CHAPTER 61; The First Crack in the MirrorThe boardroom felt colder than it should have, even with the morning sunlight spilling across the polished table. The air smelled like coffee, paper, and quiet fear the kind people pretend isn’t there. That was the thing about corporate rooms: they held tension better than secrets.Ethan didn’t sit. He stood at the head of the table, one hand in his pocket, the other holding the report Julian placed in front of him. His jaw was clenched, not visibly, but in that subtle way only people who knew him would notice.I stood by the window, hands clasped behind my back. I wasn’t supposed to be in this meeting, but Ethan didn’t ask me to leave. He didn’t explain that either. He just gave me a look, short and unspoken, that said stay.So I did.Derrick’s voice still echoed in my head from earlier his threats, his desperation masked as arrogance. Something about him looked worse today, like he was hiding a bruise beneath a suit.“He’s escalating,” Julia

CHAPTER 63; The Silence After He Walked OutThe door clicked shut behind Ethan, and the sound echoed through the penthouse like something inside the walls had cracked. Something inside me cracked too.Julian stood frozen for a moment, staring at the door as if expecting Ethan to return immediately like he took only a step into the hallway and would come right back.But he didn’t.He was gone.And he didn’t tell me where he was going.I moved toward the nearest chair and sank into it, pressing my palms against my knees to stop them from shaking. My heart felt too loud inside my chest. The room was too quiet without him.It felt wrong.Off.Empty in a way I didn’t want to think about.Julian let out a shaky breath. “I can’t believe he left like that.”“He didn’t leave,” I said softly. “He went to… finish something.”Julian gave me a look that was half worry and half disbelief. “Do you realize what ‘finish something’ means when Ethan says it?”I looked down at my hands. “Yes.”“And you’r

CHAPTER 65; Her Voice Broke in the DarkSally’s voice didn’t sound like Sally.Not the woman who destroyed Ethan.Not the woman who smiled while my career burned.This voice was shaking.Afraid.Rushed.Like something was forcing the fear out of her.Julian mouthed silently, hung up, his eyes wide with alarm.I didn’t.“I…I don’t understand,” I whispered into the phone. “What do you mean they’re here for Ethan?”Sally sucked in a sharp, trembling breath. “I tried to warn him. I swear I did.”I blinked. “Warn him about what?”Julian stepped closer, trying to hear the call.Sally’s voice broke on the other end. “Yvonne, he shouldn’t have left the building. They’re not random. They’re not reporters. They’re not after you.”My stomach clenched. “Then who—”Her next words came out choked. “They’re here for him because of Derrick.”Everything in me is still.Julian froze mid-step, his face draining of color.“Derrick?” I whispered. “What does that mean…”Sally continued, talking too fas

CHAPTER 67; When the Door Finally GaveThe second gunshot hit the steel harder than the first.The sound ricocheted through the small room, bouncing around my skull until it felt like the walls were closing in.I pressed myself into the corner, one hand clamped over my mouth, the other gripping my phone like it was the last real thing I had left.Ethan’s message burned on the screen.I’m almost there.Don’t open the door.I wanted to believe him.I wanted to cling to it the way drowning people cling to air.But the doorframe was splitting.And Derrick wasn’t stopping.Another strike hammered the lock. The metal creaked, the sound high and sharp, like something about to snap.Julian…The guard…Where were they?Were they caught?Were they fighting?Were they…A loud drag of metal pulled me out of the spiral.Derrick spoke again, voice lowered, calm, almost patient.“Yvonne,” he said. “I know you’re scared. I know you’re shaking.”I squeezed my eyes shut.“Open this door, sweetheart, an

CHAPTER 69; The Man Who Took Derrick’s PlaceFor a full heartbeat, all I heard was my own pulse.Loud.Off-beat.Panicked.Derrick was dead.Dead.Not threatened.Not missing.Not hiding.Gone.Taken out like a piece in someone else’s game.My breath caught in my throat as the words on my screen burned into my vision, refusing to disappear.“FOUND DEAD.”“FOUL PLAY.”“UNKNOWN SUSPECT.”Ethan slid the shooter’s phone into his pocket, his movements slow, calculated, terrifyingly calm.But his eyes…His eyes were something else entirely.Cold.Sharp.Focused.Like a man who had just confirmed the worst suspicion he’d been carrying quietly.“Ethan,” I whispered. “They killed him.”He didn’t answer at first.He pressed a hand to his injured shoulder only when I stepped closer and even then, it looked more like he was making sure I didn’t touch the blood than acknowledging his own pain.“He was a pawn,” Ethan murmured.My breath trembled. “But..he’s dead.”“Yes.”“Then the danger is over,