Elise Carter’s Safehouse – A Hidden War Room

  The dimly lit room smelled of expensive espresso and burning ambition. Maps, dossiers, and employment contracts were strewn across the oak table—each one a weapon in Elise’s silent war against the old political vanguards.

  Li Vane stood at the head of the table, her designer heels clicking against the hardwood as she paced.

  "It’s done," she announced, her voice low but triumphant. "Every new hire at the aqua farms and Golden Yolk Farm has signed a loyalty pledge—to me."

  Elise’s fingers stilled around her coffee cup.

  "How many?"

  "One hundred seventy-three so far," Li said, a smirk pying on her lips. "All mid-level party members. The kind who want more but never had the connections to get it."

  Elise exhaled slowly, her mind racing.

  This was bigger than she’d expected.

  Li tapped a manicured nail against a stack of contracts.

  "They get steady jobs, benefits, and a whisper of real power," she expined. "And in return?"

  She flipped open a folder—a signed pledge, not legally binding but politically lethal.

  "They vote how we tell them. They push our agenda in their branches. And when the time comes?" Li’s smile turned sharp. "They help us bury the old guard."

  Elise studied the documents, her pulse quickening.

  This wasn’t just about jobs.

  This was an army—one that didn’t even know it was being mobilized.

  (Internally, Elise marveled at the elegance of it.)

  The farms were legitimate businesses. No one would question hiring party members—it was networking.

  The loyalty pledges? Just "company culture" on paper. But in practice? A blood oath in ink.

  And Hezri’s money? The perfect fuel. Untraceable. Unstoppable.

  Li had done it.

  She’d built Elise’s faction right under the old men’s noses.

  And they were too busy counting their own bribes to notice.

  Elise’s gaze flicked up, studying Li’s face.

  The girl was still young. Still bright-eyed. But the Ferrari keys dangling from her hand, the Celestia apartment keycard peeking from her wallet—

  How much of this was for Elise’s faction… and how much was for Hezri?

  "You’ve done well," Elise said carefully. "But we need to be careful. If the chairman finds out—"

  Li ughed, soft and sweet. "He won’t. Because by the time he does?"

  She snapped the folder shut.

  "We’ll already have won."

  ***

  The hospital room was silent except for the steady breaths of Alicia and Lena, both spent and asleep beside him. The dim glow of the dashboard cast eerie shadows across Hezri’s face as he studied the numbers, his mind sharpened by both satisfaction and strategy.

  35,630,000.

  A fortune built on a system only he understood—spend on the right women, and the universe paid him back double.

  But not all expenditures were equal.

  His experiments had taught him:

  Physical Assets (Farms, Apartments, Ferraris) → Refundable when gifted to women with sufficient Familiarity.

  Direct Cash to Women (Allowances, "Gifts") → Not refundable.

  Business Operations (Saries, Raw Materials) → Not refundable.

  That’s why he’d structured everything the way he had:

  Aqua farms and poultry empires served as undromats for his wealth, converting liquid cash into assets he could flip for shares—refundable when transferred to his inner circle.

  Direct payments to Li and Britney?

  A necessary expense.

  10,000 to Britney kept her eager.??20,000 to Li made her feel chosen. Neither triggered a refund, but both bought loyalty.

  Current Money: 35,000,000

  A small price to pay for control.

  Hez leaned back, his fingers steepled.

  Elise Carter thought she was pying him.

  She believed:

  He was her financier, a dumb billionaire funding her rebellion against the political old guard.

  Li was her protégé, a rising star she had molded to infiltrate his circle.

  The farms and pledges were her weapons, a shadow army built on his money but her cunning.

  She was wrong.

  Every move Elise made—every loyalist hired, every backroom deal struck—was a brick in a fortress Hez was building.

  But the fortress wasn’t hers.

  It was his.

  And when the time came, he wouldn’t just control the political faction.

  He’d control her.

  Li was key.

  Her loyalty pledges? A veneer of grassroots power—but the strings led to him.

  Her political rise? A Trojan horse. Once she was entrenched, she’d owe him, not Elise.

  Elise’s inevitable betrayal? He’d let it happen. Let her think she was winning.

  And then, when she finally turned on him—he’d reveal the trap.

  Not with violence. Not with bckmail.

  But by letting Li choose him.

  That would break Elise.

  Not her career.

  Her pride.

  ***

  The hospital room hummed with quiet power as Hezri’s inner circle gathered—Maya, Lena, Alicia, Sara, Sophie, and Britney—all dressed in sharp, commanding attire that mirrored their rising status. The air smelled of ambition and expensive perfume.

  Hezri stood at the head of the gss conference table, his presence radiating authority.

  "Effective immediately," he began, his voice calm but carrying the weight of absolute decree, "we’re formalizing the structure of our holdings."

  A pause. Then, the appointments:

  Lena Cho – Financial Controller of the Hezri Group.

  "You don’t just track money. You weaponize it."

  Maya Reynolds – Marketing & Business Development Director.

  "Your job is to make our ventures look as powerful as they are."

  Sophie Cheung – Group Legal Director.

  "The farms, the shell companies, the political pys—you keep them bulletproof."

  Sara Croft – Operations Director.

  "If it moves, you control it. If it doesn’t, you make it."

  Alicia Voss – Sales Director.

  "You don’t sell products. You sell access."

  A beat of silence.

  Britney, standing slightly apart in her sleek athleisure wear, tensed.

  Hezri’s gaze slid over her—acknowledging but not elevating.

  Not yet.

  Dr. Lakyus & Renner – Too entrenched in the city hospital’s power structure to officially join. Their influence was better used in the shadows.

  Li Vane – Still a Public Works appointee, her political rise still in progress. And crucially—untouched. Hezri hadn’t taken her to bed, hadn’t blurred the lines between asset and lover. Not until she proved indispensable.

  Britney – Close, but not yet his. Her Familiarity (95) and Loyalty (70) were high, but until she crossed that final threshold, she remained just the trainer.

  The message was clear:

  Sex wasn’t the price of power in Hezri’s world.

  Utility was.