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Chapter 8: The Ghost of the Past
She held the card between two fingers like it might shatter. “That crest—what is that? It looks… old.” “It’s Beaumont,” I said. “Elena, speak English.” “It’s a name,” I said. “A name that used to make people vanish.” She blinked. “Beaumont? You mean the Beaumonts? But they’ve been gone for—” “For decades,” I finished. “Officially dead. Erased. Like a stain someone thought they scrubbed out.” “What are you doing standing here like you just saw a ghost?” Her eyes were a burn now. “Tell me.” “I’m taking you out of here.” I let the limo wait at the curb; the driver already had the door open. “Damien—now.” Damien’s voice on the phone was a low, practiced thing. “Already pulling around, sir.” “You didn’t have to come.” Elena clicked her tongue as we sank into the leather. “You could’ve said ‘meet me at the safe house’ and I would’ve come.” “You think I’ll leave you at a gala with a Beaumont crest in your hand?” I said. “You think I’ll trust anyone else to drive me to my own family
Chapter 7: The Final Gambit
The moment Elena and I stepped into the gala hall, the air shifted. Whispers snapped like sparks, all eyes tilting toward us. Crystal chandeliers rained light on gold trim and velvet gowns, but none of it mattered. Every face turned, every glass froze midair. I leaned in to Elena. “Smile, but don’t smile too much. They’re already choking.” She whispered back, “You love this.” “Correction. I love watching them squirm.” A ripple went through the crowd. The man who gutted the Hale family had just arrived. Me. And on my arm—the woman none of them could place, the woman who looked like she belonged more than any of them. At the far end of the room, Mark Corbin held court. Apex’s glossy puppet master, smug in a charcoal suit, the kind of man who thought lies worked better if you spoke them slowly. He was mid-performance, reporters locked on his every word. “It’s public record,” he drawled. “The Cole Group was built on dirty money. Adrian Cole—fraud, a man without scruples, without ho
Chapter 6: The Architect and the Mogul
The boardroom air crackled like a storm waiting to break. I walked in with Elena at my side, my chest steady, my eyes fixed on Mark Corbin—the smug CEO of Apex Innovations. He sat across the long mahogany table, his smile a weapon he thought could cut me down. He hadn’t recognized me. Not yet.“Mr. Cole,” he said smoothly, fingers steepled. “Unconventional, isn’t it? An emergency meeting over a little… intellectual property matter?”I leaned back, let my smile linger. “There’s nothing unconventional about protecting my assets, Mr. Corbin. And Elena Ward’s intellectual property is mine to protect.”Elena sat stiffly beside me. Her jaw locked, fists hidden in her lap. I could feel her anger radiating. Apex had tried to gut her firm, then swipe her blueprints—the heart of the Phoenix project.Mark chuckled. “We’ve made an official offer. Ward Architecture should be flattered. A generous buyout. Step aside, Cole. This is a table for real players, not… newcomers.”“Elena’s firm is not for
Chapter 5: The First Reckoning
My eyes locked with hers across the restaurant.“Final asset liquidation,” I said. Calm. Precise. Cold.Vanessa froze, the wine glass trembling in her hand. Her lips parted, but no sound came out. Her pupils widened, and I saw the exact second she understood. Everything she owned, everything she flaunted, everything she used to humiliate me—gone.Her throat worked, but still no sound. She looked at me. Then at Elena. Then back to me. The horror crawled over her face like fire consuming dry wood.“You…” Her voice cracked. “You can’t mean—”“Oh, I do,” I cut in. “It’s already happening. While you sit here, sipping overpriced wine, the papers are signed, the locks changed. You’ll find nothing left to your name by the time you walk out that door.”Elena leaned closer, her voice a soft contrast to the chaos in Vanessa’s eyes. “Adrian, is this wise? She looks… destroyed.”I didn’t break eye contact with Vanessa. “It’s necessary.”Vanessa’s chair scraped the floor. She stumbled back, nearly
Chapter 4: The Unlikely Ally
The divorce papers sat on my desk like a nuclear device that had just detonated. Vanessa Hale stood there, silent, her face pale, her whole body trembling with fury she didn’t want me to see. Richard Hale broke first.Richard: “You… you planned this.” His voice cracked, disbelief laced with rage. “You destroyed us deliberately.”Me: “I exploited your arrogance. That’s all. You gave me the keys, I opened the vault. The Hale family invited me into the heart of their empire, and I simply listened.”Richard stumbled into a chair, covering his face with his hands. Vanessa didn’t flinch. Her eyes cut through me, hate blazing.Vanessa: “You think this is the end? You think you’ll just take everything and walk away clean? No. I’ll fight you. I’ll expose you. The board, the media, they’ll see you for the monster you are.”Me: laughing, sharp and hollow “Tell them. Go ahead. Shout it from the rooftops. Tell the world that the Hales, once untouchable, lost everything to the man they called worth
Chapter 3: The First Casualty
The elevator doors sealed shut with a hiss. My reflection stared back at me from the polished steel: sharp suit, cold eyes, jaw set like stone. Behind me, Vanessa’s outline lingered, her hand frozen mid-air as if she still couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed. Her disbelief was the sweetest silence I’d heard in three years. “Sir,” Jax murmured from my side, voice low and steady. “Not a word,” I said, eyes locked on my reflection. The numbers above the door climbed toward the penthouse. The higher they rose, the more electric the air became, humming with the weight of years. My fists flexed at my sides. Three years of playing the harmless husband, the obedient son-in-law, the forgotten man in their empire. Three years of swallowing insult after insult, silence after silence. Now? Silence belonged to them. The doors slid open. The Hale Group’s top office spread before me—dark wood, hulking leather chairs, walls lined with power. Or at least the illusion of it. Ric
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