Hell Prison smelled like rust and regret.The long hallway was dimly lit, and the silence inside was the kind that pressed against your chest. Hundreds of men stood in perfect stillness, their eyes locked forward, their breathing controlled. Not one of them dared to make a sound.At the center of it all, an old man sat with the calmness of someone who had already seen everything the world had to offer. His hands were steady as he held out a ring, placing it gently into the palm of a younger man standing before him."From today," the old man spoke quietly, his eyes carrying the weight of a thousand unspoken things. "You are the new leader of Apex of the Stars. Codenamed Zeus."Edward Cole accepted the ring without a word. His face was carved from stone, jaw set, eyes steady and unreadable. It was the face of a man who had long learned to carry weight without letting it show. Behind him, hundreds of people lowered their heads in unison, a silent wave of respect that filled the hollow

Eliza's eyes stayed on Edward for a moment longer than necessary, her brow pulling together slightly as she studied his face.She thought he was acting on impulse. That he had signed out of pride and wounded ego, the way a man who had nothing left sometimes made dramatic gestures just to feel like he still had some control over something."Edward," she began, her tone careful and measured.He did not look at her with anger. He did not look at her with sadness either. He simply looked at her the way someone looks at a closed door and replied, utterly calm, "Just don't regret it in the future."Cathy let out a sharp laugh, the kind that was designed to draw blood."Regret?" she sneered, her eyes bright with amusement and cruelty. "Who in their right mind would regret throwing out the trash? Only a complete fool would lose sleep over losing something as worthless as you, Edward. Trust me, the air already smells cleaner."Eliza turned and gave Cathy a single sharp look. Cathy closed her m

Vivien's eyes moved to Jenna slowly, the way someone turns to look at something that has just made an unpleasant noise.The warmth that had been in her voice when she spoke to Edward was completely gone. What replaced it was flat and cold and entirely unbothered."Who are you?" she asked, her tone carrying no heat, no curiosity, nothing at all. Just the bare question, the way you might ask someone why they were standing in the middle of a road.Jenna blinked, clearly not expecting to be spoken to like that. She straightened her back and pulled her expression into something sharp and dismissive, her eyes raking over Vivien once from head to toe."Who am I?" Jenna's lip curled. "I am asking the questions here, not you. You walked onto private property with your little bodyguard parade like you own the street." She took one step forward, her voice dropping into something uglier. "You are nobody. A pretty face with rented muscle. Now take your shameless self and get out of my sight before

Ken Norton was not a man who handled bad news quietly.He stood in the middle of his living room with his phone pressed hard against his ear, his face going through several shades of red as Jenna's voice poured through the speaker, broken and furious and loud enough that he had to hold the phone slightly away. When she finally stopped talking, he stood there for a moment with his jaw tight and his breathing controlled in the way that meant he was not calm at all.His son's leg was broken. Broken by a man who had no money, no family name, no position in the world worth mentioning. A man who had walked out of prison that same morning with a paper bag and the audacity to still be breathing.Ken set his phone down on the table. Then he picked up a different number.The man who answered on the third ring was not someone Ken introduced at dinner parties. He was someone Ken kept stored under a different name in his contacts, someone useful for situations that required a certain kind of so

The doctor had been patient for longer than most people would have managed.He stood at the reception desk with his clipboard held at his side and his expression professionally blank, watching Jenna pace and point and perform her outrage for the growing audience of nurses, patients, and visitors who had slowed their walking to watch what was happening in the lobby. He had delivered bad news to grieving families. He had managed aggressive patients and panicked relatives and men who thought their money gave them the right to rewrite medical protocol. He was experienced.But Jenna Norton was testing the outer edges of that experience."I am not leaving this desk," Jenna's voice rang out, sharp and absolute, her finger pressed flat against the counter like she was pinning something down. "Not until someone in this building tells me why my son, who is sitting in that chair in genuine pain, cannot be given a proper room. This is supposed to be the best hospital in the city. The best. And