Richard looked at his wife, then at Alice. His daughter was sitting in a prison cell. His family's reputation was in ruins. What choice did he have?"Fine," Richard said heavily. "If you can get Harry to drop the charges, we have a deal.""Excellent," Frank said, standing up. "I'll go see Harry tomorrow morning. But I need you to notify the police that we're working on a resolution. Buy me some time.""Done," Richard agreed.The next morning, Harry was walking across the university campus, his mind still processing everything that had happened. He hadn't slept well—every time he closed his eyes, he saw Mona's face, Alice's disgust, his parents' lies."Harry! Hey, Harry!"Harry turned to see Frank jogging toward him. His stomach immediately clenched with suspicion."What do you want, Frank?"Frank caught up and casually draped his arm over Harry's shoulders like they were old friends. "Just wanted to check in on my little brother. Heard you had quite an eventful night."Harry shrugged

Samuel's face darkened. "Don't tell me you forgot. The meeting is today. Right now, actually. We're presenting the AI education platform proposal to the board of directors and potential investors.""Nobody told me it was today!" Harry said, panic rising in his chest. "I thought we had another week!""Jenny sent an email to everyone three days ago," Samuel said impatiently. "Didn't you check your company email?"Harry's stomach sank. He'd been so preoccupied with the Mona situation and everything else that he'd completely neglected to check his work email."I... I didn't see it," Harry admitted."Of course you didn't," Samuel said with disgust. "This is exactly the kind of lazy, unprofessional behavior I expected from you. You come in here, call everyone incompetent, act like you're better than us, and then you can't even be bothered to check your email?""Samuel, I'm sorry—""Sorry doesn't cut it," Samuel interrupted. "You're the one who came up with this project. You're the one who g

Harry and Samuel walked back to the development department in tense silence. Harry's mind was racing with thoughts about his new role, but he decided not to announce the change immediately. Samuel needed time to process what had happened, to come to terms with the demotion. It was the decent thing to do.When they entered the department, several team members immediately crowded around."So? How did it go?" Derek asked eagerly."Did they approve the funding?" another developer added.Samuel's face darkened. "It went fine. Now get back to work, all of you!""But we want to know what happened!" Jenny protested."I said get back to work!" Samuel shouted, his voice echoing through the office. "Stop wasting time with stupid questions!"The team members stepped back, startled by his outburst. But then Anna, who had been standing near the conference room door during part of the presentation, stepped forward with a smirk on her face."Actually, Samuel, you can't order us around anymore."Samue

Frank sat in his office at Solomon Industries, his hands clenched into fists on his desk. Days had passed, and Harry still refused to budge on pressing charges against Mona. Every approach Frank had tried—sympathy, bribery, manipulation—had failed spectacularly."Damn it," Frank muttered, running his hands through his hair. The Anderson partnership was slipping through his fingers, and with it, his chance to legitimize the company's questionable finances.He'd promised Richard Anderson he could convince Harry to drop the charges. Now he had to deliver, or risk losing everything he'd worked for."If coaxing won't work," Frank said quietly to himself, "then maybe violence will."The thought sent a thrill of fear and excitement through him. He'd orchestrated violence before—Harry's death in his previous life, the kidnappings, the threats. But he'd always used intermediaries, kept his hands clean. This time might be different.The problem was finding the right people to do the job. The Bl

Alice's eyes blazed with anger as she faced her father. "Mona is the crazy one! She's the terrible one! She tried to destroy Harry's life with lies!""Keep your voice down," Richard hissed, glancing toward the stairs where Linda might hear."No!" Alice refused. "I won't keep quiet about this! Mona committed crimes, Dad. She falsely accused someone of assault. She tried to send an innocent person to prison!""She had a moment of weakness—""A moment of weakness?" Alice's voice rose to a shout. "She planned it! She tore her own dress! She made sure there were witnesses! That's not weakness, that's calculated malice!"Richard's jaw clenched. "Alice, you need to understand something. Family is more important than anything else. More important than truth, more important than justice, more important than outsiders like Harry Solomon."Alice stared at her father in disbelief. "Are you hearing yourself right now?""Mona made a mistake because she was emotional," Richard continued. "There's no