Chapter 17
Chapter 17:
She ordered a black coffee and turned to leave.
A man in a tailored grey suit, absorbed in his phone, bumped straight into her.
Coffee sloshed over the rim of the cup, splashing onto his sleeve.
“Watch it!” the man snapped, recoiling.
He looked up.
It was Julian Reed.
His eyes widened when he saw her. He looked at her plain clothes, her messy bun.
“Aurora?” he scoffed. “The gold digger? What are you doing here? Scouting for your next victim p>
Aurora sighed. “Julian. Still charming as a wet sock p>
Julian sneered, wiping his sleeve with a silk handkerchief. “Spending Sterling’s money already? I heard he dumped you p>
“I bought this coffee with my own money,” Aurora said calmly. “Unlike your suit, which Elias probably paid for p>
Julian stiffened. The jab hit home. He was Elias’s right hand, but everyone knew he was only there because of blood.
“Stay away from my uncle,” Julian hissed, stepping closer. “He doesn’t need your bad luck. Sterling lost millions yesterday because of you p>
“Sterling lost millions because he’s an idiot who doesn’t read FDA reports,” Aurora corrected.
She looked at Julian. Really looked at him.
She saw the way his left eyelid twitched. She saw the slight tremor in his hand as he held the handkerchief—sympathetic stress, mimicking someone he spent too much time with. And she remembered the medical data she had hacked from Elias’s private server the night she met him.
Full ztory availabl3 at
“How is Elias?” she asked suddenly.
“Busy. Successful. Unlike you,” Julian retorted.
Aurora stepped closer. Her voice dropped an octave, cutting through the noise of the café.
“Tell him to cancel his 9 PM videoconference p>
Julian froze. He laughed, but it was a nervous, hollow sound. “He has a board meeting with Tokyo at 9. Why would he cancel? Because you read it in tea leaves p>
“Because at 9:00 PM, his central nervous system is going to crash,” Aurora stated.
She said it with the certainty of a weather forecast. Not a guess. A fact.
“He will feel a numbness in his left arm at 8:45,” she continued, her eyes locking onto Julian’s. “His vision will blur at 8:50. And he will collapse at 9:00 p>
Julian stopped laughing. The specificity was unsettling. It sounded less like a curse and more like a diagnosis.
“You’re crazy. Is this some kind of voodoo?” Julian scoffed, though he took a half-step back.
“It’s a warning. Ignore it at your peril p>
Aurora turned to leave.
Julian grabbed her arm. His grip was tight, aggressive. “If you did something to him…” he growled. “If you poisoned him p>
Aurora didn’t panic. She looked at his hand on her arm.