grinned. "Exactly. And if we choke that cash flow—"
"They'll be forced to show their hand."
Nevaris snapped his fingers. "Bingo."
Freya leaned back, considering. "So, what's the move?"
Nevaris stretched, rolling his shoulders before tapping his laptop. "I had our forensic accountants run a deep dive. Astralis has been funding their expansion through structured debt—borrowing against future acquisitions. It's a delicate balance. One wrong move…"
"And they collapse under their own weight," Freya finished.
Nevaris' grin widened.
Freya narrowed her eyes. "...You already started, didn't you?"
Nevaris feigned innocence. "Maybe."
Freya crossed her arms. "How much?"
"Fifty-two percent of their outstanding obligations," he said cheerfully. "Give or take a few billion."
She stared at him.
He grinned.
"Nevaris."
"Yes, my lovely and terrifying assistant?"
"You do realize that by controlling their debt, we own their expansion plans?"
"Yep."
"And if they default, we can seize their assets?"
"Uh-huh."
Freya pinched the bridge of her nose. "And you didn't think to mention this before?"
Nevaris stretched his arms above his head with a lazy smile. "Where's the fun in that?"
Freya muttered something about trillionaire idiots under her breath before pulling up a secure financial feed on her tablet. "Fine. Then we need to monitor their response. They'll either seek a new investor or—"
The feed flashed.
New market activity.
Freya's eyes narrowed. "Or they'll retaliate."
Nevaris perked up. "Oh? What's our dear rivals up to?"
Freya analyzed the data as numbers scrolled across the screen. Short positions. Large ones.
Her jaw tightened. "They're shorting Titan Vale stock."
Nevaris let out a low whistle. "Damn. They're going for a direct attack."
Freya nodded. "If they drive down our stock value, they can spread panic in the market. Force our investors to second-guess us. Create instability."
Nevaris tilted his head. "Hmmm. It's a bold move. Dangerous, but bold."
Freya looked at him. "Do we counter?"
Nevaris stared at the financial data for a long moment. His fingers tapped against the table, his expression unreadable.
Then, he smiled.
Slow. Calculated. Dangerous.
"No."
Freya frowned. "No?"
A sharp glint flickered in Nevaris' golden eyes, something cold and knowing.
"Let them think it's working."
Freya studied him. That look—the gleam in his gaze—meant he already had something worse planned.
She exhaled. "You already have a trap set, don't you?"
Nevaris' smile widened.
"Oh, Freya."
His golden irises darkened.
A shift.
Crimson.
Like a predator watching its prey walk directly into a snare.
"Of course I do."