The next evening, Miley sat at her desk, surrounded by stacks of financial reports. The Duke’s company finances were far more complex than she had anticipated, and merging them with her own accounts was proving to be a tedious task. She rubbed her temples, willing the numbers to make sense. The dim glow of her desk lamp cast long shadows across the room, the only sign of life in the otherwise silent office. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts. Before she could respond, a young man named Lorence sauntered into the office, he was one of the junior accountants. He leaned against her desk with an easy smirk, as if they were old friends. His tailored suit was too expensive for his position, his cufflinks gleaming under the light. “You look like you could use some help,” he said, his voice dripping with false concern. “I’ve got nothing but time. You can take any help from me, anytime. I’ll be of use.” His emphasis on the last word made her skin crawl. Miley didn’t even glanc

Miley turned sharply, her eyes completely blazing. The crushed card in her hand crackled with her grip.“Is this nonsense from you?” she snapped, stalking toward Lorence, who stood with arms folded and a satisfied smirk playing on his lips.Lorence, who had been just as dumbfounded as the others moments ago, blinked. “Wait, what?”She raised the card. “The cars. The gifts. The roses. Are you behind this circus?”He opened his mouth to say no, because, truly, even he was not sure. But then the thought struck him. Who else could pull this off? His father, Grant Voss, was the wealthiest man in the city, and he would personally come down just a few days ago to Miley’s office, furious and embarrassed at Lorence’s behavior. Maybe this was his father’s way of fixing things. Trying to win Miley over with what amounted to a modern-day dowry.Lorence’s lips curved into a slow, lazy smile. “Do you like them?”Miley stared at him in disbelief.“No,” she hissed, crumpling the card and tossing it t

Lorence hesitated, only for a breath, but it wasn't long enough for someone to notice.“Why should I entertain your little drama?” he snapped, then pointed abruptly toward Miley. “And what about her, huh? She’s the real reason we are even talking. A woman like her, who should be compared to a Goddess…this elegant, capable, stunning woman, does not belong with someone like you, who does not even provide her the basic necessities, let alone the luxuries!”He stalked toward Miley with practiced charm in his voice.“She deserves a man who does not lie. Who does not humiliate her with cheap stunts like this just to make himself look good.”Miley’s eyes narrowed, but she stayed rooted in place.“I mean, look at her,” Lorence continued. “She walks like a queen and talks like one. You think you can match her presence by flinging a couple of fake gifts around and hoping we are all stupid enough to buy it?”Lorence’s words made the way for more murmurs. As few people standing there had a few n

Miley awoke to the sharp, incessant buzzing of her phone. Disoriented, she blinked against the early light filtering through the curtains and reached blindly for the device on her nightstand. At first, she expected a calendar alert or a routine message from the finance team. But as her vision cleared, her heart began to thud heavily.Dozens of notifications blinked across the screen. News alerts. Encrypted chats. Three missed calls from her assistant, and one message stood out in bold, red encryption: "URGENT. You have been compromised."Frowning, she tapped the link embedded in the message. It took her to a browser she did not even know she had installed a dark web relay portal, black as pitch and crawling with warning symbols. And then she saw it.TARGET PROFILE: MILEY COLTON (ALIAS: NIGHTINGALE)Status: ACTIVE. High-priority asset.Current location: [City Redacted, GPS Coordinates— Pending Confirmation]Known routines, preferred hangouts, vulnerabilities, financial signature, fam

Miley questioned the need for secrecy, her voice low but firm, it was not the answer that she was expecting. “You did not tell me where we were coming, now don't you trust me to tell me where exactly we are…and most importantly why this place is like this ?”Julius did not look at her. His hands gripped the wheel, as he was cleaning it, while turning it in circular motion with full force, and suddenly the electricity sparks making the entire place lit with the yellow bulbs, his knuckles becoming white because of the cold and the force. “I am sorry Miley, but I can not lose you to carelessness, the less you know about anything, the safer you would be” he growled, the finality in his tone closing the door on any further argument.She remembered how they had left under the cover of night, the hum of the engine blending into the darkness that swallowed them whole. How the city lights dwindled behind them, replaced by stretches of empty road. The silence inside the vehicle pressed dow