The hospital room was too quiet, except for the rain pelting the glass. Lena could hear her own pulse, sharp and uneven.
The figure in the doorway stepped further in, coat dripping onto the tile. Their face caught the fluorescent light, familiar, trusted. The kind of face that belonged at her table, not across enemy lines.
"Isabella," Lena whispered, the name barely air.
Her closest friend. Her fixer. The woman who had once dragged her out of debt, out of bad contracts, who had sworn loyalty in blood.
Nathaniel stiffened, jaw tight. Adrian's mouth curled like he'd been waiting for this moment all along.
"You sold me out," Lena said, the words shaking, but louder now. "You fed them everything."
Isabella's eyes glistened, but there was steel underneath. "You think I wanted this? You think I had a choice? They had me pinned, Lena. One mistake and I was gone. I did what I had to do."
"You put me in that car," Lena spat.
Her once friend flinched. Just enough. Confirmation.
Nathaniel's voice cut like glass: "So this was the play. Gut her from the inside while you smiled in her face."
But Isabella's attention was only on Lena. Her voice dropped to a hiss. "You don't understand, the people I'm answering to… they make Cross look like a warm up act. You're in deeper than you realize. And you've just dragged me even further under."
The betrayal burned, but the warning was worse. If Isabella was telling the truth, this wasn't about corporate takeovers or whispered scandals anymore. It was a war, and Lena had just seen the tip of the blade.
Adrian finally spoke, his tone smug, deliberate. "Now she sees the game. And she's already three moves behind."
Lena's hands curled into fists. She refused to crumble not here, not in front of them. Her voice came low, steady. "You made your choice, Isabella. But don't think for a second I'm folding."
Isabella's expression wavered. Regret? Or just strategy? Lena couldn't tell anymore.
The storm outside thundered, rattling the windows.
And then the door slammed open. A figure in black stepped in camera flashes lit up behind them. Reporters, microphones, chaos spilling into the room.
The leak wasn't just inside. It was outside.
The world was about to see Lena Voss bleed.