She stood alone at the top floor, where glass replaced walls and the city bowed beneath her feet.

The boardroom behind Alyssa was silent—not because it was empty, but because no one dared to speak. Directors sat stiff in their leather chairs, men and women who once believed power was inherited, traded, or stolen quietly in back rooms. Today, they understood something else.

Power could also be claimed.

Alyssa rested her palms on the obsidian table, her reflection fractured across its polished surface. She wore no crown, no extravagant symbol of victory. Only a tailored dark suit, sharp lines, restrained elegance. Control didn’t need decoration.

“This meeting is not a...