The champagne hadn't even dried from her lips.
By the time Elsa walked into the marble halls of Jefferson Global Headquarters the next morning, heels clicking, her mind was still echoing with Chess's words from last night:
"You're not the hunter."
"You're standing on a battlefield."
But she was Elsa Jefferson.
Boardroom queen. Cold when needed. Ruthless when pushed.
This was her domain.
Or so she thought.
š¼ The Ambush
She stepped into the executive boardroom, ready for a routine quarterly update.
Instead, every eye turned sharply. Some nervous. Others smug.
And at the far end of the table?
Her uncle, Byron Jefferson, leaned back in the CEO's chair.
That wasn't normal.
"What's going on?" she asked.
Byron smiled, lips thin and poisonous.
"Elsa. There's been a vote."
Her stomach sank. "A vote?"
"A motion to temporarily suspend your executive privileges pending a full audit of Jefferson Global's overseas fund management and PR discrepancies."
She laughed. She actually laughedābecause it was absurd.
Until the next screen lit up.
A scandalous headline from Velmora Business Daily:
"Jefferson Global's Frozen Trusts: Internal Corruption or Incompetence?"
Elsa's blood ran cold.
š·ļø The Spider's Web
Her mind raced. This wasn't just PR. This was engineered.
Those accounts were secure. She'd triple-verified them.Unlessā¦
"Someone planted something."
Someone with access.Someone with influence.
Someone like Byronāand the snakes loyal to him.
"You can't seriously think this is real," she said, voice steady but sharp.
"Of course not," Byron replied. "But perception is nine-tenths of truth, darling."
"And while we investigate, wellā¦ the shareholders agreed that leadership should remain stable."
"I'll act as interim CEO."
Elsa stood frozen.
"Effective immediately."
š£ The Realization
She stormed out of the boardroom, Kip trailing close behind her.
"They've been planning this for months," Kip said, fists clenched. "There's no way they pulled this overnight."
"They used me," Elsa muttered. "Used my focus on Chessā¦ the marriage, the media distractionsāwhile they set this up."
And the worst part?
She didn't even know who all the players were yet.
"What do we do?" Kip asked.
Elsa stopped by the elevator, eyes blazing.
"We don't panic."
"We hit back."
But deep down, a whisper chilled her:
What if this is bigger than family politics?
What if someone else is pulling Byron's strings?
š„ The Dragon Notices
Across town, Chess stood in a private chamber of Aeris Holdings, reading the article with a faint smirk.
His fingers drummed on a glass desk, and for a momentā¦ he didn't look like a husband.
He looked like a tactician.
"They've made their move," he said quietly.
"Do we intervene?" asked Iroh, his advisor and shadow from the sect days.
"Not yet," Chess replied. "She needs to feel the bite."
"Let her remember what the world really is."
He turned to the window, watching the Jefferson building flicker in the distance.
"Then we show her what it means to have a dragon in her corner."