The cold reality of Xavier's words hung in the air like a death sentence. A hundred million dollar bounty. Aurora looked at the glowing screen of the phone, her name and face pinned to a digital hit list. She had spent years in a prison cell, but she had never felt as trapped as she did in this moment, surrounded by luxury and high-tech security.
"They think I'm a walking hard drive," Aurora whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "Even though I burned the physical copy, they think the code is inside my head."
Xavier stood up, his face a mask of iron. "In their world, if something exists in a person's memory, that person becomes property. They don't want to kill you yet, Aurora. They want to extract you. They want to tear apart your life until you give them what they think you have."
"But I don't have it!" she cried out, frustration boiling over. "My father never showed me the actual code. He only gave me the key to the vault. Now that the vault is burned, the code is dead!"
Xavier walked to the window, looking at the dark perimeter of his estate. "It doesn't matter what the truth is. In the world of shadow finance and global espionage, perception is reality. As long as the world perceives you as the 'Lazarus Heir,' you are in danger."
He turned back to her, his eyes softening just a fraction. "Tomorrow, the city will be crawling with hunters. Not just street thugs, but high-level mercenaries hired by corporations that want to rule the world's networks. My security can hold them for a while, but we can't stay here forever."
"So, what do we do?" Aurora asked, standing up and meeting his gaze.
"We go on the offensive," Xavier said. "We don't wait for them to come to us. We find the source of the bounty. Someone leaked the news of the fire. Someone who was in that room."
Aurora froze. "You think it was one of your men? Or... my mother?"
"Your mother is a mercenary, but she's smart," Xavier reasoned. "She wouldn't put a bounty on you; she would want you for herself. No, this was someone else. Someone who wants us both out of the way so they can scavenge the remains of Thorne and Vance Industries."
Aurora realized then that the game had shifted from corporate revenge to a battle for survival. "Then let's find them. If I'm going to be a target, I might as well be one that bites back."