Rain slammed against the towering glass walls of Blackwood Estate, a secluded oceanfront mansion perched above the cliffs of Monterey, California.

Dawn broke over the snow-capped peaks of Aspen, casting a blinding white light through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the master suite.

Elise was asleep in the center of the massive bed, buried under down comforters. A private trauma doctor, flown in via helicopter in the dead of night, had administered an IV of fluids and vitamins.

Julian stood by the window, a cup of black coffee in his hand. He hadn't slept. He wouldn't sleep until Marcus Thorne was destroyed.

His phone buzzed. It was his lead corporate attorney, Sarah.

"Julian, we have a massive problem," Sarah said, her voice tight with panic. "The board of directors is staging an emergency coup. Someone triggered a fail-safe protocol at midnight."

Julian’s jaw clenched. "Marcus."

"He embedded a dead-man's switch in the company's bylaws," Sarah explained rapidly. "If he is detained, fired, or goes missing for more than six hours, a digital cache of forged documents is automatically sent to the SEC and the global press. The documents implicate you in massive offshore embezzlement, Julian. And worse... they transfer the majority voting rights directly to Marcus's holding company."

Marcus was zip-tied to a wine rack, but he was still fighting. He was trying to steal Vance Innovations from the basement.

"The stock is in freefall," Sarah continued. "The board is convening in an hour to officially oust you and install Marcus's proxy."

"Let them convene," Julian said coldly.

"Julian, you don't understand! The code is locked. Our best engineers can't bypass Marcus's firewall. It's a closed-loop encryption."

"I don't need your engineers," Julian said, looking over his shoulder at the bed.

Elise was awake. She was sitting up, watching him. The hollow look in her eyes had receded, replaced by a sharp, calculating glint that Julian hadn't seen in four years.

"Sarah, stall the board," Julian ordered, hanging up the phone.

He walked over to the bed. "Marcus triggered a hostile takeover."

Elise didn't panic. She reached over, pulling the IV line carefully so she could sit on the edge of the bed. She looked around the opulent room, then down at her bruised wrists.

"He thinks he locked the encryption with my architectural code," Elise said, her voice stronger now, raspier but steady. "He forced me to write the algorithms for the security system two years ago. He beat me until I coded it."

Julian felt a fresh wave of murderous rage, but he pushed it down. "Can you break it?"