The collapse began before Lucien's car reached Ashford Tower. The cruel precision of Adrian's move lay in its timing. He had allowed the Helios Infrastructure Accord to be signed, allowed the first wave of relief to reach the market, and gave Lucien a brief moment to believe the contract had stabilised the company's future. Only then had he triggered the mechanism hidden inside the continuity clause.
The sabotage was never meant to stop the deal from being signed. It was designed to make the collapse public.
Lucien's phone did not stop vibrating during the drive back.
Legal alerts.
International compliance notices.
Media request escalations.
Three separate sovereign fund offices had already initiated emergency review procedures under Clause 11. The anonymous dossier linking Seraphina to Adrian's first corporate collapse was spreading through the contract's signatory network faster than Ashford's legal team could contain it.
