Chương 290: Chapter : 290

His smile widened into something truly grotesque, a predator's grin stretched across a businessman's face.

"We are the system, Princess. We are the infrastructure that keeps this Empire alive. You cannot fight the ground beneath your feet." Risa made a small, choked sound from the back of the room. The healer had treated cancer patients. She had held the hands of people who were dying, people who could have been saved if not for the greed of men like the Vice Director. The cruelty of his words was not abstract to her. It was personal. He leaned down slightly, his small eyes glittering with contempt.

"So by all means, Princess, draw your weapons. Threaten me. Make a scene. And then watch as absolutely nothing happens, because this Empire runs on money, not justice, and we have more money than you can possibly imagine." The room was deathly silent. The Vice Director's words hung in the air like poison gas, suffocating and impossible to ignore. It was the most honest thing he had said all day, and it was the most revolting. Iris's fists were clenched so tightly that her nails were cutting into her palms.

Laxmi's entire body was trembling with suppressed rage, flames licking around her wrists. Sayma and Zinia stood frozen, their faces pale with shock at the naked display of corporate arrogance. Even Ken had stopped slouching. He stood perfectly still near the back of the room, his hands no longer in his pockets, his dark eyes fixed on the Vice Director with an expression that was impossible to read. There was no humor in his face. No goofiness. Just quiet, watchful stillness.

It was the same stillness that Laxmi had seen when Ken had dived to save Risa from the pipe. The same stillness that Karna had witnessed during the midnight report. The stillness of someone who was observing, calculating, and deciding exactly what to do next. Risa had her hand pressed over her mouth, her green eyes wide with horror. Zinia's pen had frozen above her notebook, her sharp eyes darting between the Vice Director and Iris. The entire team was balanced on the edge of something explosive.

The corporate security guards standing at the door shifted uneasily. They were trained professionals, augmented with military-grade magical enhancements, but even they could sense the tension crackling in the air like electricity before a storm. Their training told them to wait for the Vice Director's signal before intervening. Their instincts told them that something very bad was about to happen if someone didn't defuse the situation quickly.

Their common sense told them to stay very, very still and not make any sudden movements. The Vice Director, oblivious to the danger he was in, turned his back on them and walked back to his chair.

"Now, I have a meeting in ten minutes with the Minister of Health, a personal friend of mine. So if you'll kindly see yourselves out, we can all pretend this unpleasantness never happened." If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. He was wrong. The 13th Unit would remember every word. Every sneer. Every dismissive wave of his plump hand. And they would come back, not with letters and warrants, but with something far more dangerous.

They would come back with the truth. He sat down and picked up his magical tablet as if the 13th Unit had already left the room. The dismissal was total and absolute, the corporate equivalent of closing a door in someone's face while they were still talking. Naomi's daggers trembled in her grip. Her knuckles were white. Her jaw was clenched so tightly that her teeth ached. Every instinct screamed at her to act, to do something, to make this arrogant monster pay for his callousness.

But Iris placed a hand on her arm. Gently. Firmly.

"Not yet," the princess whispered.

"He wants us to lose control. He wants an incident he can use to discredit the investigation. We will not give him that satisfaction." Naomi exhaled slowly through her nose, a long, shuddering breath that carried the weight of her fury. She sheathed her daggers with two sharp clicks that sounded like punctuation marks at the end of a sentence that wasn't finished yet.

"You're right," Naomi said, her voice tight but controlled.

"Not yet. But this isn't over, Vice Director. Not by a long shot." The Vice Director didn't look up from his tablet.

"Security will escort you out." As the team turned to leave, Ken paused at the door. He looked back at the Vice Director, who was still pretending to read his tablet, and said nothing. He just looked, with those dark, quiet eyes, for a long moment. Then he smiled. It was his usual goofy smile, but there was something underneath it that made the Vice Director's fingers falter on his tablet for just a fraction of a second. Something that promised that this conversation was far from over.

Ken turned and followed his team out of the office, his hands returning to his pockets and his shoulders resuming their characteristic slouch. But behind him, the air in the Vice Director's office felt colder than it had before. And in the silence of the cathedral-like office, the Vice Director found himself staring at his tablet without reading a single word. For the first time in years, a small, unfamiliar feeling crept into the back of his mind. Uncertainty.

He reached for his communication crystal and activated it with slightly trembling fingers.

"Double the security detail on the executive floors," he said.

"And contact Lord Voss. Tell him the 13th Unit is more persistent than we anticipated." He hesitated for a moment, then added, "And activate the contingency protocol. If they come back, I want every exit covered and every document secured."

"And contact the legal department," he added, his voice steadier now.

"I want injunctions prepared against any further investigation by the 13th Unit. Restraining orders, if possible. And if not possible, make them possible." He paused, then added something he never thought he would say.

"And tell him that lazy young man, the one with the messy hair, I want to know everything about him. Everything." The communication crystal went dark. The Vice Director set it down carefully and leaned back in his chair, staring at the city lights through the panoramic windows. The 13th Unit had come asking questions that no one was supposed to ask, and they weren't going away. He had survived boardroom coups, regulatory investigations, and hostile takeovers. He had outmaneuvered princes and purchased generals.

But something about that young man's smile, that quiet, knowing smile, made him feel like he was standing on the edge of something he couldn't control. It was the smile of someone who had just been told they were too weak to fight, and who knew with absolute certainty that the opposite was true. It was the smile of someone who had already seen how this story ended, and who was patient enough to wait for the final chapter.