Zac sits in a cold, concrete holding cell, stripped of his tailored suits and smug confidence. Gone is the man who once strutted through boardrooms with an air of invincibility. Now, he's just another headline: Fraud. Conspiracy. Cyber crimes. The charges against him mount like a tidal wave, each one a reminder that even the most cunning manipulators can fall. Across the globe, news outlets are abuzz with his downfall. His arrest sends shockwaves through the corporate world, especially within Eclipse Group. What was meant to be a day of coronation for a new CEO ends in silence. I don’t reveal myself. I don’t need to. The chaos is doing exactly what I intended.Lydia stands beside me, arms folded, her posture calm but calculating. We exchanged glances. No words needed. This part of the plan worked perfectly.After the shareholder meeting dissolves in confusion, we head straight to the detention center. Not to gloat though we’d be justified but to see Zac at rock bottom. He sits behind

At that moment the message lands in my inbox, the world seems to still around me, time freezing as my eyes lock onto the screen. It’s a single image Lydia. She’s tied to a chair, her wrists bound tightly, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. Her head hangs low, strands of hair clinging to her sweat-slicked face. The room around her is dim, shadowy, ominous. My heart pounds, fury and fear twisting in my gut. But it’s her eyes that gut me the most defiant, unyielding. She’s not broken. Not yet. But if I don’t act now, she soon will be.Attached to the image is a message.“Come alone. Reveal yourself. Or she dies.”It’s signed with Justin’s name. Bastard.My hands clench the edge of my desk, the wood groaning under the pressure. I feel the rage crawl up my spine like wildfire. My lungs tighten, and my vision blurs for a second before I slam the laptop shut and push back from the desk.I storm out of my office, nearly knocking Olivia over as she enters with a file.She sees my fa

The hospital smells like antiseptic and too much quiet.I sit on the edge of the examination bed, shirt off, blood crusted along my left arm where the bullet grazed me. The sting is sharp, pulsing in steady waves, each one a brutal reminder of how close things came to spiraling out of control. The doctor leans in, inspecting the wound with steady hands and a neutral face.“It’s not serious,” he says, as if that makes it easier to swallow. “Clean shot through the muscle. No fractures. No major arteries hit.”He finishes wrapping the bandage with practiced ease. “You’ll heal fast. But keep the arm rested.”I nod once, but my mind is already moving past the pain, beyond this sterile room. There’s no time to rest. Not when the people I care about are still in danger. Not when Justin is out there, planning his next move. I clench my jaw, the ache in my arm a silent vow.Lydia waits outside the room. When I step into the hallway, she’s pacing, phone clutched in one hand. The moment she sees

The call comes in just after dawn, slicing through the stillness like a blade.Olivia’s voice is tight, brittle with tension. “They got something out of him. Ramon. The mercenary—they broke him.”My heart stops. “What did he give up?” I ask, already dreading the answer.“The hideout.”I don’t hesitate. The pain in my arm is forgotten as I rip the IV from my vein, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. “Pull everyone out. Now. Burn it all. No traces.”“We’re already on it,” she says. “Eddy’s issuing fake passports. I’ve started wiping every trace from the system. But we don’t have long.”I hang up and grab my shirt, struggling with the buttons as the sling restricts my movements. My left arm throbs with every motion, the dull ache a reminder of how close I came to losing control. But there’s no time to dwell on pain adrenaline fuels my every move now. We stayed too long in one place. Grew too comfortable. I should’ve pulled out sooner. Justin’s like a shark he circles the moment he

The rain drums against the windows of the safehouse, a relentless rhythm that matches the pounding in my temples. Three weeks confined to this place, my arm still healing, and the walls are starting to feel like a cage. I don’t hear from Brianna for weeks not that I expect to. After everything with Zac imploded, I figured she’d vanish into whatever corner of the city still tolerated her presence. Her silence is almost a relief.Until it isn’t.Eddy drops the file on the table one morning, a familiar name flashing at the top. “She’s been poking around,” he says. “Trying to contact you. Showed up at Lydia’s office yesterday.”I raise an eyebrow. “Brianna?”He nods. “She’s not doing well. Company’s on the edge. She tried to reach you through corporate back channels, but Lydia intercepted everything.”A quiet hum stirs in my chest. Not quite concern. Not quite anger. “What happened?”Eddy hesitates. “Let’s just say… it didn’t end with hugs.”I lean back in my chair, fingers threading t