Chapter 2 Ringing the Bell to Go Public?

Clarence thought taking her virginity gave him leverage over her.

He thought holding the access card meant holding the core data.

What a joke.

Every line of code in the "Bloodline Fusion Serum" was built on the derivation of Olivia's own pureblooded genes.

Without her gene sequence as the key, that so-called core data wasn't even worth the paper it was printed on.

"Connect to the main server."

The enter key clicked sharply.

Three crimson biometric firewalls instantly flashed across the screen.

This was the security matrix Clarence had paid a fortune to poach from Silicon Valley.

Olivia didn't even look up. Her code cut in like a blade. The first firewall held for three seconds before collapsing completely.

Then the second and third walls crumbled just as fast.

She moved through the system like it was nothing, driving straight into the heart of the Vanguard Threshold Group database.

"Strip admin privileges. Deploy self-destruct program."

The progress bar shot upward.

She wasn't just pulling the core data. She was tearing out every system patch she'd written for Vanguard Threshold Group over the past year, roots and all.

They wanted to take her work and ring the bell at the stock exchange?

She'd give them a data avalanche that would bury them.

The progress bar stalled at 99%.

A piercing alarm blared. A massive red warning box exploded in the center of the screen.

【WARNING: Manhattan root node is initiating physical counter-trace!】

Olivia's fingers froze over the keyboard.

This was not the response speed that those useless Vanguard IT people were capable of.

Whoever it was came in with no mercy. No probing, no testing. Just a direct assault on her firewall.

The first virtual proxy node shattered.

The second was ripped apart by force.

Olivia steadied her breathing and immediately deployed the "Meat Grinder" virus to patch the breach.

Two elite-level systems collided head-on in the invisible space of the network.

The opposing code did not attempt to maneuver. It simply crushed everything with sheer overwhelming force.

Fifth proxy node, destroyed.

Seventh proxy node, completely penetrated.

Olivia pressed her palm against the scorching hot machine, yanked the power cable without hesitation, and slapped the physical network cut-off switch with one hand.

Three seconds passed.

The screen, which should have gone completely dark, quietly lit up again.

【Found you.】

Olivia's fingers tightened. Her knuckles went white.

In all of New York, only one person could ignore a physical disconnect and directly seize control of terminal hardware.

The tyrant who held the lifeline of the global werewolf bloodline. The true power behind Vanguard Threshold Group. The Wolf King himself — Raymond Carter.

【Bring your data. Come see me.】

The characters flickered twice, then dissolved into garbled text.

A faint crackle came from deep inside the motherboard. A thin wisp of smoke drifted up. The military-grade terminal was now nothing but scrap metal.

The next morning. Thirty-third floor, Vanguard Threshold Group headquarters.

Olivia pushed open the glass door to the R&D department.

The noisy office fell completely silent. Countless pairs of eyes stuck to her faded professional blazer.

"Did you hear? Mr. Fisher slept with her, and now he's throwing her out."

"She played his girlfriend for a year. A defective Beta who can't even produce a pheromone scent — and she thinks she can compete with Ms. Turner?"

Olivia looked straight ahead and walked directly to her private office.

The moment she pushed the door open, a sickeningly sweet rose pheromone hit her in the face.

Company Vice President Elodie was sprawled in Olivia's ergonomic chair, twirling Olivia's limited-edition pen between her fingers.

This season's Chanel haute couture hugged her curves perfectly. The pink diamond on her ring finger caught the overhead light and glared.

"You're ten minutes late, Olivia." Elodie smiled with theatrical delight.

Olivia walked up and set an empty cardboard box on the desk.

"Move. You're sitting on my resignation letter."

The smile on Elodie's face froze. Then her voice shot up. "Resign? You think playing hard to get is going to make Clarence look at you twice?"

She stepped toward Olivia on ten-centimeter heels.

"A dog should know its place. Without Clarence, you'd have died in a gutter in the Lower District long ago."

Olivia lowered her head and dropped a few rare professional books into the box, treating Elodie like she wasn't even there.

That complete dismissal immediately set Elodie's jealousy on fire.

Elodie slammed both hands on the desk.

"Clarence has already handed over full credit for the 'Bloodline Fusion Serum' to me. Tonight at the charity gala, I'm the one everyone will be looking at. And you — you don't even qualify to serve the food."

"Is that so?" Olivia picked up the encrypted USB drive on the desk — the one Clarence thought held the core data — and dropped it casually into the box. "Hope you don't fall off the stage tonight."

Elodie locked her eyes on Olivia's pale, plain face. The rose pheromone signature unique to werewolves surged violently.

She was going to use her pheromones to break this lowly Beta's spine. She wanted to watch Olivia's knees give out. She wanted to see her collapse on the floor and sob.

The thick rose scent became something almost physical, pressing down like a weight. The air turned heavy and dense.

The glass of water on the desk let out a cracking sound under the pressure.

Olivia stopped moving.

She slowly raised her head. Behind her black-framed glasses, her dark-gold pupils suddenly narrowed into sharp vertical slits — unmistakably aggressive.

A savage burst of frozen fir and raw liquor exploded outward from Olivia, tearing through the air in every direction.

The pureblooded royal dominance shredded that sweet rose barrier to pieces in an instant.

This was not something any ordinary Alpha could possess. As an exceptionally rare "Imperial Alpha" among the pureblood royals, her pheromones carried a natural bloodline suppression over her own kind. Even high-ranking Omegas were like insects before her.

This was her true identity.

The glass exploded. Shards flew across the room.

Elodie went sheet-white. Her legs gave out completely. She crashed down hard onto the carpet, driving glass fragments into her knees.

The pressure was like a hand closing around her throat. She couldn't even scream.

"You... you're not actually..." Elodie clutched her chest, her eyes full of raw terror.

Olivia curved her lips slightly. Of course, she wasn't. She had spent years concealing herself with gene-silencing suppressants, passing as a Beta.

"Stop!"

The office door was kicked open.

Clarence stormed in, releasing the full weight of his high-ranking Alpha dominance without restraint, trying to shield Elodie on the floor.

The moment he stepped through the door, the world-ending blast of frozen fire in Olivia's eyes vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

Clarence's Alpha dominance slammed into empty air and rebounded, sending a hot rush of pressure back through his own body.

He pulled the shaking Elodie off the floor and turned to glare at Olivia, his eyes burning with fury.

"Olivia! What did you do to her? How dare you attack Elodie in this office!"

Olivia picked up her cardboard box and looked coldly at the two of them.

"Mr. Fisher, should I book you an eye appointment?"

"She lost her balance on her own." Olivia dropped the last document into the box and tapped the desk with one finger. "I quit. This is my resignation letter. Sign it, Clarence."

Clarence stared at the thin sheet of paper on the desk, his anger twisting into something almost like amusement.

"Playing hard to get only works once." He pressed the still-trembling Elodie into his arms, his expression full of contempt. "Threatening me with the core data? Vanguard Threshold Group's legal team will make sure you rot."

Olivia flipped her wrist. An encrypted USB drive spun through the air.

The metal casing cracked against the solid wood desk with a clean, sharp sound.

"The data is in there. The password is your birthday." Olivia picked up her box. "Now sign."

Clarence hesitated.

He had not expected this woman — who had always been so weak — to hand it over so easily.

Elodie lunged forward and snatched the USB drive, clenching it tight in her fist.

"Smart girl." Clarence uncapped a pen, signed quickly, and hurled the resignation letter at Olivia. "Get out of Vanguard Threshold Group. I'll make sure there isn't a single werewolf-run company in New York that will hire you to clean a bathroom."

The paper grazed her shoulder and drifted to the floor.

Olivia didn't spare it a glance. She turned and walked straight toward the door.

"Clarence, I hope tonight's gala goes smoothly without the speech I wrote for you. Keep smiling."

"Pathetic." Clarence sneered at her back. "After tonight, Vanguard Threshold Group will sail straight into its IPO. And you — a little assistant I slept with — can go back to the Lower District and rot in the gutter where you belong."