The late-night city stretched beneath Davis’s penthouse balcony, a scatter of lights against the dark. Inside, the air was thick with the scent of aged whiskey and the faint hum of the central heating. The shareholders’ meeting was weeks behind them now, but its ripples still shaped every move in the Brown Empire.Kate had played her hand at that meeting by tightening her alliances, working the room with a calculated charm that had shifted several neutral shareholders into her camp. Davis hadn’t stopped thinking about it since.He poured a glass of whiskey, letting the burn of it settle in his chest. Victory was stretched out on the leather sofa across the room, jacket thrown over the armrest, tie loosened. He looked as relaxed as a man could be,while in their world, he is far from relaxation.They are really troubled and restless for a while now beginning with the assassination attempt, and the outcome of the shareholders meeting.“You saw how she’s been moving since that meeting,”

Henry had never been one for family dinners, much less the kind where smiles were served as appetizers and betrayal was the main and essence.So when he heard through the kind of murmured office gossip that he usually ignored, that Kate had invited Davis to a private meeting over dinner, he didn’t react outwardly. Kate and Davis in the same room, alone. That was rare. It is rarely a good sign and obviously a beginning of a dangerous coalition.Henry was a Brown by blood but not by the same fire as the others. Davis thrived on dominance. Victory on calculated force. Kate on tactical charm and disrupting. Henry had built his own path quietly, keeping a reputation for being uninvolved, which suited him perfectly. In business, being underestimated was an advantage personally, while in family politics, it was a survival tactic.But lately, the air around the Brown Empire had shifted. The first attack on Davis and Victory had been an obvious escalation. Whoever had arranged it was either

Rain slicked the city heavily, the kind of night Ven liked because it is quiet enough to move unnoticed, loud enough to cover the sounds you didn’t want heard.From his vantage in the top-floor of the building,he used as a safe base, the docks were a row of black shapes against the restless water. Somewhere down there, Bryan was finishing a meeting Ven had ordered days ago. The man was punctual, disciplined, and most importantly fully loyal.Ven had learned early that loyalty wasn’t just a quality. It was a currency. You paid for it with trust, with respect, and occasionally with blood. Bryan had earned his keep more than once.The meeting itself was simple on paper: a quiet exchange with one of Ven’s offshore contacts, finalizing the transfer of a 6 percent stake in a mid-tier shipping firm that Brown Empire’s logistics division relied on for overseas distribution.That 6 percent wasn’t much on paper, but in Ven’s hands, it was leverage. Leverage that could be doubled when combined

The message came through just after eight in the evening. It was short and sounded too precise for Kate to have sent it casually.Davis leaned back in his leather chair, swirling the glass of wine in his hand. The amber liquid caught the light from the desk lamp, sharp edges glinting like his thoughts.He didn’t like when people anticipated his problems before he told them. In his experience, it usually meant one of two things: either they were very, very good at paying attention, or they were part of the problem to begin with.Hartley had been a thorn in his side for six weeks now. The supply chain contract was small compared to the broader reach of Brown Empire’s holdings, but its position was critical. Whoever controlled Hartley could influence pricing and shipment schedules for several hotel subsidiaries. Davis had been positioning to absorb it quietly, but bureaucratic red tape had been dragging the process out.Here was Kate, conveniently sliding in with a solution.He tossed b

For the first time in weeks, Kate felt in control. Even though she is still skeptical,she could see that she was really trying to achieve her goal.The Hartley contract was no longer a thorn in Davis’s side, and she had been the one to smooth it over. Davis had thanked her in person, the words clipped but genuine. She’d even caught the faintest flicker of respect in his eyes before he masked it. That was the opening she needed, not just to protect her position in the Brown Empire, but to push her own vision forward.Now, the plan was simple and only needed execution. Making sure to consolidate that goodwill, build trust without appearing too eager, and subtly steer him where she wanted.Her phone began buzzing before she even left her penthouse. The first call she ignored, since it was from the boardroom, and could wait until she’d had her coffee. The second came less than thirty seconds later, then a third.It wasn’t until the fourth call, this one from her personal assistant, that