All Chapters of Dark Fate: The Useless Son-in-Law’s Vengeance: Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
72 chapters
The decision
Marcus was scanning further down the list, his pleasant expression completely gone now. “Manufacturing capacity. Supply chain infrastructure. Logistics networks.” His hands trembled slightly as he turned pages. “They control… they could shut down production of essential goods across four continents if they wanted to.”Elizabeth’s face had gone pale. “Real estate holdings. They own the land under…” She stopped, her throat working. “They own the ground beneath seventeen of our family’s flagship developments. We’ve been paying them lease fees without even realizing it.”Victor was already cross-referencing on his tablet, his fingers moving frantically. “Media companies. Content distribution platforms. Advertising networks. Social media infrastructure.” He looked up, genuine fear in his eyes for the first time in years. “They could control the narrative on anything. Make any story disappear or amplify it to a global scale.”“Banking,” Richard said quietly, drawing their attention back to
Family Obligations
Sophia closed her laptop with a sigh, leaning back in her office chair and rubbing her temples.The meeting had lasted three hours. Three exhausting hours of going over the SunCore proposal line by line, adjusting projections, refining technical specifications, debating strategy with her team. It was good work…important work…but it had drained every ounce of energy she had.Her office was quiet now, the rest of her small team having left an hour ago. Outside the windows, the city lights were beginning to flicker on as evening settled in.Sophia’s eyes drifted to her phone sitting on the desk.Three days.It had been three days since the gala. Three days since she’d kissed Adrian and then run away like a terrified teenager. Three days of radio silence between them.She’d wanted to call. Had picked up her phone probably fifty times, typed out messages she never sent, stared at his contact information while her thumb hovered over the call button.But what would she even say?Sorry I kiss
A changed man?
Derek leaned forward, his expression shifting from exaggerated enthusiasm to something more serious. More genuine, if Sophia could believe it.“Look, Sophia,” he began, his voice dropping to a more normal volume. “I know I’ve been… I haven’t been the best cousin to you. Especially over the past few years.”Sophia blinked, surprised by the admission. This wasn’t what she’d been expecting.“I’ve been selfish,” Derek continued, his hands clasped on the table. “I’ve only called when I needed something. Money, connections, favors. And when your company went under, when you actually needed support, I…” He stopped, seeming to struggle with the words. “I wasn’t there. I disappeared like everyone else.”Sophia didn’t know what to say. Derek had never acknowledged any of this before. Had never admitted to being anything less than a supportive family member.“And the way I treated you at that gala,” Derek went on, his voice thick with what sounded like genuine regret. “Mocking you. Laughing at y
One crisis at a time
The slides were well-designed, the data was organized, the business model was clearly articulated. This wasn’t some half-baked scheme thrown together to impress her. This looked like Derek had actually put in real work.“So the concept is this,” Derek began, his enthusiasm genuine now rather than performative. “I’ve noticed a gap in the market for mid-tier corporate event planning. Most companies either go super high-end with massive budgets, or they go cheap with generic hotel conference rooms. But there’s a huge market of businesses that want quality events without breaking the bank.”He swiped through slides showing market research, competitor analysis, pricing strategies.“I’ve already made preliminary contacts with several vendors…caterers, AV companies, venue managers. And I’ve put together a sample package that I think could really work.”Sophia found herself actually paying attention. The numbers looked reasonable. The target market was well-defined. The competitive advantage
The meeting
Adrian sat in his home office, staring at his phone like it might suddenly provide answers.Three days.Three days since Sophia had kissed him and then fled from his car . Three days of silence that felt heavier with each passing hour.He’d given her space at first because he assumed that she needed time to calm down after what happened and his presence might be embarrassing for herBut now the silence was becoming unbearable, somewhere along the line he had gotten used to her presence and he didn’t know what to do with this silence.Adrian picked up his phone and pulled up Sophia’s contact. His thumb hovered over the call button for a long moment.Then he pressed it.The phone rang once. Twice. Then…“The number you have dialed cannot be reached at this time. Please try again later.”Adrian frowned and tried again.Same result.He checked his signal. Full bars. He tried calling Marcus just to make sure his phone was working. It went through immediately.So Sophia’s phone was either o
The Setup
Conference Room B was already set up when Sophia arrived.The long mahogany table had been arranged for a proper business meeting…a projector screen at one end, a laptop connected and waiting, printed documents arranged in neat folders at two seats. Bottled water, glasses, a small plate of cookies that suggested Derek had actually thought about hospitality for once.Sophia set her purse down and looked around the room with reluctant approval.Okay. He’d put in effort. That was undeniable.The room itself was professional and well-appointed, with floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the city lights beginning to sparkle in the evening darkness. Clean, modern, quiet.Sophia pulled out her chair and sat down, deciding to review the documents Derek had laid out while she waited.The folders were organized. Tabbed and all labeled clearly. Financial projections behind one tab, market research behind another, operational plans behind a third.She opened the financial projections firs
The Dark
Sophia pressed her back flat against the wall.She couldn’t see anything, and she also couldn't hear anything. She couldn’t feel anything except the cold plaster behind her shoulder blades and the rapid, shallow rhythm of her own breathing.Stop it, she told herself firmly. Stop panicking right now.She forced herself to take one slow breath. Then another.She was on the third floor of a business center in the middle of the city. Not a basement. Not a forest. A building with stairs, exits, fire escapes. Buildings had rules. Buildings had ways out. All she had to do was find one.Okay. Think.The restroom door was directly behind her. She’d just come through it, which meant the hallway ran left and right from where she was standing. When she’d arrived, she’d turned left coming out of the elevator. The elevator bank was to her right.The stairs would be near the elevator bank.Simple. She just had to walk to her right, keeping her back against the wall, moving slowly and carefully unti
The Weight of Borrowed Time
The cigarette had burned down to almost nothing.Vincent didn’t bother lighting another one. He just stood on the balcony, one hand loose on the railing, watching the city below him with the kind of stillness that only came when your thoughts were too loud for your body to keep up.Through the glass door behind him, he could hear them.Victoria and her mother, in full planning mode.“…the venue on Marchmont Street is still available,” Mrs. Stone was saying, her voice bright with the kind of excitement usually reserved for other people’s suffering. “I already made enquiries. That place is perfect.”“It needs to be bigger than that.” Victoria’s voice was sharp with the excitement"It needs to be the kind of wedding people don’t stop talking about. Something so grand that everything that happened at the gala just… disappears.”“Of course it will disappear,” Mrs. Stone agreed warmly. “When people are talking about the most spectacular wedding of the year, nobody remembers some silly busine
Wide Awake
The first thing that came back was the light.It was pale and harsh, pressing against her eyelids before she was ready for it. Sophia’s mind surfaced slowly, dragging itself up through layers of thick, heavy nothing, like pulling herself out of deep water.Her eyes opened.The ceiling was unfamiliar. White, low, a single bulb behind a frosted cover. She blinked at it, trying to remember where she was, and trying to make the fog in her head cooperate.Then her eyes came into focus.Alexander was sitting directly across from her.He was leaning back in a chair with his legs stretched out, his jacket gone, his shirt rumpled and open at the collar. He looked terrible. His eyes were red-rimmed, his hair disheveled, the careful grooming he usually maintained completely abandoned. He was staring at her with the hollow, slightly unfocused look of a man who hadn’t slept and had stopped caring about it.Sophia’s body registered the situation before her mind fully caught up. She tried to sit upr
He Will Come
“He’ll come,” Sophia said quietly. “And you’re going to regret every single decision you’ve made tonight.”Alexander stared at her for a moment.Then he crossed the room and slapped her across the face.The sound was sharp and flat in the small space. Sophia’s head snapped sideways, her hair falling across her face. Pain bloomed hot across her cheek, her eyes stinging immediately.She didn’t make a sound.Alexander stood over her, breathing hard. “He’ll come,” he repeated, his voice mocking. “He’ll come.” He laughed, short and ugly. “Who exactly do you think Adrian is, Sophia? Tell me. Because I’m genuinely curious.”She pushed her hair back from her face slowly, her jaw tight.“He’s nobody,” Alexander continued, beginning to pace, his limp more pronounced now, each step slightly uneven from what she’d done to him in that corridor. He moved carefully but tried to hide it, which somehow made it worse for him. “He’s a small fly that happened to have more connections than anyone expected