Rain lashed against the towering glass walls of the Hart Penthouse, painting streaks across the night skyline of Cloudcrest City. From thirty stories above ground, the world looked distant, like a painting hung on a wall. Cold. Untouchable.Leon Grant stood in the kitchen, the sleeves of his white shirt rolled up, his eyes on the boiling pot in front of him. He stirred the sauce absently, checking the clock. It was 10:57 p.m. Three hours late.He’d cooked her favorite, truffle linguine with garlic butter shrimp. A bottle of aged red sat uncorked on the table, the candlelight flickering with every draft that slipped through the hallway.He tried to convince himself this was just another late meeting. That maybe, just maybe, Selena would walk in with an apology. But he already knew better.The elevator chimed. Leon wiped his hands and walked toward the door just as it slid open. The woman who stepped in looked like she’d walked off the cover of a Forbes magazine, tailored emerald dress

The ballroom at the Empire Business Awards was a vision of wealth and status.Crystal chandeliers spilled light like diamonds. Velvet banners of the city’s most powerful corporations draped across golden columns. Power brokers, tycoons, and media moguls moved with polished ease, every handshake a deal, every toast a silent war.And yet, Selena Hart stood there like a crumbling pillar amidst a kingdom that once bowed to her.Her dress was impeccable, midnight blue silk, slit high to her thigh. Her hair was a waterfall of waves. But no one lingered in her presence. No cameras followed. No CEOs approached.The red carpet had grown cold beneath her heels. Mia, her assistant, stepped beside her with quiet urgency. “Ms. Hart… Mr. Chen canceled the dinner appointment.”“What?” Selena’s voice was sharp. “He confirmed it just yesterday.”“I know, but… apparently Vanguard Capital bought out his logistics partner this morning. Their loyalties shifted.”Selena’s fingers tightened around her clu

The conference room at Starline Corporation was unusually tense.A half-moon table of stone-faced investors stared at the lone woman standing before them, Selena Hart. Her hands were on the table. Her shoulders, rigid.Behind her, two large screens flickered with failing stock graphs. The red lines dipped like bleeding wounds.“Gentlemen,” Selena said, voice firm despite the storm inside her, “we’re restructuring. Our internal audit is complete, and our primary bottlenecks have been identified. Give me four weeks, and I will bring this company back to green.”Silence.Then one investor, a man in his fifties with thick glasses and a silver cufflink, cleared his throat. “Ms. Hart, with respect… your word no longer holds the weight it once did.”Selena’s lips parted. “Excuse me?”“We’ve lost faith,” he said bluntly. “This company is hemorrhaging confidence. Deals are evaporating. And now, troubling whispers link your past funding to questionable sources. If we don’t act now, there may no

The night sky over Cloudcrest glowed an unnatural red, part from the haze of neon signage, part from the smoldering pressure building behind the city’s most powerful corporate names.In the high tower of Vanguard Capital, Leon stood in front of a large LED screen filled with cascading error codes and firewall alerts.Jason’s face was pale, his tie loosened, shirt damp with sweat. “They breached two vaults,” Jason said. “They weren’t even looking for money, they were after data. Names. Structures. Your ghost files.”Leon’s jaw tightened. “Silver Axis?”Jason nodded. “Zhou Ming’s digital signature. They came fast and deep. Whoever is backing him has military-grade tools.”Leon remained quiet for a long time, eyes on the flickering screen. “Did they get anything critical?”“No financials,” Jason said. “But one shell, Lyra Holdings, is exposed.”Leon turned slowly toward his second-in-command. “That connects to Selena.”Jason nodded grimly. “If they follow the money trail, they’ll link he

The elevator doors slid open on the 32nd floor of the Lyra Tower Annex in Cloudcrest’s financial district, and Selena stepped out, her heels echoing against marble as she walked toward the private suite Leon had rented for meetings too dangerous for his main office.She looked different now, no longer the inflexible queen of the boardroom. Her hair was tied back in a neat ponytail, her face bare, her posture braced for war.Jason opened the door for her, but the warmth in his eyes was guarded.Inside, Leon stood by a screen projecting Gregory Hart’s financial records. They were incomplete, layered with dummy accounts and front companies, clever enough to hide from tax regulators, but not from Leon’s forensic systems.Selena’s breath caught at the sight of her father’s signature. “He helped kill The Architect?” she asked.Leon turned. “More than that. He was her partner once. Then he betrayed her to take her off the board.”Jason tossed her a folder. “And it gets worse. Gregory didn’t