Chapter 141: She Is Nyx

He turned them down without a second thought. "Sorry, Mayor Harrison. This is a personal trip. No need for dinner, I have some private matters to discuss with Miss Morgan."

Owen was sharp enough to catch the hint immediately.

He didn't push it. After a brief exchange of pleasantries, he left with the school administrators, knowing when to make himself scarce.

The crowd cleared. In the vast corner of the stands, only two people remained.

The polite mask dropped from Caius's face entirely. He turned around, his deep, guarded eyes locking onto Isabelle with an intensity that was both oppressive and probing.

"No outsiders now." Caius lowered his voice, his tone carrying a sharp edge of scrutiny. "Time to talk business."

Isabelle leaned against the chain-link fence, expression unchanged. "Go ahead."

"On the European dark web, I ran into 'Night Owl' and 'Skull.'" Caius kept his eyes fixed on Isabelle's cool gaze, searching for even the faintest flicker of emotion. "They mentioned you, a woman with unusual combat skills, an expert in pharmaceuticals, someone who could directly access Syndicate's highest clearance."

Caius stepped closer, dropping his voice even lower, as if afraid of disturbing something forbidden.

"Isabelle, I always found it strange. An ordinary high school girl who grew up in River City couldn't possibly have that kind of background, let alone know who I am." His eyes darkened slightly. "Then this time, I received your encrypted invitation. That encryption method, there's only one person in the entire dark web who uses it."

He paused, then spoke the name one syllable at a time, a name that made the underground world tremble.

"Are you... 'Nyx'?"

A breeze swept across the Capital University stadium. The chain-link fence swayed with a faint metallic rattle.

Caius stared into Isabelle's eyes, barely breathing.

He was a complete rationalist, through and through. But the contradictions radiating from this first-year student in front of him were hammering against his logic with relentless force.

"Yes."

Isabelle's red lips parted slightly. Without a moment's hesitation, she let out a single, clean word.

Caius's pupils contracted sharply. His tall frame went rigid.

He had imagined countless possibilities, maybe she was a secret protégé Nyx had trained, maybe she held power in some hidden branch of the Syndicate.

But he had never dared consider the most absurd answer of all.

Isabelle leaned against the railing, her gaze drifting across the empty field, her voice as flat as if she were talking about a stranger. "Six months ago, someone set me up. I didn't make it out. When I opened my eyes again, I was already in this body, Isabelle, a senior at River City High."

Absurd.

Caius's mind went blank.

Soul transmigration, the kind of thing that only existed in movies, was happening right in front of him.

But he looked into Isabelle's eyes, dark and still as an ancient well, and found no trace of evasion or humor.

He forced himself to calm down, his mind racing back through every detail of their interactions.

The way she had spun that pen earlier, index finger curled, thumb pressing lightly, identical to Nyx's habit when she was thinking.

The encrypted command that had pulled him straight back from Wall Street. The underlying logic, the coding patterns, the unmistakable signature of Syndicate's highest clearance.

And more than anything, that arrogance she carried, as if everyone around her was beneath her feet. That absolute, unshakeable composure that didn't even blink at two hundred million dollars.

No one in this world could fake that. No one but Nyx.

Caius drew a slow, deep breath. The violent rise and fall of his chest gradually stilled.

With his entire worldview shattered, what rushed in to replace it was pure, overwhelming joy, and surrender.

He bent one knee slightly, spine straight, and lowered his proud head before this woman who was nearly ten years his junior.

"Boss." Caius's voice came out rough, thick with barely contained emotion. "Welcome back."

Isabelle's expression didn't change. She slipped one hand into her coat pocket and turned toward the steps.

"Come on." Her tone was casual. "I'll show you around."

Caius fell into step immediately, staying half a pace behind her, his posture respectful.

The midday sun filtered through the trees lining Capital University's main path, scattering patches of light and shadow across them both.

On the surface, it looked like a first-year student giving a visiting Wall Street lecturer a campus tour.

In reality, what they were discussing was enough to drench the entire European underground in blood.

"After the Base Seven explosion, any movement from headquarters?" Isabelle walked ahead, her voice cool and even.

Caius kept his voice low. "A few of the old guard used it as an opening. They tried to carve up your territory in the European sector. Gabriel cracked down on part of it by force, but the undercurrents are still running. Headquarters officially ruled it a system malfunction, an accident. Case closed."

"An accident?" A cold laugh escaped Isabelle. A flash of something lethal crossed her eyes. "The core control room runs at S-level security. Without an insider cutting the backup power, you couldn't blow up a fly."

Caius's expression sharpened. "Want me to handle the cleanup?"

"Not yet. Let them play for a few more days." Isabelle's voice stayed flat. "Keep a close eye on where those old men are moving their money. Don't spook them."

They walked side by side through the campus. The contrast between them was striking, Isabelle cold and untouchable, Caius sharp and composed.

More than a few students who hadn't yet recovered from the auditorium incident caught sight of them.

Someone raised a phone and snapped a photo from a distance.

In the picture, fallen leaves carpeted the ground in gold. Isabelle's profile was cool and sharp beneath her black coat. Beside her, the man in the suit tilted his head slightly, eyes focused, listening to every word she said.

The photo hit Capital University's campus forum almost instantly, setting off a fresh wave of chaos.

[BREAKING: Wall Street's most feared tycoon takes a campus stroll with our cold-as-ice perfect-score genius!]

The comment section exploded the moment it went up.

"Oh my god, the height difference, the energy between them, I'm done. Who even cares about a two-hundred-million-dollar bet anymore? This is pure tension and I am LIVING for it."

"Did anyone else catch the way Mr. Strand was looking at Isabelle in the auditorium?? That 'dear friend' line was absolutely a cover. This is giving brooding CEO and his brilliant little wife energy."

"Okay but you're all sleeping on the fact that this is clearly a POWER COUPLE situation. Did you not see how well-behaved Caius was around Isabelle?? I am unilaterally declaring this ship canon and they are MARRIED."

The shippers on the forum were losing their minds, some already spinning fan fiction. Neither Isabelle nor Caius had any idea.

Evening. Downtown Washington.

The top floor of the World Trade Center. A Michelin three-star restaurant known for its privacy.

Isabelle had reserved the best table in the house, a private suite with floor-to-ceiling windows.

Outside the glass, the full glittering sprawl of Washington at night lay before them.

The waitstaff delivered course after course of exquisite food, then quietly withdrew and pulled the suite door shut behind them.

Caius lifted the decanter and poured half a glass of Romanée-Conti for Isabelle.

He looked at her across the table. The emotions he had kept buried all day finally began to rise.