Boredom.
That was the word that stayed with Lyra long after they left the café.
Not fear. Not danger.
Boredom.
Because it meant Elias wasn't doing this out of rage.
He was doing it for stimulation.
And that made him unpredictable in a way anger never could be.
They walked back toward her building in silence. The street felt too ordinary for what was happening inside it.
Aurelian's phone buzzed.
He glanced at it this time.
His expression hardened.
"What?" Lyra asked.
He turned the screen toward her.
A news alert.
HELIOS STOCKS DROP 12% AFTER INTERNAL SECURITY BREACH RUMORS
Lyra frowned. "Security breach?"
Aurelian's jaw tightened. "He's escalating."
---
Inside Helios headquarters, controlled chaos was unfolding.
Servers had not been hacked.
Nothing had been stolen.
But an anonymous tip had reached three major financial news outlets simultaneously, claiming Helios had suffered a data compromise involving client safety records.
False.
Completely false.
But the market didn't wait for truth.
It reacted to noise.
And Elias had just made noise very, very loud.
"He's not attacking you directly," Lyra said slowly. "He's pulling threads."
"Yes," Aurelian replied. "He's testing how many I can hold before something tears."
Her stomach sank. "And I'm one of the threads."
He didn't deny it.
---
Another message arrived.
This time to Aurelian.
You're watching numbers. She's watching doors. Interesting split of attention.
Lyra's chest tightened. "He wants you distracted."
"He wants me divided," Aurelian corrected.
"Between company and me."
"Yes."
She looked at him carefully. "And which one are you choosing?"
Aurelian met her eyes without hesitation.
"You."
The answer came too fast to be strategic.
Too honest to be comfortable.
Lyra looked away first.
---
That evening, she insisted on going to rehearsal.
Mara had nearly lost her mind arguing against it.
"He's watching you!" Mara snapped.
"Good," Lyra replied. "Let him watch me work."
Aurelian didn't like it either.
But he understood.
This wasn't recklessness.
This was Lyra refusing to be reduced to a victim in someone else's psychological experiment.
---
The rehearsal hall was wide, echoing, and mostly empty.
Lyra stood under the lights, microphone in hand, trying to focus on her breathing instead of the invisible presence she felt in every shadow.
She began to sing.
Softly at first.
Then stronger.
The sound filled the hall, pushing back against the silence Elias had been feeding on.
Aurelian watched from the back.
For the first time since this began, he saw something Elias could never manipulate.
Her.
Not afraid.
Not controlled.
Just… herself.
And somehow, that unsettled him too.
Because Elias would see it.
And he would respond.
---
Midway through the rehearsal, Lyra's phone buzzed on a nearby chair.
She ignored it.
Kept singing.
Aurelian noticed.
So did Mara.
The phone buzzed again.
And again.
Lyra didn't stop.
She finished the song before walking over calmly.
She checked the screen.
One message.
A photo.
Taken inside the rehearsal hall.
From the upper balcony.
Her hands went cold.
Aurelian was beside her instantly.
"He was here," she whispered.
"Yes."
"While I was singing."
Aurelian's voice dropped into something dangerous. "Yes."
On the photo, a caption.
You're most beautiful when you forget you're being watched.
Lyra felt something snap inside her.
Not fear.
Fury.
"He's not playing anymore," she said quietly.
"No," Aurelian replied. "Now he's participating."
And for the first time—
They both understood.
Elias wasn't outside the story anymore.
He had stepped directly into it.