BETRAYED ONCE: FROM NOTHING TO BILLIONIARE POWER

Chapter 19: Threat

Nikolai stepped around the table and extended his hand. “May the best man win.”

Ryan looked at it but didn't move. “There is no best man between us,” he said. “There’s only the man who wins.”

With those last words, the room emptied slowly. First, the lawyers who were the first to slip out were already whispering what seems to be a plan. Nikolai and his people followed, muttering in a low voice.

Zoula and Christopher were escorted out by Marcus, who watched their car disappear down the driveway. Even with the car gone, suspicion still clouded Marcuse's face like a second skin, which Ryan noticed.

When he returned, only three of them remained in the room.

The silence felt different now, heavier.

Harrison exhaled deeply, grabbing a glass of water, and downed it in one go before dropping into a chair like the weight of the world had just settled on his shoulders.

“Well,” he muttered. “That could have gone worse.”

Ryan sat across from him. “It’s not over,” he replied with the words of Nikolai still lingering in his mind. 

“No,” Harrison agreed, placing the empty glass down with a soft thud. “It’s not.”

He rubbed his temple, thinking. “The Volkovs will file an appeal within days, maybe sooner, and they'll drag this through the courts for years if they can. They have the money and influence.”

Ryan’s jaw tightened. “Can they win?”

Harrison shook his head firmly. “No. The will is ironclad. Your father made sure of that.”

Harrison's words were halfway through Ryan's heart before his next words hung in his throat.

“They don’t need to win,” he added.

Ryan frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

“They just need to slow you down,” Harrison replied. “Keep you tied up and distracted from using Aether against them.”

Realization flickered in Ryan’s eyes. “That’s their real objective.”

Ryan leaned back, processing his thoughts. “Katerina, what’s her role in all of this?” 

Harrison hesitated, and that alone was enough to answer.

“Is she in danger?” Ryan pressed.

Harrison exhaled slowly, looking down at his hands. “Your father wanted to protect her. That’s why he gave her ten percent, enough to keep her connected but not enough to make her a primary target.”

Ryan’s eyes hardened. “So for now she is safe, but she’s still vulnerable.”

“Yes,” Harrison admitted as if reading his mind. “The Volkovs will try to turn her against you. Convince her you stole something that was hers and make her a sympathetic figure in court.”

“And she’s young,” Marcus added quietly. “Emotional, and that is easier to manipulate.”

Ryan shook his head slightly. “She doesn’t hate me.”

Marcus and Harrison looked at him.

“She hates him,” Ryan continued. “For dying and not answering her questions. She wants to know why she wasn't good enough, and she’s been carrying that for years.”

Harrison was silent for a moment. “Can you reach her before they do?” he asked finally. 

Ryan turned his head, looking out the tall windows. The driveway was empty now, and the car that had taken Katerina away was long gone.

“I don’t know,” he said quietly. “But I have to try. She's my sister after all.”

A sharp buzz cut through the room, and everyone snapped their heads towards Marcus. He wrinkled his face and pulled out the device, scanning the screen.

His expression changed.

“What is it?” Ryan asked.

Marcus looked up slowly. “We have a problem.”

Ryan didn’t react. “What kind of problem?”

Marcus stepped forward, his voice low, controlled. “There’s something that doesn’t add up,” he said. “The way you got tied to the Zhou family in the first place, it’s too clean.”

Ryan frowned slightly. “I was good at what I did, and I stood out.”

"Yes." Marcus nodded. “You were a rising star, but the Zhou family doesn’t work like that.”

He shook his head. “They don’t elevate outsiders, not really. They use them and give them titles without power. Keep them close but never important.”

Ryan’s expression darkened as his last situation crawled into his mind. 

“So why you?” Marcus continued. “Why bring you in and tie you to them permanently?”

Harrison finally sighs. “Someone had to point you out. 

“Someone on the inside,” Marcu added. “Feeding them information and telling them exactly who you were, where you were, and how to get to you.”

Ryan paused, unable to process the thought.

“My contact, don't lie,” he added immediately. “They found you and set everything up, the marriage, and then you ‘died’ a week after your father.”

Silence lingered through the room like a hunted ghost. Indeed, the Zhou family was known for their in-house family business. Even their board members were either relatively bonded by blood or marriage.

Ryan’s voice was quiet. “That’s not a coincidence,” he added, understanding hitting him like a bullet. His gaze shifted slowly to Harrison. “Which means there is a mole inside Aether, probably someone close with access,” he added.

Harrison went pale, with confusion crawling into his face. “What?” he said, shaking his head. “No, it's impossible. I trust everyone on my team!”

Marcus didn’t even blink. “And that is exactly the problem.”

Harrison narrowed his gaze to him but remained silent as if thinking of the possibility. Finally looked up at Ryan. “I don't know who it is, but whoever has been feeding information to the Volkovs about your father and the company—" He stopped forcing a lump down his throat.

“I will find them.”

His words sent another wave of silence to linger through the room.

Ryan scoffed. “So someone in Aether plans to annihilate me." As much as the words sounded ridiculous, he couldn't but wonder who in his father's company would have that mindset.