The photograph showed Derek standing casually before the massive bank vault door, which loomed like a silent beast mocking Ella from thousands of miles away in Ironbridge. Inside that vault lay her mother's belongings—her leverage, her ammunition, her future path.

Derek, who had presented himself as an ally, now stood at her finish line. This wasn't collaboration; it was a calculated intimidation.

Ella dialed the number immediately. The phone connected almost instantly.

"Ms. Brooks, how's your evening in Ironbridge?"

"Your efficiency never fails to surprise, Mr. Thornton," Ella replied, her voice remarkably steady despite the storm outside.

"I must admit," Derek’s tone was measured, "I'm quite interested in the legacy your mother left behind. Anything Karen entrusted would certainly not be ordinary jewelry."

"What do you want?" Ella asked, getting straight to the point.

"What I want, Ms. Brooks, is precisely what you want. I thirst for the brilliance of the 'Sprout Initiative.' I want to stand beside you as we fight the Lumerian Industrial Alliance. They only value the legacy; I value the creator."

Ella ended the call and instructed the driver to turn back to the airport. Derek's appearance had doused her thirst for revenge like a bucket of ice water. She had thought herself the hunter, driving Austin into a corner, but she hadn't noticed the bigger game at play. Derek was infinitely more dangerous. Austin’s methods were brutal but transparent; Derek operated in shadows, methodically positioning his pieces at the Innovative Finance Bank.

Just then, an encrypted call came through from Mr. Kidd’s assistant. "Ms. Brooks, we've found a lead. Your mother applied to destroy all experimental data in Lumerio one week before her disappearance. She submitted an emergency exit application to travel to Drakmoor, citing 'mitigating business risk.'"

"Drakmoor? Why?"

"The archives also contained a previously undisclosed memo with just one term written on it: Vanguard Tech."

Ella's pupils contracted sharply. Vanguard Tech! The same company Austin had acquired to use against her. This couldn't be a coincidence. Someone had deliberately guided Austin to make that acquisition, leading him into a trap set twenty-six years ago.

Was it Derek? Or an even more powerful force?

Before she could process this, Jason called, his voice grim. "We have a problem. Your father just held a press conference. He claimed all of Janice’s patents are Brooks Group assets and accused you of illegally taking them. He’s filed a lawsuit to freeze all your personal assets and those of Diamond Tech Solutions. Furthermore, he's requesting a mandatory psychiatric evaluation, claiming you've been unstable since college."

Despicable. Just as she had cleared her name from Judith’s slander, her own father struck a more devastating blow.

"Theft and mental illness," Ella whispered, her voice cold as ice. "Two labels to destroy my credibility."

"Ella, this move is lethal," Jason urged. "As soon as litigation begins, our Series A funding will halt, and our contracts will be in jeopardy. He's trying to strangle us!"

Ella slowly exhaled. She finally understood that the Brooks family had never considered her family; she and her mother were merely tools to be exploited—and destroyed once they resisted.

Meanwhile, back at the Raymond estate, Austin stood alone in the empty living room. He had just returned from Ironbridge, and before he could even process the chaos, Karen had summoned him back for an urgent confrontation.