The next morning, the atmosphere in the Black Estate was electric with tension. Aurora didn't spend the morning in silk robes; she dressed in tactical black—ready for movement, ready for a fight. She joined Xavier in the command center, a room filled with flickering monitors and high-speed data streams managed by Mr. Hayes.
"Any leads on the leak?" Aurora asked, her voice sharp and focused.
Mr. Hayes nodded, his fingers dancing across the keyboard. "The bounty was posted from an encrypted node in Switzerland, but the routing shows a signature we've seen before. It's a ghost account used by a shell company called 'Apex Solutions'."
"Apex..." Aurora whispered, searching her memory. "That was one of the companies Richard was trying to merge with before I took over. They're a front for a European tech conglomerate."
"Exactly," Xavier said, leaning over the console. "They wanted the Lazarus Code to monopolize global cybersecurity. When you burned it, you didn't just destroy a file; you destroyed their multi-billion dollar future. This bounty is their way of forcing you out into the open."
"If they want me, they'll have me," Aurora stated, a dangerous glint in her eyes. "But on my terms."
She looked at Xavier. "You have the resources to track their local operatives. I have the knowledge of their internal systems from my time auditing Richard's files. If we can hack into Apex's local hub, we can find out who their lead hunter is and cancel the contract from the inside."
Xavier looked at her with a mix of pride and concern. "It's a suicide mission, Aurora. Their hub is a fortress."
"So is your estate, and they've already breached it once," she countered. "I'm tired of being the prize, Xavier. I want to be the player."
Xavier stayed silent for a long moment, then he looked at Hayes. "Prepare the strike team. And get Aurora a secure comm-link. If she's going into the fire, she's going with the full weight of the Vanguard Group behind her."
As they prepared to leave, Xavier caught Aurora's hand. For a moment, the CEO and the strategist disappeared, leaving only two people facing an uncertain future.
"Stay close to me," he whispered, his voice thick with an emotion he couldn't quite name. "If anything happens to you, I'll burn this entire city to the ground to find you."
Aurora squeezed his hand. "Nothing is going to happen. I've already been to hell and back, Xavier. A few mercenaries aren't going to stop me now."
As the black SUVs roared to life and the gates of the estate opened, Aurora felt a surge of power. She was no longer Emily Thorne, the victim. She was Aurora Vance, the woman who had burned a digital god and was now ready to face the devils of the world.