Chapter 5 THE BEGINNING

(Serena's POV)

The lab hummed with silent tension at 3:47 AM.

I pressed my palm against the frost-coated cryogenic chamber, watching my breath form a mist on the steel surface.

Inside the chamber slept the real NV-147 prototype, the one not even my investors had seen. The one Damien's spies would never find.

"Temperature holding at -196 Celsius," murmured Dr. Chen, her gloved fingers dancing across the monitoring system. "Neural matrix remains stable."

Elena leaned against the lab table, arms crossed. "You're sure the decoy worked?"

A smile tugged at my lips as I recalled the security feed from the townhouse, Damien's furious face when he'd found the empty safe. "Like clockwork."

The real breakthrough wasn't in some dusty closet. It was here, buried beneath Vaughn Innovations' flagship lab, accessible only through a biometric elevator even our employees didn't know existed.

I ran a hand over the slight swell beneath my lab coat. Twenty-two weeks. Twenty-two weeks of hiding the most precious creation of my life while the world watched my other inventions take flight.

Elena's phone buzzed and her face paled. "Blackwood just wired five million to Dr. Langley's offshore account."

I froze. Langley, our lead engineer. The only outsider who knew about the secondary lab.

Dr. Chen sucked in a sharp breath. "He wouldn't."

"He would," I corrected, already moving to the secure terminal. "But he'll regret it." My fingers flew across the holographic keyboard, pulling up security protocols. "Initiate Protocol Wintermute."

The lab's AI responded instantly. "Retinal scan required."

I pressed my eye to the scanner and a laser flashed.

"Identity confirmed. Vaughn, Serena. Protocol Wintermute engaged." The AI responded.

Then, the wall monitors flickered to life, showing real-time footage from Langley's apartment. The good doctor stood frozen in his kitchen, staring at a black envelope on his counter, the same kind Eleanor Blackwood used for her offers.

Elena whistled. "You bugged his home?"

"I bugged everyone's," I said absently, zooming in on the envelope's wax seal, the Blackwood crest. "Play audio."

Langley's trembling fingers broke the seal. A single flash drive tumbled out, along with a note we couldn't read. He plugged the drive into his laptop and every screen in our lab turned blood red.

"UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS DETECTED" The AI beeped.

Dr. Chen gasped. "He's triggering the kill switch!"

On screen, Langley's face went slack as corrupted code flooded his monitor. The flash drive wasn't a bribe. It was a Trojan horse, one that would wipe his entire system the moment he tried accessing our files.

I exhaled slowly. "And there's Eleanor's famous hospitality."

Elena gripped my arm. "If they're targeting Langley, they know about the..."

A new alert blared. The lab's motion sensors tripped. Someone was in the private elevator.

I slammed the emergency lockdown button. "Chen, secure the prototype."

The doctor didn't hesitate, wheeling the cryo-chamber toward the vault as steel shutters descended over lab equipment. Elena already had her gun drawn, her stance wide near the door.

The elevator pinged.

I stood perfectly still, watching the digital display count down the floors. L3... L2... L1...

The doors slid open.

Adrian Cole stepped out, his usually impeccable hair disheveled, his Oxford shirt splattered with what looked like coffee. "Thank God you're here." I let out a sigh of relief.

Elena didn't lower her weapon. "Prove you're you."

Adrian stood frozen as he rolled up his sleeve, revealing the scar from our Stanford lab accident, the one no public photos had ever captured. "Eleanor's people just ambushed me outside the clinic. They took the decoy chipset."

I studied his face, the dilated pupils, the slight tremble in his hands. Real fear. "You're sure it was the decoy?"

His laugh was ragged. "You think I'd risk the real one after what happened to Langley?" He pulled a crumpled note from his pocket, the same Blackwood stationery. "They left this."

I flattened out the paper. "A proposal, Mrs. Vaughn. The patents for your child's safety."

The air left my lungs in a rush.

Elena cursed. "They know."

Adrian's gaze dropped to my stomach, then snapped back up. "I didn't tell them."

"I know." My fingers traced the note's edge. Eleanor's game was clear, she wanted me rattled. Wanted me to run to Damien in panic.

But instead, I felt something dangerous settle in my bones.

Cold and calculating.

I turned to the lab's main console. "Activate Phase Two."

Elena's eyes widened. "It's too soon. We're not..."

"They made it personal." I entered the authorization codes. "Now we burn them to the ground."

The monitors flickered to a live feed from Blackwood Industries' headquarters. Their main server room. Their R&D floor. Even Eleanor's private office, all visible through backdoors I'd two years ago when I was still the invisible wife.

Adrian inhaled sharply. "You have access to..."

"Everything." I pulled up a new window, the Swiss bank transfer logs. "Including this."

The screen displayed Eleanor's secret account routing five million to Langley...and receiving twenty million from an offshore shell company the same day.

Elena squinted. "Wait, she paid Langley to betray us, but someone paid her more to..."

"Set him up." I completed, marvelled myself. My fingers flew across the keyboard, tracing the shell company's ownership. "This wasn't just about stealing our tech. This was about..."

The records were resolved.

I froze. The shell company was registered to Natalia Orlova.

Adrian made a choked noise. "Damien's mistress is funding Eleanor?"

"No." A bitter laugh escaped me. "She's playing both sides." I pulled up security footage from the Blackwood Estate, Natalia slipping into Damien's study while he was away, planting something beneath his desk. "She's not just his mistress. Seems like she's someone else's weapon."

The final puzzle piece clicked into place.

Eleanor thought she was manipulating Natalia.

Natalia thought she was playing Eleanor.

And Damien?

Damien had no idea he was standing in the crossfire.

I stood, smoothing my lab coat over my stomach. "Prepare the jet. We're going to Zurich."

Elena blinked. "Why?"

"Because," I said, pulling up the encrypted files Natalia had planted in Damien's office, "someone just handed us the keys to the Blackwood fortune."

The screen flickered to life, revealing a document that made my heart skip a beat. It was Eleanor Blackwood's last will and testament, and the named heir was not Damien.

It was me!