Chapter 7

The air crackled with suppressed energy in the sleek, mirrored training room. Elodie and Gabriel circled each other, their stances fluid and focused. Despite the sterile surroundings, the atmosphere thrummed with the raw intensity of siblings locked in an age-old dance of dominance and rebellion. Gabriel, the elder by five years, loomed larger, his muscles corded beneath his training gear. He moved with a panther’s grace, each strike aimed to overpower and subdue. Elodie, smaller and leaner, was a whirlwind of lightning-fast reflexes and acrobatic agility. Years of training in the same rigorous martial arts regime had honed their skills to razor-sharp perfection. The first blow came from Gabriel, a powerful roundhouse kick aimed at Elodie’s head. She ducked with the fluidity of a willow branch, the wind of the kick whipping past her ear. In a flash, she countered with a spinning back fist, catching Gabriel across the jaw. He staggered back, momentarily stunned by the speed and precision of her attack. Emboldened, Elodie pressed her advantage. She moved like a shadow, weaving through Gabriel’s defences, landing quick jabs and kicks that stung but didn’t break him. Her agility was her greatest weapon, a constant source of frustration for her older brother. Gabriel, however, was no novice. He weathered the storm of blows, his size and strength giving him an edge in a prolonged fight. He began to anticipate her moves, his strikes becoming more calculated, forcing Elodie to adapt and improvise. The battle raged on, each sibling pushing the other to their limits. Sweat glistened on their skin, their breathing ragged and strained. The room echoed with the thud of kicks and the sharp crack of punches. As the fight progressed, Elodie’s agility began to wear down Gabriel’s defences. He was slower to react, his movements becoming sluggish under the relentless assault. Sensing her advantage, Elodie unleashed a flurry of strikes, ending with a perfectly executed jump kick that sent Gabriel sprawling to the mat. He lay there for a moment, stunned and breathless. Elodie stood over him, her chest heaving, a victor bathed in the cold glow of the training lights. Gabriel slowly rose, a grudging respect mixed with admiration on his face. ‘You’ve gotten better, little sis,’ he conceded, a hint of a smile playing on his lips. ‘Good to know you have not neglected your training while you are away.’ Elodie smiled back, the tension draining from her features. ‘You’re not so bad yourself, old man,’ she replied, extending a hand to help him up. A shower and a change of clothes later, Gabriel leaned against the kitchen counter, watching his sister whip up a smoothie. He noticed the dark circles beneath her eyes and the tension in her shoulders. ‘So, what have you got planned for today?’ he asked, taking a sip from his coffee. Elodie rattled off a list that would make any seasoned executive wince. ‘Finance lesson at 8, followed by organisational behaviour with Professor Stein at 10. Then, I’ve got a crash course in international trade law with Mr Lee in the afternoon. After that, I’m squeezing in a session on negotiation tactics with Madame Dubois.’ Gabriel raised an eyebrow. ‘Elodie, that’s an insane schedule. Are you pushing yourself too hard?’ Elodie stopped blending and looked at him. ‘I have to,’ she said, her voice steely. ‘I’ve got a lot of lost time to make up for.’ He knew she wasn’t just talking about the year she spent slipping in and out of a coma after her accident. It was the year and a half spent in gruelling rehabilitation, the year she hid away in Danning playing nurse to an ingrate. ‘I don’t have time for the traditional college route,’ she continued, ‘not right now. But these targeted lessons are exactly what I need to learn how to manage the company. Mom and Dad built a behemoth in under twenty years. I have big shoes to fill.’ Gabriel sighed. ‘The company’s not the same behemoth it used to be, El.’ He added scornfully, ‘If it weren’t for the other directors, Uncle Cyrus and Uncle Sebastian would have probably run it into the ground.’ Elodie’s eyes hardened. ‘Don’t worry, I’ll have help once I’m ready to get back to the company. But right now, I need to focus on learning everything I can. I owe it to Mom and Dad, and I owe it to myself.’ Gabriel couldn’t argue with that. ‘I can help you, too,’ he offered. Elodie raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t think knowing how to handle a cranial drill is going to be of much use to me. Besides, I thought you were flying overseas for a neurosurgery consultation this afternoon?’ Gabriel grinned. ‘I am, but I have a few hours to spare. And I think I can teach you one more skill that might be useful for managing the company.’ ‘What is it?’ ‘Come to the study.’ Elodie followed him into a room dominated by a sleek, modern computer setup. Lines of code scrolled across the screen, mesmerising her. ‘What’s this?’ she asked, her voice a mix of awe and suspicion. ‘Are you a hacker now?’ Gabriel chuckled. ‘I’ve picked up a few side skills here and there over the past couple of years.’ In fact, he’d taught himself hacking as a way to keep tabs on Elodie while she was in a city several hundred miles away. ‘Watch this.’ With a flourish, he typed a series of commands into the keyboard. ‘I’m accessing Uncle Cyrus’s car,’ he explained. ‘He’s dumb enough to have the onboard computer linked to his phone with an access code a five-year-old could guess.’ A mischievous grin spread across his face. He typed a few more lines, then gave a triumphant grin. ‘Observe. This is from a traffic camera outside his office.’ A video appeared on the screen. Elodie watched in amusement as a dark blue Mercedes, parked across the street, began to roll forward. It slowly gained speed, its headlights blinking erratically like a confused owl. Then, with a flourish, it performed a perfect 360-degree turn, ending up parked back in its original spot. Elodie burst into laughter. ‘You’re unbelievable!’ ‘Just a little trick I picked up,’ Gabriel said, a hint of pride in his voice. Elodie pulled up a chair next to him, her eyes shining with excitement. ‘Teach me. I want to learn this.’ Gabriel smiled. ‘Okay. Let me begin with the basics. I assume you are already familiar with the difference between TCP and UDP…’