Grief and Gunpowder: The Phantom Empress

Nivara Ghalis stood in the pouring rain by the open grave of her mentor, the only father she ever knew. Instead of offering condolences, her husband Boran Chalyb handed her divorce papers. To Boran, she was merely a volatile, uncultured liability standing in the way of his new political alliance and the colossal Aegis Vanguard military contract. He believed shedding her would guarantee his empire's rise. He was severely mistaken. Fueled by suffocating grief and a fiercely hot-tempered loyalty, Nivara sheds her meek disguise. When Boran scours the underworld for the legendary hacker 'Zero' to salvage his software, he finds Nivara. When he tries to purchase a billion-dollar masterpiece to bribe the high generals, the elusive painter is Nivara. And when he stages a fake musical prodigy at the grand gala, Nivara shatters his ego by flawlessly playing a piano piece only the true legend knows. Alternating between her perspective and that of her ruthless rival, Tarsin Ozer, a lethal alliance blossoms into romance. But as they dismantle Boran's empire, a chilling truth emerges: what if the trusted friend guiding her vengeance is the very monster who orchestrated her mentor's death?