The rain hadn't stopped since dawn.From his penthouse balcony, Adrian watched the city blur beneath the gray sky — glass towers reflecting silver light, traffic crawling like restless veins.
It was a city of greed and ambition.The perfect stage for revenge.
Setting the Bait
Inside, Luna's voice broke the silence. "It's done."
Adrian turned. She was standing by his main console, a faint smirk playing on her lips. "The dummy company you asked for — fully operational, looks legitimate on every database."
He walked over, scanning the documents. The header read:'Vanguard Dynamics — A Subsidiary of Vance Holdings.'
"Perfect," Adrian said. "The Moores won't resist the temptation."
Luna raised an eyebrow. "You're really dangling a million-dollar deal just to lure them in?"
Adrian smiled faintly. "Not a deal. A confession."
He tapped a few keys, pulling up a series of fake transaction chains that looked exactly like the ones the Moores used years ago for money laundering.
"They'll think it's one of their old ghost accounts resurfacing," he said. "They'll try to clean it up — and when they do, I'll have their entire digital trail."
Luna let out a low whistle. "Cold. Calculated. I like it."
A Moment Between
She leaned against the table, watching him. "You know… you don't look like someone who lost everything."
Adrian glanced at her. "And what do I look like?"
"Someone who's already planning ten moves ahead. Someone who's forgotten what it means to stop."
He didn't reply. His gaze lingered on the rain outside.
Luna sighed. "I get it, you know. Losing people. Watching everything crumble."
He turned to her. "What did you lose, Luna?"
For the first time, she hesitated. "My brother. He trusted the wrong people — the Moores included. I swore I'd burn them one day."
Adrian's expression softened — just for a second. "Then we have the same enemy."
"Maybe," she said quietly, "but I'm not sure we're fighting for the same reason."
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Revenge keeps you warm, but it doesn't keep you human."
Their eyes met — hers fierce, his unreadable.For a moment, the storm outside felt like a reflection of everything between them.
Flashback: The Heirloom
That night, after Luna left, Adrian sat alone in his office.He opened a small velvet box on his desk — inside lay a silver ring engraved with his family crest.
The Vance heirloom.The same one Emily — no, Elena — had once given back to him in his last life, pretending it was out of love.
He remembered her smile, her trembling hands, and the way she'd said:
"This belongs to you, Adrian. Your father would want you to have it."
He hadn't known then that the heirloom contained a microchip — a key to the Vance family's encrypted holdings.And that by returning it, she was sealing his fate.
Now, as he turned the ring in his hand, he whispered under his breath,
"You took everything from me once. Let's see what happens when I take it back."
At the Moore Estate
Elena entered her father's study quietly.Reginald was on a call, pacing.
"Yes, yes — the Vanguard offer looks promising," he was saying. "Move two million through the usual accounts, but make sure it doesn't trace back."
Elena frowned. "Vanguard?"
Reginald covered the receiver. "A new firm. Seems connected to the old Vance network. We'll handle it before it becomes a problem."
But something in the name made her stomach twist. Vanguard Dynamics.
It sounded familiar. Too familiar.
"Father," she said softly, "maybe we should verify—"
"Enough," he snapped. "You've done enough doubting. This is business. Let me handle it."
She bit her tongue, stepping back. But her instincts screamed.Something about this "deal" felt wrong.
Back to Adrian
The next morning, Luna burst into the room with a grin. "They took the bait!"
Adrian looked up from his coffee. "How much?"
"Two million transferred into the dummy account overnight. And guess who authorized it?"
She turned the laptop toward him — Reginald Moore's signature filled the screen.
Adrian leaned back, the corner of his mouth lifting.
"Then it begins."
Foreshadowing
As Luna celebrated, Adrian's gaze drifted toward the city skyline again.He should've felt triumphant. He should've felt alive.
But somewhere deep inside, beneath the calm surface, something uneasy stirred — a ghost of the man he used to be.
Maybe Luna's right.Maybe I've already stopped being human.
The ring on his hand glinted again — a reminder, a curse, a promise.
Outside, lightning split the sky in two, and the city trembled.The first move had been made.The game was in motion.