Champagne mist lingered in the hotel suite as Ryan Black's fingers traced the wine stain on Alice's collarbone—the very mark she'd deliberately spilled on his suit at the gala. The tech CEO's pupils glowed with a frosty light in the dimness, yet he let her unbutton his shirt.
"Ms. Howard, you seem to be playing a dangerous game." Ryan's voice carried a laugh, but his palm already slid toward the skin of her waist. Alice met his gaze, her tongue licking the wine off his collarbone: "Mr. Black, danger is what makes deals exciting." They tangled on the couch, lust and probing heating up with the rustle of fabric. Ryan's kisses were aggressive, yet a flicker of vulnerability slipped out as he murmured in her ear: "You're better at pretending than I thought."
In the throes of passion, Alice deliberately fixed her gaze on his wrist—the eagle tattoo identical to Mark's, but with a tiny crack in its talons. She bit his shoulder, her nails grazing the edge of the ink: "I've seen another version of this symbol." Ryan's body tensed, but in the peak of climax, he blurted out: "All the 'bastards' on JPMorgan's board wear the same mark." Before he could clamp down, she'd already hidden the micro-recorder in the couch cushions.
Later, Ryan leaned against the headboard, lighting a cigar; smoke blurred his enigmatic silhouette. Alice snuggled up feigning laziness, her fingertips brushing the encrypted chip in his suit pocket. As he pulled away, she suddenly rolled atop him, her lips brushing his ear: "Black, I need you to take down JPMorgan." His countermove pinned her beneath him, reigniting desire: "Why would I help you?" She caught a flash of in his pupils, yet as she met his advances, the chip slipped into her palm.
Rain howled outside. Ryan's phone buzzed. As he checked it, Alice glimpsed the encrypted text: "Board moves up. Operation Blood Eagle initiated." She feigned sleep, her mind racing: Blood Eagle, the eagle tattoo, Mark's ties to the board… Ryan was far more than a tech CEO.
The next morning, as Alice left the hotel, Sarah's urgent call came: "I tracked Mark's private server with the chairman! But there's a catch—Ryan's company IP accessed it repeatedly last night." They met at the café, where encrypted files revealed the board planned to crash the stock market via the merger, with Ryan's firm snapping up key assets afterward. Alice tapped the table: "Ryan's not just a player—he's the executioner. But we need his resources."
That night, Mark's text arrived: "Game's escalated. Private villa tomorrow night. Bring the chip you stole." Alice replied "As you wish," but sent the chip's contents to Sarah before heading to the villa. Inside, the scene was suffocating: Mark used a whip to blur the line between torture and dominance. Alice feigned surrender through the pain, yet in climax, she snatched another encrypted USB from his suit lining. This warped intimacy was another step in her evidence trail.
Rain poured over the city. As Alice decoded the new USB at Sarah's apartment, Ryan's name stared back from the board's illegal transaction list. They exchanged a grim look—Ryan was both ally and enemy. Alice stared at the blood-red lightning outside, resolve hardening: she'd gamble on his ambition, turning herself into the sharpest piece in his game.