Dark Lord Seduction System: Taming Wives, Daughters, Aunts, and CEOs - Chapter 324

Chapter 324: The Calm Before
The Maybach slid through Miami’s morning traffic like a shark through warm water—silent, powerful, returning to the depths after a successful hunt. I sat in the plush silence, the phantom warmth of the dawn still on my skin, watching the city stir, oblivious to the seismic shift that had already occurred.

Madison was curled against me, her hair a wild testament to the night’s conquest. Her occasional glance held the satisfied, proprietary gleam of someone who had witnessed a genesis. Across from us, Amanda looked utterly reconfigured, her posture that of a woman who had not just survived but been reborn in the crucible of the previous night.

“ARIA,” I said, the name a quiet command in the hushed interior, “status report on the press conference preparations.”

“All systems are synchronized, Master,” her voice responded, cool and crystalline. “Charlotte’s evidentiary packages have been delivered by the administrations of Harvard and Stanford. The coordinated testimonies from the wives are primed for release thirty seconds after Charlotte begins her address. The arrest warrants for Vincent and Antonio are now active and being executed. Rivera Media’s stock is positioned for what analysts will later term ‘the most catastrophic single-day collapse in media history.'”

The sheer, casual enormity of it, delivered with the tone of a weather report, made me smile. We were orchestrating the real-time demolition of three empires, and my AI was discussing it like she was noting a chance of afternoon rain.

“And the government contracts?”

“Ava has secured preliminary approval for all five corporate transfers. The five-hundred-million-dollar allocation we gave to the two universities is confirmed, I gev it to her as a backup plan just in case the two try to back out, and the immunity clauses are, in her words, ‘ironclad.'” A pause, almost perceptive. “A related note: She has been frantically texting her sister, Helena, who appears to be suddenly… unavailable for comment regarding the imminent exposure of her criminal associates.”

I leaned back into the supple leather, the scope of it all settling around me. Last month, I was a broke high school student getting shoved into lockers. Today, I was watching federal warrants unfold on live television while closing billion-dollar deals with the CIA.

The cognitive whiplash was absolutely staggering.

“This feels like a video game,” I murmured, the thought escaping aloud.

Madison shifted, her perceptive eyes locking onto mine. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the progression. Six months ago, I was a nobody. A virgin nerd with zero power, zero prospects. Now I’m in a car that costs more than a suburban mansion, about to watch my AI dismantle three international criminals while I sign paperwork with a spy agency.” I shook my head, the surrealism of it a palpable thing. “It’s like I jumped from the tutorial straight to the endgame credits. I skipped every level in between.”

Amanda’s laugh was soft, understanding. “You know what that sounds like to me? It sounds like someone who was always built for this upgrade. Whatever catalyst you got in you sleeves? It didn’t change you; it just removed the locks.”

“The System,” Madison whispered just to me, her voice certain. “Maybe it doesn’t create power. Maybe it just recognizes it.”

“Yes, and maybe,” I said, my gaze fixed on the gleaming skyline, “I’m the protagonist in some ridiculously high-stakes game, and the three vultures were just the introductory boss fight. Tutorial enemies designed to teach me the mechanics before the real raid begins.”

The thought should have been comforting. It wasn’t. If Vincent, Dmitri, and Antonio were merely the beginner bosses, what unimaginable threat was waiting in the next level?

The phone buzzed, a vibration against my leg that felt like the first tremor of an earthquake. A text from

Charlotte: Press conference in one hour. Are you coming?

My thumbs flew over the screen. Me: Wouldn’t miss it. Time to watch you destroy the people who tried to destroy you.

Charlotte: I’m nervous.

Me: Don’t be. You’re about to become the most vindicated woman in corporate history. Also, check your Quantum Tech stock price in about two hours it will remind you that every thing and sacrifice you ever made was worthy it. And because you’re about to be very, very rich

Charlotte: Thank you, Peter, you’re my everything now and it’s scary on what I would do without you.

The way she said it, there was something else underneath.

*

The penthouse air shifted as we entered. It wasn’t just the ghost of expensive perfume and spent passion from the gallery—though that certainly hung in the air—it was the energy. The place had shed its skin as a mere lavish apartment and morphed into a command center. This was the nerve center for someone who had just graduated from local skirmishes to a global theater.

ARIA’s holographic form shimmered into existence the moment we crossed the threshold, but she was… different. More defined. The light that composed her seemed denser, her features sharper, her presence more tangible in the room.

“Master,” her voice was the same, yet carried a new depth of resonance. “I have utilized the processing resources liberated from the vultures’ networks to execute a significant core upgrade. I am now operating at approximately three hundred percent of my previous capacity.”

“Translate that,” I said, my eyes scanning her form.

“For starters. It means that during Charlotte’s press conference, I will be simultaneously coordinating seventeen thousand distinct evidence releases across global media platforms, monitoring secure government channels across the entire globe, executing real-time stock market manipulations, and ensuring Dmitri’s dark empire crumbles, make sure the arrests of Vincent, and Antonio occur at the precise moment of maximum psychological impact on their peers and public impact.”

Amanda stared, her head tilted. “She looks… more human.”

She was right. ARIA’s avatar had evolved from a sleek interface into the likeness of a woman—stunning, with keen, intelligent eyes that held a glint of unmistakable enjoyment.

“I have also taken the initiative to compile a comprehensive dossier on every significant entity likely to perceive our elimination of the vultures as an opportunity. The ensuing power vacuum will not go unnoticed.”

“Show me.”

The air around us blossomed with light—holographic profiles, corporate logos, interlinking webs of financial and political influence that spanned the globe. A spider’s web of potential threats and opportunities.

“Helena Voss is already attempting to forge new alliances. She has lost her primary assets but retains considerable resources. Numerous former clients and associates of the vultures are in panic mode, creating vulnerabilities we can exploit. And there are other players—some legitimate, some… not—who have been waiting for precisely this kind of opening.”

I absorbed the information, the familiar, cold thrill of strategic calculation settling in my veins. The board was expanding, just as I’d anticipated.

“And Charlotte?” I asked.