The venue was unassuming a quiet, private lounge tucked in the top floor of a luxury business hotel downtown. The type of place where billion-dollar acquisitions were whispered, and careers were signed away in silence. Fitting, Aruna thought. The end of an era deserved something equally theatrical.
She had arrived alone.
No assistants.
No Reza.
No press.
Just a black folder in her hand and a steel resolve in her chest.
Across the room, Giselle stood by the window. Her silhouette cut sharply against the golden glow of the sunset, like a blade against silk. She turned slowly as Aruna approached, her expression unreadable.
"You came," Giselle said, almost with surprise.
"You asked," Aruna replied, her voice cool and steady. "I don't run from ghosts."
Giselle gave a small, elegant shrug and gestured to the seat across from her.
Aruna sat.
Silence stretched between them, heavy with years of unsaid words and betrayals too deep to mend.
Finally, Aruna spoke.
"I know it was you. The legal traps. The server exploits. Vincent."
"And Nadia?" Giselle asked with a sly smile.
"She was noise," Aruna replied. "Convenient distraction. But your fingerprints were always on the knife."
Giselle chuckled a low, velvety sound that barely masked her contempt.
"You've gotten better at this, Aruna. I almost miss the idealist who pitched Veloria to me like it would change the world."
"It still can," Aruna said.
"No," Giselle said, leaning forward. "It could have. But you forgot one thing: ideas don't change the world. Power does. Leverage does. And I've spent every waking hour making sure I take yours."
Her smile widened, cruel and confident.
"You're bleeding contracts. Investors are nervous. Your staff is fractured. The media is circling. And your public trust index? Tanking. You are… moments away from irrelevance."
Aruna didn't blink.
Instead, she slid the black folder across the table.
Giselle opened it and her smile twitched.
Inside were two documents. The first: a signed declaration from Vincent, detailing his full collaboration with her, including dated communication logs and internal sabotage plans. The second: a legal complaint filed to the Global Tech Ethics Committee an oversight body known for swift action and public investigations.
Aruna watched her reaction with quiet satisfaction.
"I could've gone public," Aruna said calmly. "But I want this personal."
Giselle closed the folder slowly. Her fingers were steady, but her eyes had sharpened.
"Why?"
"Because if I win through scandal," Aruna said, "you'll always have the excuse that I didn't beat you that the world did. But if I do it like this… by outplaying you… then even you will know the truth."
Giselle laughed, the sound harsher now.
"You still think this is about playing fair?"
"No," Aruna said. "I think this is about showing you that I learned."
She stood slowly, deliberately.
"I used to believe you were the benchmark I needed to surpass. Now I see you for what you are."
"And what's that?" Giselle asked, rising to meet her gaze.
"A cautionary tale," Aruna whispered. "Of brilliance corrupted by vengeance."
For a moment, neither of them moved. Two queens on opposite ends of the board no pawns, no knights, just the final clash.
Then Giselle stepped forward.
"You think you've beaten me with a few legal tricks and a sacrificial lamb?"
"No," Aruna said. "I think I've cornered you. What you did to Veloria… was surgical. But you left a trail. Vincent was your weakness. You gave him power, but no loyalty. And now, his betrayal to you is your undoing."
Giselle's eyes darkened.
"And what now?" she asked coldly. "You drag me to court? Parade my sins to the tech world? Fine. But know this I still win."
"Win what?" Aruna asked, voice rising ever so slightly. "What exactly did you win, Giselle? A company you once believed in, shattered? People you mentored, destroyed? Your own soul, poisoned?"
Giselle's hand curled into a fist.
"I gave everything to Veloria," she hissed. "And when I was cast out like trash, I swore I'd make you feel the weight of what I felt. The exile. The humiliation."
"You did," Aruna said quietly. "I've felt every inch of it. I've questioned myself more times than I can count. But I stood up again."
She stepped closer now, inches away.
"Which is more than you can say."
For a brief moment, Giselle's expression flickered a sliver of something raw beneath the mask. Pain. Regret. Loneliness. But it vanished as quickly as it came.
She turned away, facing the sunset.
"You're stronger than I expected," she admitted. "But strength doesn't guarantee survival. I still have allies. And Veloria… has enemies."
"Let them come," Aruna said. "You lit this fire. I'm not afraid to walk through it."
With that, she turned and walked to the door.
Before she left, she paused.
"If there's any part of you that still remembers who you used to be… walk away. Before this becomes something even you can't recover from."
Giselle didn't respond.
And Aruna didn't look back.
That night, the headlines began to shift.
VELORIA CEO CLEARS INTERNAL TRAITOR, REBUILDS TRUST WITH STUNNING STRATEGY
GISELLE LIN FACES ETHICS COMMITTEE REVIEW AFTER FORMER COLLEAGUE'S CONFESSION
"I'M STILL STANDING": ARUNA SPEAKS ON BETRAYAL, COMEBACK, AND VISION FOR THE FUTURE
The world had watched two titans collide. And for the first time in a long while…
The people believed in Aruna again.
But in the shadows of her penthouse suite, Giselle sat alone drink in hand, the folder Aruna had left beside her.
She stared at it.
Then, slowly, a smile returned to her lips.
"This isn't over," she whispered.