EllenThe skyline glittered outside my penthouse, like it knew what I was about to do. I cradled a glass of wine in my hand, swirling the deep red liquid while Lucian’s demand replayed in my head:Get me out, and I’ll keep your secret.The audacity. No one dared to corner me. Not board members, not investors, not family, and certainly not a man in chains. Yet his words had burrowed into me, and no matter how many times I tried to dismiss them, they echoed like a threat I couldn’t mute.I tapped the stem of the glass against my knee and opened my laptop. His freedom… that would be my leverage. If Lucian walked out of prison owing me, he wouldn’t just be an ally, he’d be my insurance policy against Aria.And so I scanned through the group of names on my screen, from lawyers who had hidden scandals to bird members whose careers I’d rescued. Even a government official who’d conveniently “forgotten” to file paperwork after I made it worth his while. One by one, I composed careful messages

AriaThe applause had barely started when the lights cut out, plunging the entire hall into darkness. For a moment, there was nothing but silence and the sound of my own heartbeat thudding against my ribs. My fingers tightened around the podium as if holding onto it would keep me grounded.Then the screens behind me crackled to life with harsh static, and the sound made people flinch. Then it was the grainy footage that appeared next, shaky and clearly filmed from hidden cameras. I recognized the faces instantly; they were members of my executive board, half of them, sitting in quiet rooms, exchanging files, whispering over envelopes stuffed with cash.The distorted voice followed, filling the hall silently.“Your leaders are liars. Your trust has been bought and sold.”As soon as those words echoed, the room broke out in gasps. My stomach turned because I knew exactly what I was seeing. These were the same names I had read in the envelope days ago, and now the whole world was watchin

AriaI was still on my desk long after the sun had gone down, staring at the badge sitting right in front of me. It was such a small object, barely the size of a credit card, yet it felt heavier than the building I worked in. Every time I looked at it, I saw Ellen’s face, that smug smile she gave me when she finally dropped the act. The proof was right here, but the question kept eating at me: would Zion believe me if I showed it to him?The thought alone made my chest tighten. Zion had always believed in me. He had defended me when nobody else would, stood beside me when things fell apart, and looked me in the eye like I was worth more than my mistakes. But this was Ellen we were talking about. His best friend. The person who had been by his side for years, probably longer than I had. She had been there through everything, and I was terrified that in his eyes, her word might mean more than mine.I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my head in frustration. If I told him, there were on

ZionWhen I left Aria’s apartment that evening, my head felt heavier than it had in a long time. The hallway outside her door was quiet, but inside me, everything was loud and unsettled. The air carried that faint city smell of concrete, dust, and faint perfume from someone who had passed earlier, but I barely noticed it. My thoughts drowned everything else.Her words followed me down the steps, every one of them replaying like they were etched into my mind. She had told me Ellen was the one behind the theft, the one who had been taking her identity piece by piece and using it to break us apart. She had said it with such weight, like each word cost her something.I couldn’t believe it. Didn’t want to. I had known Ellen for years, leaned on her during rough times, let her carry burdens I didn’t even realize were there. She had always seemed steady, always ready with advice or with loyalty when people around me were falling away. And now, Aria was telling me all of that had been a mask.

ZionWhen I woke up, my head felt like I had been hit with a hammer. For a while, I just lay there without moving, because even the smallest shift sent sharp pain shooting through my skull. My mouth was dry, my tongue felt heavy, and the air around me smelled damp and metallic, almost like rust. It took me a moment to realize I wasn’t in my bed, not even close.As soon as that dawned on me, I blinked hard, trying to focus, but the world around me stayed blurry. Slowly, I pushed myself up from the ground and felt the chill of concrete pressing against my palms. I was on the floor of a room that looked abandoned. The ceiling was low, the walls bare and rough, and a single bulb hung from a wire above me. The light swayed a little, casting uneven shadows that seemed to move whenever I blinked.My first instinct was to check my hands, my wrists, my ankles. I’d seen situations like this, where people woke up tied to a chair, a post… whatever, and brutally tortured. But thankfully, there wer