Nicholas watched her eat, casually picking up a piece of breakfast meat with his fork and feeding it to her as he spoke. "The lab we gutted on Project Zero-Transit was just another one of their disposable outposts."
"Exactly." Serena set her spoon down, the playful warmth vanishing from her face, replaced by a glacial absolute zero. "Torching the ship's lab and executing a few mid-level operatives definitely hurt them."
"But it's not a kill shot. The real nightmare... the assets they value above everything else... are still hidden."
"As long as their core infrastructure remains intact, they can simply relocate, recruit fresh blood, and rebuild within a few years."
Nicholas smirked. "So, your real target is Whitecliffe Harbor."
Serena's eyes narrowed dangerously. "This little auction stunt confirmed my theory. For years, the Obsidian Sun's entire logistical spine has been anchored to Whitecliffe."
"Project Zero-Transit was ferrying their biological materials. Specimen Seven was supposed to be delivered to Whitecliffe. And the official extraction point for Specimen Fourteen is also Whitecliffe."
"Which means their primary, high-security black-site is almost certainly buried there."
Nicholas instantly connected the dots. "You're using Fourteen as bait. You want the Obsidian Sun to personally escort you straight through their own front door."
Serena nodded. "Standard biological assets are expendable. If they lose one, they just run the trials again. But Fourteen is completely different."
"Fourteen is the absolute pinnacle of their engineering-the closest thing to a perfect, complete biological weapon they've ever created. It is the ultimate manifestation of my grandmother's hijacked research."
At the mention of Aria Wynn, a suffocating wave of killing intent flooded Serena's eyes. "Fourteen's physiology contains a goldmine of data. It holds the complete genetic roadmap that the Obsidian Sun sacrificed endless lives and fortunes to perfect."
"If Fourteen falls into the hands of a rival syndicate, they could reverse-engineer the biological data and replicate the Obsidian Sun's entire life's work."
"That is a catastrophic failure they cannot afford."
"They can abandon the ship's lab. They can abandon The Raven. But they will absolutely never abandon Fourteen."
Nicholas's lips curved into a dark smile. "So you threw him on the auction block and forced them to hemorrhage cash, just to drag them out into the daylight."
"Exactly." Serena went back to eating, perfectly composed. "If I had just kept Fourteen locked away, the Obsidian Sun would have stayed in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to assassinate me and take him back."
"They would control the timeline. They would dictate the rules of engagement."
"But the board has changed. Right now, Fourteen is legal property they just purchased for a hundred and thirty billion dollars, entirely bound by the ironclad laws of Project Zero-Transit."
"If they want to take possession of their property, they have to play by the ship's rules... which means stepping out of the shadows and walking right through the front door."
"When they do, the secrets they've spent decades burying will finally be dragged into the light."
Nicholas looked at the brilliant,
wicked mastermind in his arms, bis heart swelling with fierce pride. He tapped her nose playfully. "So, from the very beginning, you never actually intended to keep Fourteen."
Serena arched an eyebrow. "Oh, I definitely stole him. I just decided to build a beautiful, hundred-and-thirty-billion-dollar guillotine and watched them gladly place their own necks inside."
She practically glowed with ruthless
ambition. They've used my grandmother's legacy to commit atrocities for years. Now, I'm going to use that ver same legacy to rip
their empire down to the studs."