"Ghost?"

For a moment, the entire room fell into a stunned silence as they stared at the signature blinking on the projector. The presenter, who had set it up, glanced around nervously, briefly convinced that something had gone wrong with the equipment.

When everyone recovered, Lukas whipped his head toward Lucian.

"Master, you mean to say..." he trailed off, eyes lighting up with barely restrained excitement. "Ghost is finally on our side?"

The moment the words left his mouth, hushed chatter erupted around the table as everyone leaned toward one another.

Lucian let them carry on for a moment, studying their reactions before nodding to himself in quiet satisfaction. He had expected as much.

Ashley was the only one who had no idea of the influence and reach her other persona carried. To her, Ghost was simply a mask — a name to credit for everything she had done. And to keep Ghost from being linked back to Ashley, she had taken care to frame her more vigilante-style operations than the things "Ashley" or the Di Carpios were involved in.

"Ghost — isn’t that the person behind the collapse of the SD Pyramid Scheme?"

"Yes, but he also brought down a man who had reigned over corruption for fifty years. He was involved in the disbandment of a rapidly rising organization too."

"But isn’t he Marshal Di Carpio’s backer?"

"Did Marshal lend him to us?"

"Master, did you reach another agreement with Marshal?"

Voices overlapped as people spoke of Ghost’s contributions to the underground and how quickly he had built such a formidable reputation. Then some turned to Lucian directly, eyes sharp with curiosity.

Ghost was undeniably a valuable asset, especially for their faction. These were men who had never wanted to cross Lucian, who had fought just as fiercely for him as those who wanted him gone.

Which was precisely why they were concerned.

"Ghost’s talents — particularly in gathering intelligence — would be a tremendous benefit to us," one of them said, drawing the room’s attention. "At the same time, I’m not certain he is someone we can fully trust."

"Anyone who backed a man like Marshal Di Carpio has a questionable worldview, at best."

One after another, the same concern surfaced in different words.

Whatever Ghost’s own achievements, one fact remained: he had backed Marshal Di Carpio. The documented overlap between Ghost and the Di Carpios was limited, but it was enough to cast doubt on his character.

Lucian raised a hand, and the rapid-fire questions stopped.

"Let’s clear up a few misunderstandings," he said. "Ghost never had a formal agreement with Marshal. At most, they shared an interest in specific matters. Ghost is an independent operator with no ties to anyone — until now."

Everyone exchanged glances before settling their attention back on Lucian.

"Second," he continued without pause, "Ghost is someone every person in this room can trust. You may not be aware of this yet, but Ghost has already been working with me on several of the recent issues that have come my way."

Lucian glanced briefly at Gustav, then at Lukas. Both furrowed their brows, unsure what he was referring to. It took less than a minute for understanding to dawn on them — there had been instances where Lucian received intelligence well ahead of anything their own people had managed to send.

The profiles of those behind the cargo ship abduction, for one.

Lukas nearly choked on the realization. He remembered telling himself that either Lucian had stopped trusting their intel, or someone at Ghost’s level had come to his side. At the time, he had dismissed the latter as simply impossible.

Who would have thought?

"I am certain all of you have heard Ghost’s name at least once in recent years," Lucian continued in the same calm, measured tone.

He paused, reading the room. The reactions were mixed. Some still held their reservations, which Lucian understood. Most of these men had survived this side of Dominion precisely because they were careful.

He gave a single nod. "If anyone is opposed to this, you may say so now. I will hear it without consequence."

Silence settled over the room again. The hesitation in their eyes was plain, but no one spoke. Not when they also understood what having Ghost on their side would mean: a stabilizing force for Lucian’s currently precarious position within Dominion.

And everyone in that room knew their fates were bound to his.

They could not afford Lucian falling from power.

"If there are no objections," Lucian said, leaning forward and resting his arm along the edge of the table, "I would like to officially introduce a new member of this board."

His gaze shifted to the screen. "Ghost."

Every head in the room slowly turned to follow.

Ghost’s signature — a silly little blanket ghost — continued blinking on the screen.

Then, a few seconds later, a deep, almost ghostly voice filled the room.

"Hello, Dominion. My name is Ghost. I look forward to our partnership."

As if to add a friendlier touch, the blanket ghost blinked once more. This time, it was hugging a domino with a small heart floating above it.

A joke, perhaps, they thought — until text appeared beneath it with a dramatic flourish of animated effects.

It read:

[Ghost <3 Dominion]

For a moment, no one said a word. Expressions ranged from disbelief at the sheer absurdity of it to complete bewilderment. But regardless, every eye remained fixed on the screen, specifically on the pink sparkles drifting around a cartoon ghost hugging a domino. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

As for Lucian, a quiet, unmistakably proud smile settled on his face.

"As part of our agreement," he said, reclaiming everyone’s attention, "Ghost has offered to address the vulnerabilities in this building’s security."

"Vulnerabilities?" Lukas repeated, and at that very moment, the screen cut to a short clip of the building’s interior.

It swept through various floors and departments in quick succession, then settled on live footage of the very room they were all sitting in.

Seeing themselves from an unfamiliar angle, everyone instinctively looked around until they spotted the CCTV camera mounted in the upper corner of the room.

"According to Ghost, Dominion’s cybersecurity has significant gaps," Lucian explained calmly.

Gustav and Lukas’s expressions darkened simultaneously.

Gaps? they thought. We spent hundreds of millions on this system — through an auction, no less.

"Once Ghost has reinforced the main headquarters, he will be reaching out to some of you individually," Lucian continued, his gaze moving steadily around the table. "Ghost will help strengthen each of your defenses and build a system that gives everyone on my side a significantly better chance of survival against any future conspiracy."

A long silence followed as the room sat with that — eyes moving between Lucian and the screen, which still showed the live feed of the conference room. The only difference from before was a small animated ghost sticker bobbing cheerfully in the middle of the long table.

Clap.

A single, slow clap broke the silence.

Everyone turned to look to see who it was. Lukas was already on his feet, applauding deliberately. A beat later, Gustav joined him from where he stood.

And then, one by one, the rest of the room rose until every person was standing, offering Ghost a full round of applause, satisfied smiles on their faces.