Chapter 3

Erica picked up Ebert's black business card. She shoved it under her pillow just as a high-pitched, sickeningly sweet laugh echoed from the hallway.

It was Ivy Thorne.

The ICU door swung open. Colten Fischer walked in. He wore a crisp navy suit, his hand resting protectively on Ivy's slightly swollen stomach. He guided her into the room like she was made of fragile glass.

Ivy looked at Erica. Her eyes scanned the pale skin, the hospital gown, the bruises. A flash of pure, venomous satisfaction crossed Ivy's face.

"Oh my god, Erica," Ivy gasped, slapping a hand over her mouth. Her voice dripped with fake pity. "You look absolutely terrible. I can't believe you got hurt so badly."

Colten wrinkled his nose. He waved his hand in front of his face, disgusted by the smell of antiseptic and blood. He didn't look at Erica's face. He looked at the bed.

He pulled a thick stack of legal documents from his jacket. He threw them onto Erica's lap. The heavy paper slapped against her blanket. He tossed a solid gold fountain pen right on top of the pile.

"Sign it," Colten ordered. His voice was cold and flat. "This is the final asset division agreement. Consider this the last bit of generosity I'm willing to give you, seeing as you just crawled out of a cell and got hit by a car."

Erica didn't look at the papers.

She slowly raised her head. She locked her eyes onto Colten, then shifted her gaze to Ivy. It was the look of a butcher staring at a slab of meat. Dead. Calculating.

Colten's breath hitched. A sudden, cold knot formed in his stomach. He hated that look. He raised his voice, trying to assert dominance.

"Don't play your crazy games with me, Erica! Stop stalling and sign the damn paper!"

Ivy stepped closer to Colten, clinging to his arm. "Please, Erica," she whined, forcing a tremble into her voice. "My baby needs a proper family name. Just let us go. Haven't you done enough?"

Not a single tear fell from Ivy's eyes.

Erica let out a low, raspy chuckle. The sound bounced off the sterile walls, making the hair on Colten's arms stand up.

She picked up the gold pen. She spun it effortlessly between her fingers, a smooth, tactical motion.

The ORACLE System activated. A blue laser grid swept across the fifty pages of legal text. In less than a second, the system highlighted three hidden clauses in glaring red.

Erica stopped spinning the pen.

"Page three, clause seven," Erica said, her voice devoid of emotion. "And the addendum on page fifteen. You're trying to transfer thirty million dollars of Fischer Group's toxic debt into my name."

Colten's face drained of all color. His jaw dropped.

He stared at the woman who hadn't even finished high school. The woman who had spent three years rotting in a cell. She had just dismantled a trap set by Manhattan's top corporate lawyers in a single glance.

Ivy panicked. Her grip on Colten's arm tightened like a vice. "Colten, what is she talking about? It's just a mistake by the lawyers, right?"

Erica grabbed the stack of papers. She whipped them through the air.

The heavy documents slammed directly into Colten's chest. The sharp edge of the paper sliced across his silk tie, ripping the fabric with a loud tear.

"I'll sign," Erica said, leaning forward. "But you will liquidate the fifteen percent of Fischer Group shares I originally owned. At their absolute peak market value. Right now. My account is 722-Cayman-09. Wire the money there."

Colten's face turned purple. The veins in his neck bulged.

"You're out of your mind!" he roared, spit flying from his lips. "Those shares tanked the second you went to prison! They aren't worth twenty million dollars!"

Erica leaned back against her pillows. She didn't blink.

"Account number 449-81-Cayman," Erica recited smoothly. "And the black money routing number you used to bribe the zoning commissioner three years ago: 884-Delta-Niner."

The moment he entered the room, the ORACLE System detected his phone's unsecured Wi-Fi handshake request. It exploited a zero-day vulnerability in the protocol, creating a silent data bridge directly to his device's core memory, accessing the authentication tokens for his cloud drive.

Colten's knees buckled. He grabbed the edge of the metal bed to stop himself from collapsing. The anger in his eyes vanished, replaced by sheer, suffocating terror.

"Where..." Colten stammered, his chest heaving. "Where did you get those numbers?"

Erica just stared at him. She looked at him like he was a pig waiting for the slaughterhouse.

"She's bluffing!" Ivy shrieked, pointing a manicured finger at Erica. "Colten, call security! Throw this crazy bitch out!"

Colten spun around. He slapped Ivy across the face. The crack echoed like a gunshot.

"Shut your mouth!" Colten screamed.

Ivy fell against the wall, clutching her red cheek, sobbing in genuine shock. The room fell dead silent.

Colten was sweating profusely. Drops of moisture ran down his temples. He pulled his phone from his pocket with trembling hands. He dialed his Chief Financial Officer.

"Wire twenty million dollars to the Swiss account I'm about to text you," Colten ordered, his voice shaking. "Account 722-Cayman-09. Right now. Do it."

Ten minutes passed in agonizing silence.

From the hidden pocket sewn into the lining of her hospital gown, Erica retrieved the burner phone she had managed to keep throughout her prison sentence. The screen of Erica's burner phone, sitting next to the heart monitor, lit up. A notification pinged. Twenty million dollars had successfully landed in her offshore account.

Erica picked up the gold pen. She flipped to the back of the modified agreement. She signed her name with aggressive, heavy strokes that nearly tore through the paper.

She tossed the signed document onto the floor. She waved her hand dismissively.

"Take your trash and get out of my sight."

Colten scrambled to pick up the papers. He glared at her, his chest heaving. "Buy a coffin with that money, Erica."

He grabbed Ivy by the arm and dragged her out of the room.

Erica watched the door close. Her eyes were ice. This money was just the operational budget. The real hell was just beginning.

She threw off the blanket. She grabbed the IV line taped to her hand and ripped it out. Blood instantly welled up, dripping onto the pristine white sheets.

Erica stood up. Her bare feet hit the cold floor. She walked toward the door.