Beneath the Billionaire Mask - Chapter 99: Chapter 99
You are reading Beneath the Billionaire Mask, Chapter 99: Chapter 99. Read more chapters of Beneath the Billionaire Mask.
Monteverde, Costa Rica – One Month Later
Rain drizzled softly on the canopy outside, the scent of earth and eucalyptus drifting through the open windows of the villa. Elena sat curled on the porch swing, an old leather-bound journal resting on her lap. Each page was filled with ink—her handwriting. Her truth.
The story she once thought she’d expose had become the story she was now living.
Adrian walked out with two mugs of coffee, barefoot, wearing the same dark hoodie she teased him about. He handed her the cup without a word, then sat beside her, shoulder brushing hers.
“Any word from Liana?” he asked.
“She’s in Geneva. The UN is drafting a framework for clone rights. Julia’s leading the ethics panel.”
He nodded slowly. “And Subject CR-01?”
Elena glanced at the journal, then at the rain. “She’s learning. Drawing. Asking questions no one’s prepared to answer yet.”
Adrian was silent for a moment. Then: “Does she remember anything?”
“No. But she dreams. And sometimes…” Elena’s voice softened, “She looks at me like she knows me. Or wants to.”
“She’s not you.”
“No. But she deserves a life too. One that’s hers—not a continuation of mine.”
Adrian reached for her hand. “You think you can forgive the part of you that came from all this?”
She smiled, tired but real. “I already did. Because if I didn’t… I wouldn’t be able to love you the way I do now.”
Later That Night
Elena returned to the journal. One last page to write.
They say stories end when the truth comes out. But that’s not true.
The truth is where the real story begins. I didn’t come here to fall in love with the enemy. I came to tear down his empire.
But sometimes, to rebuild the world… you have to let yourself be rebuilt too.
He wore a mask. I wore armor.
But in the end, we both chose to be seen. That’s what saved us.
Not vengeance. Not control.
Love. Wild. Terrifying. Honest.
This isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of something dangerous… and beautiful.
She closed the journal, pressed it to her chest, and exhaled.
Then she turned to Adrian, already asleep beside her, and whispered:
“Thank you for choosing me.”
Bogotá Memorial Facility – Three Days Later
Adrian stood in front of the black marble wall, his reflection fractured across the engraved names—each one representing a life lost in the pursuit of the truth.
Elena stepped beside him, sliding her arm into his.
He pointed to one name at the bottom: “Caspar M. Vale – Code: Gemini 02”
“He saved us,” Adrian murmured. “Even when I doubted him.”
“And Liana ensured his memory wouldn’t be rewritten.”
They stood in silence for a while.
“Do you ever wonder,” Elena said, “if we were supposed to meet… or if we were programmed to collide?”
Adrian turned to her, a soft defiance in his gaze. “Fate didn’t code your fire, Elena. No program could design that defiance. You were always going to break the cycle.”
She looked at the wall again, then whispered, “Then let’s make sure no one ever has to again.”
Geneva – International Human Genome Ethics Tribunal
Julia Vasquez stood on a global stage—flanked by governments, activists, scientists, and survivors.
Behind her, the screen displayed a phrase that once defined Adrian’s empire:
The Future Is Built, Not Born.
Now, she crossed it out in red.
And replaced it with:
The Future Is Chosen.
The audience erupted in applause.
From the back row, Elena and Adrian watched silently.
He turned to her. “That line used to mean control.”
She smiled. “Now it means freedom.”
Costa Rica – Two Weeks Later
Evening. The sky bled pink and gold over the horizon.
On the villa porch, Adrian practiced with a small bonsai tree, carefully trimming its edges. A subtle gesture of rebuilding—a man of precision learning patience.
Elena walked up behind him, arms around his waist.
“Look at you. Mr. Billionaire, master of zen.”
He smirked. “You laugh, but this tree has taught me more about control than any boardroom ever did.”
She laughed. “At least you’re not trying to clone it.”
“I’m learning.”
She turned him toward her, serious now.
“What happens when the past calls again?”
He touched her cheek. “Then we face it. Together.”
Elena’s Voice, Final Narration (Journaling):
There are stories written in blood, others in code. Ours was both.
But for the first time, I’m writing mine in peace.
I didn’t just uncover Adrian’s secrets—I found mine, too. That I could forgive. That I could love. That I could rebuild, not just expose.
He built an empire on secrets.
I came to destroy it.
But somewhere between the wreckage and redemption… we became something new.
We’re no longer hiding.
And the world will never be the same.
The Legacy We Choose”
Safehouse Library – Costa Rica – Night
The room was dimly lit by the fireplace, casting long shadows across the walls of books. Elena sat curled in an armchair, a journal resting on her knees. She glanced across the room where Adrian stood at the window, shirt sleeves rolled up, staring at the moonlight washing over the hills.
“Do you miss it?” she asked softly.
He turned. “The power?”
“No. The mask.”
He walked toward her slowly, eyes never leaving hers. “The mask was protection. It kept everyone out… until you walked right through it like it wasn’t even there.”
Elena reached for his hand. “You’re not the only one who wore one, Adrian. I just hid mine behind ambition.”
They sat in silence, their fingers intertwined. Not the silence of old wounds—but one of understanding. Of having faced hell and survived together.
Encrypted Message – Liana’s Server, Untraceable Node
A blinking cursor.
One final decrypted file loaded:
Replication Termination Report
Subject: CR-01 (Elena Cruz)
Status: Dormant Clone Neutralized
Status: Original Subject Secure
Liana leaned back, deleting the node permanently.
“Game over.”
She picked up a backpack and walked out of the server room.
Bogotá Foundation Press Conference – One Week Later
Julia Vasquez stood beside a new foundation logo—The Blackwood Initiative. No longer built on secrets, but truth.
Behind her, Elena took the stage, holding a single folder: the final article. Unpublished. Untitled.
“Secrets cost us everything,” Elena addressed the crowd. “But so does silence. This story was never just about power. It was about choice. About who we become when no one is watching.”
Adrian, seated in the front row, didn’t blink.
She looked at him and smiled.
“I chose to tell a different ending.
A Small Bookstore in Italy
A woman with fiery eyes and a cautious smile browsed through a nonfiction section.
She picked up a memoir:
By Elena Cruz-Blackwood
She turned the first page. A quote stared back at her:
“The truth didn’t set us free. We did that ourselves.”
She clutched the book to her chest and whispered, “Maybe now I can be free too.”
The bell above the door jingled as she left, and for a fleeting second—her reflection in the glass smiled back, and did not follow her.
Blackwood Estate – Underground Wing – 10:42 PM
The house above them was silent, but deep beneath its polished floors and modern decor, a different kind of pulse beat.
Adrian swiped his palm over the biometric scanner. A soft click unlocked the reinforced door, and as it swung open, the cold air bit into their skin. Elena followed him in.
“What is this?” she asked, her breath visible in the chill.
He turned on the overhead lights—flickering rows of sealed glass chambers lit up, each holding files, tech prototypes, and… video logs.
“It’s what I built when I thought I could never tell the truth,” Adrian said. “Insurance. Evidence. Every operation, every manipulation. And… the truth about the program.”
Elena walked to one of the terminals, her eyes scanning the files: PROJECT SLEEPWALKER – STAGE 3.
“You didn’t just dismantle their operations,” she realized. “You inherited them.”
He didn’t deny it.
“You could destroy governments with this,” she whispered.
“I could,” Adrian said quietly. “Or I could use it to make sure no one like me ever rises again.”
She turned to him. “And what do you need me for?”
“To keep me honest.”
Elsewhere – A Hidden Facility – Unknown Coordinates
The woman had Elena’s face, but her eyes were darker. Sharper.
CR-03 sat at a terminal, a fresh scar across her cheekbone. Surveillance footage showed Elena and Adrian exiting the underground vault.
“I watched her survive what was meant to break her,” CR-03 murmured to the voice behind the screen.
“She’s the anomaly,” said the voice. “She wasn’t supposed to retain emotion.”
“And yet,” the clone said with a wry smile, “she fell in love.”
She stood, pulling on a sleek combat vest.
“It’s time we finish what they started.”
Safehouse, Midnight
Elena couldn’t sleep. She sat alone in the kitchen, turning her recorder over and over in her hands. Her story was no longer just about exposing Adrian.
It was about understanding why she couldn’t walk away.
Adrian appeared in the doorway.
“I want to publish it,” she said.
His jaw clenched. “Everything?”
“Everything I can live with.”
He stepped forward and cupped her jaw. “Just promise me one thing.”
She nodded.
“If this ends with you standing on the ruins of what I built… leave before the fire starts.”
She stared up at him. “Adrian, what if I’m the one who lights it?”
He smiled. But it didn’t reach his eyes
CR-03 stood atop a rooftop, her eyes scanning a digital map.
“Execute Protocol Divide,” she whispered.
Across the globe, old nodes flickered back to life. Screens lit with red alerts:
REPLICATION CHAIN REACTIVATED.
SLEEPWALKER SIGNAL BREACHED.
ADRIAN BLACKWOOD – PRIORITY 01.
TARGET: ELENA CRUZ-BLACKWOOD – CLASSIFIED.
The war wasn’t over.
It was just changing shape.
Blackwood Estate – Control Room – 11:03 PM
Adrian loaded the last of the physical drives into a reinforced briefcase. Elena stood by the screens, watching surveillance from sectors across the world—some going dark. Others flickering with unfamiliar pings.
“Did you notice these nodes lighting up in South Korea and Norway?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “They were dormant for years.”
He leaned beside her, scanning the anomalies. “They’re not ours.”
“Then whose are they?”
A pause.
Then: “Mine… if someone else still has access to the old code.”
Elena’s stomach turned. “The other me?”
He didn’t answer.
Meanwhile – Berlin Safehouse
CR-03 stood with a tablet in one hand, a trigger in the other. Her eyes cold, calculating. Across from her, a man in chains coughed up blood—Dr. Lindor, one of the original engineers of the CR Series.
“You said Adrian wouldn’t find the vault,” she said calmly.
“He was never meant to,” he wheezed. “But she changed him. You never factored for that.”
CR-03 frowned. “You don’t program love.”
“No,” he whispered, “but it programs us.”
She stepped back. The detonator beeped once.
Boom.
Blackwood Estate – 11:42 PM
Liana stormed into the control room, hair damp from rain, her voice sharp. “Node Seven is spreading. If it reaches the core—”
“—it compromises every file connected to Project Sleepwalker,” Adrian finished grimly. “Including every replication file.”
Elena’s breath caught. “And me?”
“You were untagged… but now?” Liana shook her head. “There’s no telling.”
Adrian turned to Elena, chest tightening. “If I destroy the system, I lose the last of my leverage.”
Elena stared at him. “And if you don’t, we lose our lives.”
Silence.
Then Adrian pressed his thumb to the main server panel.
“You’re more important than any empire.”
Blackwood Underground Vault – 12:09 AM
Adrian stood in front of the mainframe. Elena’s hand found his.
“You sure?” she asked softly.
He nodded once.
She reached out—and together, they flipped the kill-switch.
A low hum filled the air, lights blinking, and then
Darkness.
Total.
Unknown Location
CR-03 sat silently, as the monitors in her lair all blinked out.
But instead of anger, she smiled.
“It’s not over, Elena,” she whispered. “You may have killed the files… but you didn’t kill me.”
She picked up a silver mask.
“I’ll finish what Adrian started.”
Blackwood Estate – Rooftop – 12:30 AM
The rain had stopped.
Adrian stood on the rooftop, city lights flickering in the distance, smoke still rising faintly from the destroyed servers below. The weight of what he had done—what they had lost—pressed heavy on his shoulders.
Elena joined him, barefoot, her expression unreadable. She stood beside him, not saying a word for a long time.
“You just erased your entire legacy,” she finally said.
He turned to her. “It wasn’t a legacy. It was a prison with marble floors.”
She searched his face, trying to see the man behind the choices.
“I thought I could control the world,” Adrian admitted, voice hoarse. “But I couldn’t even control myself.”
“You made the right choice,” she said softly.
He looked away. “Then why does it feel like I’ve lost everything?”
“Because you’re human now.”
A beat of silence. Then she slipped her hand into his.
“Adrian, what if there are still fragments of the program out there? What if the other Elena… activates again?”
“Then we hunt her down. Together,” he said. “This time, we fight for the future we choose.”
Later That Night – Elena’s Room
Elena stood in front of the mirror. The same one that had once reflected something foreign inhuman.
But tonight, the woman staring back was entirely her.
She touched the mirror. “I’m not a ghost in someone’s machine,” she whispered. “I’m the storm they never prepared for.”
She turned toward the window.
And in the distance—on a rooftop across the city—a figure stood in silhouette.
She was watching.
Identical face.
Identical posture.
But not her.
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
“Game on.”
Rain drizzled softly on the canopy outside, the scent of earth and eucalyptus drifting through the open windows of the villa. Elena sat curled on the porch swing, an old leather-bound journal resting on her lap. Each page was filled with ink—her handwriting. Her truth.
The story she once thought she’d expose had become the story she was now living.
Adrian walked out with two mugs of coffee, barefoot, wearing the same dark hoodie she teased him about. He handed her the cup without a word, then sat beside her, shoulder brushing hers.
“Any word from Liana?” he asked.
“She’s in Geneva. The UN is drafting a framework for clone rights. Julia’s leading the ethics panel.”
He nodded slowly. “And Subject CR-01?”
Elena glanced at the journal, then at the rain. “She’s learning. Drawing. Asking questions no one’s prepared to answer yet.”
Adrian was silent for a moment. Then: “Does she remember anything?”
“No. But she dreams. And sometimes…” Elena’s voice softened, “She looks at me like she knows me. Or wants to.”
“She’s not you.”
“No. But she deserves a life too. One that’s hers—not a continuation of mine.”
Adrian reached for her hand. “You think you can forgive the part of you that came from all this?”
She smiled, tired but real. “I already did. Because if I didn’t… I wouldn’t be able to love you the way I do now.”
Later That Night
Elena returned to the journal. One last page to write.
They say stories end when the truth comes out. But that’s not true.
The truth is where the real story begins. I didn’t come here to fall in love with the enemy. I came to tear down his empire.
But sometimes, to rebuild the world… you have to let yourself be rebuilt too.
He wore a mask. I wore armor.
But in the end, we both chose to be seen. That’s what saved us.
Not vengeance. Not control.
Love. Wild. Terrifying. Honest.
This isn’t the end. It’s the beginning of something dangerous… and beautiful.
She closed the journal, pressed it to her chest, and exhaled.
Then she turned to Adrian, already asleep beside her, and whispered:
“Thank you for choosing me.”
Bogotá Memorial Facility – Three Days Later
Adrian stood in front of the black marble wall, his reflection fractured across the engraved names—each one representing a life lost in the pursuit of the truth.
Elena stepped beside him, sliding her arm into his.
He pointed to one name at the bottom: “Caspar M. Vale – Code: Gemini 02”
“He saved us,” Adrian murmured. “Even when I doubted him.”
“And Liana ensured his memory wouldn’t be rewritten.”
They stood in silence for a while.
“Do you ever wonder,” Elena said, “if we were supposed to meet… or if we were programmed to collide?”
Adrian turned to her, a soft defiance in his gaze. “Fate didn’t code your fire, Elena. No program could design that defiance. You were always going to break the cycle.”
She looked at the wall again, then whispered, “Then let’s make sure no one ever has to again.”
Geneva – International Human Genome Ethics Tribunal
Julia Vasquez stood on a global stage—flanked by governments, activists, scientists, and survivors.
Behind her, the screen displayed a phrase that once defined Adrian’s empire:
The Future Is Built, Not Born.
Now, she crossed it out in red.
And replaced it with:
The Future Is Chosen.
The audience erupted in applause.
From the back row, Elena and Adrian watched silently.
He turned to her. “That line used to mean control.”
She smiled. “Now it means freedom.”
Costa Rica – Two Weeks Later
Evening. The sky bled pink and gold over the horizon.
On the villa porch, Adrian practiced with a small bonsai tree, carefully trimming its edges. A subtle gesture of rebuilding—a man of precision learning patience.
Elena walked up behind him, arms around his waist.
“Look at you. Mr. Billionaire, master of zen.”
He smirked. “You laugh, but this tree has taught me more about control than any boardroom ever did.”
She laughed. “At least you’re not trying to clone it.”
“I’m learning.”
She turned him toward her, serious now.
“What happens when the past calls again?”
He touched her cheek. “Then we face it. Together.”
Elena’s Voice, Final Narration (Journaling):
There are stories written in blood, others in code. Ours was both.
But for the first time, I’m writing mine in peace.
I didn’t just uncover Adrian’s secrets—I found mine, too. That I could forgive. That I could love. That I could rebuild, not just expose.
He built an empire on secrets.
I came to destroy it.
But somewhere between the wreckage and redemption… we became something new.
We’re no longer hiding.
And the world will never be the same.
The Legacy We Choose”
Safehouse Library – Costa Rica – Night
The room was dimly lit by the fireplace, casting long shadows across the walls of books. Elena sat curled in an armchair, a journal resting on her knees. She glanced across the room where Adrian stood at the window, shirt sleeves rolled up, staring at the moonlight washing over the hills.
“Do you miss it?” she asked softly.
He turned. “The power?”
“No. The mask.”
He walked toward her slowly, eyes never leaving hers. “The mask was protection. It kept everyone out… until you walked right through it like it wasn’t even there.”
Elena reached for his hand. “You’re not the only one who wore one, Adrian. I just hid mine behind ambition.”
They sat in silence, their fingers intertwined. Not the silence of old wounds—but one of understanding. Of having faced hell and survived together.
Encrypted Message – Liana’s Server, Untraceable Node
A blinking cursor.
One final decrypted file loaded:
Replication Termination Report
Subject: CR-01 (Elena Cruz)
Status: Dormant Clone Neutralized
Status: Original Subject Secure
Liana leaned back, deleting the node permanently.
“Game over.”
She picked up a backpack and walked out of the server room.
Bogotá Foundation Press Conference – One Week Later
Julia Vasquez stood beside a new foundation logo—The Blackwood Initiative. No longer built on secrets, but truth.
Behind her, Elena took the stage, holding a single folder: the final article. Unpublished. Untitled.
“Secrets cost us everything,” Elena addressed the crowd. “But so does silence. This story was never just about power. It was about choice. About who we become when no one is watching.”
Adrian, seated in the front row, didn’t blink.
She looked at him and smiled.
“I chose to tell a different ending.
A Small Bookstore in Italy
A woman with fiery eyes and a cautious smile browsed through a nonfiction section.
She picked up a memoir:
By Elena Cruz-Blackwood
She turned the first page. A quote stared back at her:
“The truth didn’t set us free. We did that ourselves.”
She clutched the book to her chest and whispered, “Maybe now I can be free too.”
The bell above the door jingled as she left, and for a fleeting second—her reflection in the glass smiled back, and did not follow her.
Blackwood Estate – Underground Wing – 10:42 PM
The house above them was silent, but deep beneath its polished floors and modern decor, a different kind of pulse beat.
Adrian swiped his palm over the biometric scanner. A soft click unlocked the reinforced door, and as it swung open, the cold air bit into their skin. Elena followed him in.
“What is this?” she asked, her breath visible in the chill.
He turned on the overhead lights—flickering rows of sealed glass chambers lit up, each holding files, tech prototypes, and… video logs.
“It’s what I built when I thought I could never tell the truth,” Adrian said. “Insurance. Evidence. Every operation, every manipulation. And… the truth about the program.”
Elena walked to one of the terminals, her eyes scanning the files: PROJECT SLEEPWALKER – STAGE 3.
“You didn’t just dismantle their operations,” she realized. “You inherited them.”
He didn’t deny it.
“You could destroy governments with this,” she whispered.
“I could,” Adrian said quietly. “Or I could use it to make sure no one like me ever rises again.”
She turned to him. “And what do you need me for?”
“To keep me honest.”
Elsewhere – A Hidden Facility – Unknown Coordinates
The woman had Elena’s face, but her eyes were darker. Sharper.
CR-03 sat at a terminal, a fresh scar across her cheekbone. Surveillance footage showed Elena and Adrian exiting the underground vault.
“I watched her survive what was meant to break her,” CR-03 murmured to the voice behind the screen.
“She’s the anomaly,” said the voice. “She wasn’t supposed to retain emotion.”
“And yet,” the clone said with a wry smile, “she fell in love.”
She stood, pulling on a sleek combat vest.
“It’s time we finish what they started.”
Safehouse, Midnight
Elena couldn’t sleep. She sat alone in the kitchen, turning her recorder over and over in her hands. Her story was no longer just about exposing Adrian.
It was about understanding why she couldn’t walk away.
Adrian appeared in the doorway.
“I want to publish it,” she said.
His jaw clenched. “Everything?”
“Everything I can live with.”
He stepped forward and cupped her jaw. “Just promise me one thing.”
She nodded.
“If this ends with you standing on the ruins of what I built… leave before the fire starts.”
She stared up at him. “Adrian, what if I’m the one who lights it?”
He smiled. But it didn’t reach his eyes
CR-03 stood atop a rooftop, her eyes scanning a digital map.
“Execute Protocol Divide,” she whispered.
Across the globe, old nodes flickered back to life. Screens lit with red alerts:
REPLICATION CHAIN REACTIVATED.
SLEEPWALKER SIGNAL BREACHED.
ADRIAN BLACKWOOD – PRIORITY 01.
TARGET: ELENA CRUZ-BLACKWOOD – CLASSIFIED.
The war wasn’t over.
It was just changing shape.
Blackwood Estate – Control Room – 11:03 PM
Adrian loaded the last of the physical drives into a reinforced briefcase. Elena stood by the screens, watching surveillance from sectors across the world—some going dark. Others flickering with unfamiliar pings.
“Did you notice these nodes lighting up in South Korea and Norway?” she asked, narrowing her eyes. “They were dormant for years.”
He leaned beside her, scanning the anomalies. “They’re not ours.”
“Then whose are they?”
A pause.
Then: “Mine… if someone else still has access to the old code.”
Elena’s stomach turned. “The other me?”
He didn’t answer.
Meanwhile – Berlin Safehouse
CR-03 stood with a tablet in one hand, a trigger in the other. Her eyes cold, calculating. Across from her, a man in chains coughed up blood—Dr. Lindor, one of the original engineers of the CR Series.
“You said Adrian wouldn’t find the vault,” she said calmly.
“He was never meant to,” he wheezed. “But she changed him. You never factored for that.”
CR-03 frowned. “You don’t program love.”
“No,” he whispered, “but it programs us.”
She stepped back. The detonator beeped once.
Boom.
Blackwood Estate – 11:42 PM
Liana stormed into the control room, hair damp from rain, her voice sharp. “Node Seven is spreading. If it reaches the core—”
“—it compromises every file connected to Project Sleepwalker,” Adrian finished grimly. “Including every replication file.”
Elena’s breath caught. “And me?”
“You were untagged… but now?” Liana shook her head. “There’s no telling.”
Adrian turned to Elena, chest tightening. “If I destroy the system, I lose the last of my leverage.”
Elena stared at him. “And if you don’t, we lose our lives.”
Silence.
Then Adrian pressed his thumb to the main server panel.
“You’re more important than any empire.”
Blackwood Underground Vault – 12:09 AM
Adrian stood in front of the mainframe. Elena’s hand found his.
“You sure?” she asked softly.
He nodded once.
She reached out—and together, they flipped the kill-switch.
A low hum filled the air, lights blinking, and then
Darkness.
Total.
Unknown Location
CR-03 sat silently, as the monitors in her lair all blinked out.
But instead of anger, she smiled.
“It’s not over, Elena,” she whispered. “You may have killed the files… but you didn’t kill me.”
She picked up a silver mask.
“I’ll finish what Adrian started.”
Blackwood Estate – Rooftop – 12:30 AM
The rain had stopped.
Adrian stood on the rooftop, city lights flickering in the distance, smoke still rising faintly from the destroyed servers below. The weight of what he had done—what they had lost—pressed heavy on his shoulders.
Elena joined him, barefoot, her expression unreadable. She stood beside him, not saying a word for a long time.
“You just erased your entire legacy,” she finally said.
He turned to her. “It wasn’t a legacy. It was a prison with marble floors.”
She searched his face, trying to see the man behind the choices.
“I thought I could control the world,” Adrian admitted, voice hoarse. “But I couldn’t even control myself.”
“You made the right choice,” she said softly.
He looked away. “Then why does it feel like I’ve lost everything?”
“Because you’re human now.”
A beat of silence. Then she slipped her hand into his.
“Adrian, what if there are still fragments of the program out there? What if the other Elena… activates again?”
“Then we hunt her down. Together,” he said. “This time, we fight for the future we choose.”
Later That Night – Elena’s Room
Elena stood in front of the mirror. The same one that had once reflected something foreign inhuman.
But tonight, the woman staring back was entirely her.
She touched the mirror. “I’m not a ghost in someone’s machine,” she whispered. “I’m the storm they never prepared for.”
She turned toward the window.
And in the distance—on a rooftop across the city—a figure stood in silhouette.
She was watching.
Identical face.
Identical posture.
But not her.
Elena’s eyes narrowed.
“Game on.”
End of Beneath the Billionaire Mask Chapter 99. Continue reading Chapter 100 or return to Beneath the Billionaire Mask book page.