The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

The call was answered almost immediately, a man's voice coming through on the other end.

"Hello, who's speaking?"

His voice was clear and steady-young, even pleasant-nothing about it hinted at madness or instability. If anything, he sounded perfectly normal.

Yet for some reason, Sellers felt a flicker of familiarity, as if he'd heard this voice before, though he couldn't quite place it.

He cleared his throat. “Mr. Gardner? This is Sellers, current head of the Burton family."

A low chuckle came from the other side. "I've heard of the famous Mr. Burton. To what do I owe the honor of your call today?"

Sellers wasted no time on pleasantries. “Mr. Gardner, I assume you've heard about Karl being broadcasted to the entire internet. Our investigation shows Karl is currently in Aetheria, and the live feed is being run from a server there as well. I'm calling to ask for your help. Could you temporarily shut down communications in Aetheria and take the stream offline?"

The man replied in a leisurely tone, "I'm afraid I can't do that."

"It would only need to be for a minute," Sellers pressed. "I understand your country would take on some losses for this, but the Burton family would be more than willing to compensate—”

abruptly cut

shut it down right after launching it, wouldn't that make me look like a joke? Doesn't my

For a moment,

did

smiling, "Karl's stream is my doing. Why else do you think he's in Aetheria?" Sellers still couldn't quite process it. Most people, even if they were behind something like this,

het

stared at the phone in disbelief, his mind swirling with a thousand questions. Just moments ago, he'd thought

infamous for being unpredictable, and now

keep

said, "If

Mr. Gardner, surely we can sit down and talk things through. There's no need

people. This is just a little

Sellers could reply, the

at his phone,