Chapter 6

"Zero," Lana whispered into the cheap microphone. Her eyes remained fixed on the reversed Tower card.

In the Dubai penthouse, a high-caliber, suppressed sniper round shattered the reinforced floor-to-ceiling window.

The glass exploded inward. The bullet tore through the exact spatial coordinates where Sterling's head had been a fraction of a second prior.

The round impacted the marble wall behind him. It sent a shower of pulverized stone and plaster into the air.

Sterling dropped into a tactical crouch instantly. His heart rate spiked. He drew a concealed sidearm from his waistband.

He realized with absolute, chilling certainty that if he had not taken that specific step left, his brains would be on the wall.

The wind howled through the shattered glass. It blew the curtains wildly in the dark penthouse.

Sterling glanced at his tablet on the coffee table. The stream was still running. Lana's shadowed hands were perfectly still.

In the chat, the trolls were still spamming emojis. They were completely unaware of the assassination attempt that just occurred.

Lana spoke again. Her voice cut through the digital noise.

"The sniper is repositioning. You have thirty seconds to exit the kill zone."

Sterling did not hesitate this time. He low-crawled across the Persian rug toward the heavy oak door of his suite.

"Avoid the main hallway," Lana instructed. "The secondary team has already compromised the elevator shaft."

Sterling cursed under his breath. He altered his path toward the maintenance access panel hidden behind a large bookshelf.

He punched in the override code. He slipped into the narrow, concrete service corridor just as his suite door was kicked in.

He heard the muffled shouts of armed mercenaries sweeping his empty room.

Sterling leaned against the cold concrete wall in the dark. He controlled his breathing. He stared at the live stream on his tablet.

Lana shuffled the cards once, deliberately.

"The immediate physical threat has been bypassed," she stated.

She then tapped the microphone. Her tone shifted instantly from mystical guide to pragmatic businesswoman.

"My consultation fee is ten thousand US dollars," Lana stated flatly. She stared directly into the camera lens.

The chat went wild. They called her delusional for demanding ten grand from a random viewer.

Sterling's lips curled into a sharp, dangerous smirk in the darkness of the service shaft.

He pulled up his encrypted crypto wallet interface. His thumb flew across the digital keypad.

On Lana's screen, a massive, screen-shaking animation erupted. Flashing lights filled the monitor.

The automated text-to-speech voice announced: "User_7749 has donated 50,000 USDT."

The live chat instantly froze. The trolls were completely stunned into silence by the fifty-thousand-dollar tip.

The massive donation triggered the platform's algorithm. It rocketed Lana's stream to the front page's trending list.

Viewer count skyrocketed from twenty to five thousand in a matter of seconds.

Lana looked at the donation alert. Her expression remained entirely stoic. She showed zero excitement over the massive sum.

She nodded slightly at the camera. She acknowledged the payment with the cold grace of a mafia boss accepting tribute.

She typed a quick command into her broadcasting software. She prepared to shut down the stream before the viral traffic overwhelmed her.