"What?" Marcus asked, his voice cracking with alarm."Yes, you twat!" the manager's voice came back even louder, boiling with fury. "Do you have any idea what you've just done?""Erm — I don't — I didn't—" Marcus stumbled over his words so fast he bit down on his own tongue, wincing sharply."I don’t want to hear you incompetent excuse for an employee. Leave your ID on your desk and be gone before I get there!" the manager thundered."Sir, please—" Marcus barely got the words out before the line went dead."Hello? Hello? Hello?" His voice climbed with every repetition, but the cold realization settling into his spine had nothing to do with the dead line and everything to do with the fact that his manager was apparently already on his way.He turned slowly toward Ethan. "You — what did you just do?"It wasn't quite an accusation. Ethan could hear that clearly enough— it was closer to raw desperation, the sound of a man scrambling for a solution he had no idea how to find."I did what w

Ethan sat at his desk, reviewing a stack of reports, when Henry stepped into the office."Sir," Henry said, his voice pitched low enough not to interrupt whatever had Ethan's attention so thoroughly."Yes, Henry." Ethan didn't look up right away. "What do you have for me?""I just got off the phone with Wellington's representatives. All the liquid funds have been transferred and are ready to be reinvested into our holdings, as promised.""Excellent." Ethan finally set the report down, leaning back slightly in his seat.Henry hesitated, not quite meeting Ethan's eyes. "There's also something else. Some information that's been circulating.""Which is?" Ethan asked, unbothered, though a flicker of curiosity crossed his face."Ford Group is furious that we managed to pull one of their associates out from under them. From what I've heard, they've tightened their internal contracts even further, and it looks like they're preparing to pursue legal action to stop this from happening again."H

"Mr. Ethan," Vanessa said, her expression caught somewhere between surprise and mild amusement as she spotted him waiting calmly outside. "Vanessa." Ethan pushed off from the wall he'd been leaning against, hands still tucked into his pockets. "I'm surprised you decided to come here alone," she said, though her eyes had already flicked down his outfit before she caught herself and dragged her gaze back up, careful not to let it linger long enough to seem rude. "I didn't see the need to drag anyone else along," Ethan said. "What we're doing today is between the two of us." Vanessa gave him a quick once-over, and Ethan used the moment to study her in return — the fitted blazer, the pencil skirt, the whole look sharp and deliberately professional — which made her fold her arms self-consciously across her chest. "Mr. Ethan, is something wrong?" she asked, trying to stay unbothered, though her eyes drifted sideways, letting a stray piece of hair fall forward to hide the faint color ris

"Oh!" The woman blurted out, flustered. "I'm so sorry, I completely misunderstood the situation."“You definitely did,” Venssa said, thoroughly disappointed with the woman's behavior."Please forgive me. Might I have your card, sir?" she asked, forcing a fleeting smile that lasted all of two seconds before Ethan's unmoved expression made it falter entirely.Vanessa looked even more aggravated than before.She hadn't expected such blatant disrespect, not here, and especially not towards Ethan. Still, from the corner of her eye, she kept watching what he was going to do, unsure what actions he’d take next given how unreadable his mood had become.She couldn’t help but notice how fast her heart beat had become as she waited in anticipation.Ethan's stare held steady long enough that within two minutes, the cashier was visibly uncomfortable, sweat beading along her hairline as she avoided his eyes entirely.She had frozen where she stood as if moving an inch would upset Ethan even more.T

Williams' hand slammed down on the buzzer.Yet, he didn’t say anything immediately prompting the others to react with disdain towards him. "What do you think you're doing? Is that the exact same mistake as last time?" Reeves snapped."No, it's not!" Williams said, raising a finger to silence him. "Listen. If you noticed, there was no timer that started counting down after the buzzer was pressed." He said it slowly, like a man laying out hard-won knowledge.Ethan said nothing, watching in silence, his expression giving away nothing as he waited to see if they'd actually pieced it together correctly.He didn't bother hiding it once they had. "That's correct," Ethan said, and their eyes lit up in shock."There's no timer requiring you to answer within a set window," Ethan spelled out plainly. "You can cross-check the papers you signed earlier. There is nothing in there about it. It's not a trick, and it's not a gimmick and you don’t need to worry about any pop up rules that is not alrea