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

Vivian lunged for the flash drive.

She was fast, driven by sheer desperation, but Julian was faster. He stepped in front of Elise, catching Vivian by the throat and throwing her hard against the mahogany banister.

"Touch her again, and I'll throw you off the balcony," Julian snarled.

Vivian slid to the floor, gasping for air, her pristine white coat ruined.

"Julian!" Sarah’s voice blasted through the speakerphone on Julian’s jacket radio. "The board meeting just started. Marcus's proxy is presenting the forged documents. We have minutes before the vote goes through!"

"Patch me into the boardroom. Video and audio. Now," Julian ordered.

He took the flash drive from Elise and plugged it into a tablet one of the guards handed him.

The screen flickered, and suddenly, the grand hall of Vance Manor was connected to the glass boardroom in Silicon Valley. Twelve board members looked at the screen in shock as Julian’s face appeared on the massive monitors.

"Julian!" the chairman gasped. "We are in the middle of a—"

"A hostile takeover orchestrated by a domestic terrorist," Julian interrupted smoothly. "Ladies and gentlemen of the board, Marcus Thorne has spent the last four years forging documents, embezzling funds, and hiding my wife in a subterranean cage to steal her patents."

"That is a baseless, psychotic accusation!" Marcus's proxy, a slick lawyer in a gray suit, shouted in the boardroom. "The CEO is clearly having a mental breakdown!"

Julian didn't argue. He stepped aside.

Elise stepped into the frame of the camera.

The boardroom erupted into chaos. Men shouted. Chairs scraped against the floor. Elise Vance, the brilliant architect of their flagship tech, the woman the world mourned four years ago, was staring at them live on screen.

"Hello, gentlemen," Elise said, her voice steady and commanding. "I have just authorized a mass file dump to the SEC, the FBI, and every major news network globally. The files contain Marcus Thorne’s true ledgers, video evidence of my confinement, and the wire transfers proving he bribed head of security Keller and my sister, Vivian, to facilitate my kidnapping."

In the background of the video, Vivian was sobbing on the floor.

"Furthermore," Elise continued, her eyes turning to ice, "as the primary patent holder of the Vance Operating System, I am executing the 'Creator Clause.' If my patents are used in the commission of a felony, the licenses are instantly revoked. Marcus Thorne doesn't own this company. I do."

The proxy in the boardroom dropped his briefcase.