THE LIE THAT WORE A RING - Chapter 50: Chapter 50
You are reading THE LIE THAT WORE A RING, Chapter 50: Chapter 50. Read more chapters of THE LIE THAT WORE A RING.
Back in New York, the Carter estate buzzed like a war bunker. Claire, Elise, and a dedicated tech team had taken over the west study, turning it into a makeshift intelligence hub. Multiple screens displayed the decrypted files extracted from Halcyon-Core. What they found wasn’t just incriminating—it was world-shaking.
Ava sat at the heart of it all, eyes bloodshot from hours of scrolling through documents, watching silent footage, piecing together names, numbers, and motives. She barely noticed the cup of untouched coffee beside her.
“Is this what Mom was fighting against all along?” she murmured.
Ethan looked over her shoulder, brow furrowed. “It’s worse than we thought. Renn didn’t just inherit Craven’s philosophy. He evolved it.”
The data showed the blueprints of a global influence campaign. Politicians, influencers, financial institutions—each listed under shadow operations marked with code names like Vox Black, Symmetry Directive, and Project Iris. Halcyon was more than a remnant of a broken empire. It was a rebranding, a rebirth of control disguised as social reform.
“Look at this,” Ava said, highlighting a document titled Phase III: Restoration Strategy. “They planned to take over art platforms, museums, even media companies. All through false philanthropy. They wanted to rewrite history by curating truth.”
Nicholas entered quietly, holding a tablet in one hand. His eyes scanned the screen in front of Ava, and a sigh escaped him—part fury, part relief.
“I knew Renn was ambitious,” he said. “But this… he was playing a century-long game.”
“He wanted to make Craven look like a footnote,” Claire added. “And make himself the author of the next chapter.”
Ava turned to her father. “Then we publish the truth. Everything. The recordings, the documents, the server logs—we leak it all.”
Nicholas’s jaw clenched. “You know what that would cause. The panic, the political retaliation…”
“That’s the point,” Ava said. “We don’t bury it like before. We shine every light on it. We let the world decide what to do with it.”
Claire nodded. “Controlled leaks, timed releases. We’ll start with the Phase III documents and the Craven successor strategy. It’ll hit hard, but it’ll hit clean.”
Ethan stepped forward. “And what about Renn? He’s still out there.”
Elise, who had been silent until now, walked up and placed a small envelope on the table.
“We found this buried in the server logs,” she said. “It’s a kill-switch.”
Nicholas’s eyes narrowed. “Kill-switch?”
“Not literal,” Elise said. “It’s a coded cascade. One final command from Renn, one button press, and every digital trace of Halcyon disappears. Websites, accounts, shell companies, all burned in one sweep.”
Ava looked at the code. “But only if he activates it.”
Claire smirked. “And thanks to this,” she said, holding up a USB, “we’ve mirrored every node in the system. Even if he tries to burn it down, we’ve already stored copies across decentralized blocks.”
Ethan whistled low. “So he’s cornered.”
“No,” Elise said calmly. “He’s threatened. And that makes him desperate.”
The first leak went live the following day.
It began with a drop on a trusted investigative platform—complete with data visualizations, redacted names, and proof of coordinated influence by the Halcyon Council. Within hours, it was trending worldwide. Media outlets scrambled for expert commentary. Whistleblowers began surfacing in countries Ava had never even visited. The public demanded answers. Lawsuits followed within forty-eight hours. Corporate sponsors began pulling out of exhibits linked to the Council.
The world, as it had when Craven fell, began to tremble again.
But this time, Ava and her family were ready.
And then came the retaliation.
At 2:43 a.m. on the third day, Ava’s phone lit up.
The call was from an unknown number.
She answered, heart already pounding. “Hello?”
“You’re making mistakes,” a male voice said. Cool, sharp, and unmistakably familiar. “You think truth protects you. But truth is just a mirror. Easy to break.”
Ava stood from her bed, already walking to the hallway. “Cyrus.”
“Every empire falls, Miss Carter,” he said. “Even the ones built on justice.”
She moved toward the study, switching on the recording app. “You had your chance to speak in the light. Now you’ll watch everything you built burn under it.”
Cyrus chuckled. “Do you know what the most dangerous kind of story is? The kind that makes people think they’re free.”
Then the line went dead.
By morning, two Foundation servers had been attacked. Three minor employees reported being followed. The gallery received a bomb threat that forced a city-wide lockdown.
But Ava stood in front of the cameras that evening anyway.
She gave a speech from the gallery steps, flanked by her father, Ethan, and Elise.
“We will not be intimidated,” she said, voice clear and unwavering. “For too long, darkness has pretended to be culture. But today, we reclaim truth. And we do not run.”
The crowd cheered.
The world listened.
And somewhere in a high-rise far from New York, Cyrus Renn watched it all on a split-screen display, his expression unreadable.
He did not speak.
But his hand hovered over a console.
Over one final command.
One final move.
Ava sat at the heart of it all, eyes bloodshot from hours of scrolling through documents, watching silent footage, piecing together names, numbers, and motives. She barely noticed the cup of untouched coffee beside her.
“Is this what Mom was fighting against all along?” she murmured.
Ethan looked over her shoulder, brow furrowed. “It’s worse than we thought. Renn didn’t just inherit Craven’s philosophy. He evolved it.”
The data showed the blueprints of a global influence campaign. Politicians, influencers, financial institutions—each listed under shadow operations marked with code names like Vox Black, Symmetry Directive, and Project Iris. Halcyon was more than a remnant of a broken empire. It was a rebranding, a rebirth of control disguised as social reform.
“Look at this,” Ava said, highlighting a document titled Phase III: Restoration Strategy. “They planned to take over art platforms, museums, even media companies. All through false philanthropy. They wanted to rewrite history by curating truth.”
Nicholas entered quietly, holding a tablet in one hand. His eyes scanned the screen in front of Ava, and a sigh escaped him—part fury, part relief.
“I knew Renn was ambitious,” he said. “But this… he was playing a century-long game.”
“He wanted to make Craven look like a footnote,” Claire added. “And make himself the author of the next chapter.”
Ava turned to her father. “Then we publish the truth. Everything. The recordings, the documents, the server logs—we leak it all.”
Nicholas’s jaw clenched. “You know what that would cause. The panic, the political retaliation…”
“That’s the point,” Ava said. “We don’t bury it like before. We shine every light on it. We let the world decide what to do with it.”
Claire nodded. “Controlled leaks, timed releases. We’ll start with the Phase III documents and the Craven successor strategy. It’ll hit hard, but it’ll hit clean.”
Ethan stepped forward. “And what about Renn? He’s still out there.”
Elise, who had been silent until now, walked up and placed a small envelope on the table.
“We found this buried in the server logs,” she said. “It’s a kill-switch.”
Nicholas’s eyes narrowed. “Kill-switch?”
“Not literal,” Elise said. “It’s a coded cascade. One final command from Renn, one button press, and every digital trace of Halcyon disappears. Websites, accounts, shell companies, all burned in one sweep.”
Ava looked at the code. “But only if he activates it.”
Claire smirked. “And thanks to this,” she said, holding up a USB, “we’ve mirrored every node in the system. Even if he tries to burn it down, we’ve already stored copies across decentralized blocks.”
Ethan whistled low. “So he’s cornered.”
“No,” Elise said calmly. “He’s threatened. And that makes him desperate.”
The first leak went live the following day.
It began with a drop on a trusted investigative platform—complete with data visualizations, redacted names, and proof of coordinated influence by the Halcyon Council. Within hours, it was trending worldwide. Media outlets scrambled for expert commentary. Whistleblowers began surfacing in countries Ava had never even visited. The public demanded answers. Lawsuits followed within forty-eight hours. Corporate sponsors began pulling out of exhibits linked to the Council.
The world, as it had when Craven fell, began to tremble again.
But this time, Ava and her family were ready.
And then came the retaliation.
At 2:43 a.m. on the third day, Ava’s phone lit up.
The call was from an unknown number.
She answered, heart already pounding. “Hello?”
“You’re making mistakes,” a male voice said. Cool, sharp, and unmistakably familiar. “You think truth protects you. But truth is just a mirror. Easy to break.”
Ava stood from her bed, already walking to the hallway. “Cyrus.”
“Every empire falls, Miss Carter,” he said. “Even the ones built on justice.”
She moved toward the study, switching on the recording app. “You had your chance to speak in the light. Now you’ll watch everything you built burn under it.”
Cyrus chuckled. “Do you know what the most dangerous kind of story is? The kind that makes people think they’re free.”
Then the line went dead.
By morning, two Foundation servers had been attacked. Three minor employees reported being followed. The gallery received a bomb threat that forced a city-wide lockdown.
But Ava stood in front of the cameras that evening anyway.
She gave a speech from the gallery steps, flanked by her father, Ethan, and Elise.
“We will not be intimidated,” she said, voice clear and unwavering. “For too long, darkness has pretended to be culture. But today, we reclaim truth. And we do not run.”
The crowd cheered.
The world listened.
And somewhere in a high-rise far from New York, Cyrus Renn watched it all on a split-screen display, his expression unreadable.
He did not speak.
But his hand hovered over a console.
Over one final command.
One final move.
End of THE LIE THAT WORE A RING Chapter 50. Continue reading Chapter 51 or return to THE LIE THAT WORE A RING book page.