Chapter 15: Anastasia

The air inside the Vancouve Maritime executive boardroom is suffocating and full with the scent of stale espresso and the collective panic of fifteen multi-millionaire board members. Outside the triple-paned, soundproof glass windows, the afternoon sun reflects off the skyscrapers of the financial district, but inside, the mood is sour.

A digital projection dominates the front wall, displaying a jagged crimson line that represents our public stock tracker. Every few seconds, the page auto-refreshes, and every single refresh shaves another few million dollars off our market capitalization. Below the ticker, a live RSS feed scrolls through the headlines of every major global publication: “The Hypocrisy of Infinite...