Chapter 27
Chapter 27:
The driver’s door opened, and a man stepped out. He was tall, with the bearing of ex-military. This was Jones, the security detail assigned to her by Pulse Interactive’s board—a perk of her secret partnership.
“Dr. Vance,” Jones said, opening the rear door. “Everything go according to plan p>
“More or less,” Aurora said, sliding into the leather interior. “Take me to the office, Jones. We have work to do p>
She pulled out her phone.
Ding.
A notification banner slid across the cracked screen.
Bank of America: Wire Deposit Received. Balance: $5,000,000.00
Aurora stared at the number. It was a nice injection of liquidity, useful for day-to-day operations, but it was a drop in the bucket compared to the capital she was moving through her offshore accounts. Still, it was clean money. Useful money.
“Capital secured,” she whispered.
She didn’t scream. She didn’t cry. She simply dialed a number.
“Victor,” she said when the line connected.
“Aurora? Where have you been? The board is eating me alive,” Victor King’s voice was frantic. “We need to approve the server expansion budget immediately. The beta testers are flooding in. They want to sell the IP to Sterling p>
“Check your email,” Aurora said calmly. “Funding is coming. I’m injecting capital through the holding company p>
“What? How much p>
“Enough to cover the server farms for six months. Enough to launch p>
There was silence on the other end. Then, the sound of typing.
gⱯlnσν𝓮𝓁s․cøm fuels your imagination
Scene Shift: Pulse Interactive Office.
Victor King stood in the glass-walled conference room. Three board members were shouting at him. One was waving a piece of paper threatening a lawsuit.
“We need to liquidate!” the partner yelled, slamming his fist on the table. “We don’t have the infrastructure p>
Victor’s laptop pinged. He looked at the screen. His eyes widened.
Phoenix Ventures LLC has transferred $15,000,000.00
Victor started to laugh. It was a manic, relieved sound. He looked up at the angry men in suits.
“Sit down,” Victor said, his voice trembling with adrenaline. “The expansion is funded. We aren’t selling anything p>
Back at the Thorne Estate, the atmosphere was less celebratory.
Elias tried to swing his legs out of bed. His muscles protested, weak and shaky.
Julian rushed over, putting a hand out to steady him. “Sir, she said rest. Specifically p>
“Who is she, really?” Elias muttered. He was staring at the closed door, as if he could see through the wood. The image of her—calm, commanding, unimpressed—was burned into his retina.
“Just a doctor, sir,” Julian lied by omission. He knew she was more. He had seen her fight. He had seen her hack. But he also knew she valued her privacy, and she had just saved his uncle’s life.