The men burst into laughter the moment Donald said Ivy wouldn’t succumb to their threat.It wasn’t the kind of laughter born of joy or humor. It was sharp, mocking, cruel—laced with disbelief, as though Donald had just insulted them rather than defied them. The sound filled the room, bouncing off the walls and pressing down on Ivy’s chest like a suffocating weight.They exchanged glances among themselves, the kind that carried shared amusement and dark understanding, smirks tugging at the corners of their mouths. To them, Donald’s words weren’t brave. They were absurd.“Did you hear that?” one of them said, tilting his head as he looked Donald up and down, squinting as if trying to decide whether this was a joke. “He’s got a mouth on him.”Another man let out a short scoff, his lips curling with disdain. “Who is this guy, anyway?” he asked, shaking his head. “Does he even know who he’s talking to?”Their laughter tapered into low chuckles, confidence radiating from them like a shield.

The man’s grip on Donald’s shirt tightened. His knuckles whitened as rage surged through him, veins standing out along his forearm. His face was inches from Donald’s, breath hot and bitter, laced with contempt.“You really must want to die,” he repeated, every word dripping with menace.Donald didn’t flinch.His eyes remained steady, dark and unblinking, as if the man’s fury were nothing more than background noise. When he spoke, his voice was calm—almost bored—so composed it felt insulting.“Let me go,” Donald said evenly. “Walk away while you still can.”The man let out a harsh laugh, short and humorless.“You don’t get to give orders here.”His arm drew back, muscles coiling as he prepared to strike, intent written clearly across his face.Ivy screamed.The sound tore from her throat, sharp and desperate, echoing off the walls of the office. Her heart felt like it was about to burst as she watched the man’s arm rise, her mind screaming that she was about to witness something ir

The man on the floor groaned softly, his face turned away from Donald, jaw clenched as if silence alone might save him.Donald stood over him, unmoving.The office was a mess—chairs overturned, files scattered, the faint smell of fear still hanging in the air. Outside, distant sirens wailed, but inside the room, time seemed to slow, tightening around the single moment Donald was waiting for.“Don’t pretend this ends if you keep quiet,” Donald said calmly. “You’ve already crossed that line.”The man laughed weakly, a sound more bitter than amused. “You don’t understand,” he muttered. “Some names aren’t meant to be spoken.”Donald crouched in front of him, his eyes cold and unwavering. “You’re already in trouble,” he replied. “The only question now is whether you make it worse for yourself.”The man swallowed hard. Sweat trickled down his temple. He knew Donald wasn’t bluffing—but fear still held him back. Fear of the man who had sent them. Fear of what would happen if he talked.“I can

The day after the chaos at DeGrand Corporation, the staff were still in disbelief. Whispers lingered in the hallways, floating from office to office. Some of the employees who had witnessed the events firsthand were convinced it had been Donald who had handled the men, but even for them, the memory seemed almost surreal.“I don’t understand it,” one young employee murmured to another as they sipped their morning coffee in the break room. “I saw him take on those men. He’s not even as big as one of them! And yet… he overpowered all of them like they were nothing.”“I know,” the other replied, shaking his head. “I was right outside the office door. I saw how fast he moved, how precise he was. But honestly… it doesn’t make sense. How could one man do that to four or five trained, armed thugs?”Another staff member, older and more cynical, chimed in, his voice low. “There’s more to him than we’re seeing. There has to be. No one can do what he did without some… special skill, or training w

Thomas Lewis sat alone in his office long after the city outside had fallen quiet. The glass towers beyond his windows were dark now, their lights extinguished one by one, leaving only distant streetlamps glowing like scattered embers. Inside, the silence pressed in on him, heavy and unrelenting. The earlier reports still echoed in his mind—the missing men, the failure at DeGrand Corporation, Ivy Harrington untouched and thriving despite everything he had set in motion.Every carefully laid plan had unraveled the moment Donald Smith stepped into the picture.Thomas hated that name now. It burned in his thoughts like an open wound, sharp and persistent. Donald Smith—an anomaly, an unexpected variable who had not only ruined a flawless operation but had dared to humiliate Thomas by dismantling his men and vanishing with them. That kind of defiance could not be ignored. It could not be forgiven.He leaned back in his chair, eyes fixed on the ceiling, forcing himself to breathe slowly. Ra