BLACK LEDGER

5

Kellan sipped his black coffee, which had already gone cold. In front of him, three large monitors displayed stock graphs fluctuating like an unstable heartbeat. But his eyes weren't focused on the red or green numbers. His gaze was fixed on a small window in the corner of the screen: the CCTV feed from the McKenn Logistics office.

There, Gina sat at her desk, massaging her temples. Beside her, Dwayne stood, proffering a folder. The way Dwayne leaned in, the way his hand almost brushed Gina’s shoulder—every inch of his movement was an insult to Kellan.

"Vane," Kellan called out without looking back.

Vane appeared from behind the apartment's sliding door, carrying a tablet. "The data for Philips Construction is ready, Mr. Crowe. Dwayne is betting everything on the downtown Superblock development project. He’s borrowed heavily from the Central Bank, using all his personal assets as collateral."

Kellan smirked. It wasn't the smirk of a hero. It was the smirk of a predator watching its prey step into a pitfall.

"He thinks he’s a hero for helping Gina with that borrowed money?" Kellan stood up, straightening the sleeves of a shirt worth thousands of dollars. "How long do we need to cut off that cash flow?"

"One phone call from Sebastian Crowe to the bank's board of directors," Vane replied calmly. "They are more afraid of losing our investment than they are of brushing aside a local businessman like Dwayne."

"Do it," Kellan commanded curtly. "But don’t bankrupt him instantly. I want him to feel the slow choke. I want him to know what it feels like to watch your world collapse while you're powerless to stop it."

---

That afternoon, Kellan stepped into a high-end restaurant on the top floor of a five-star hotel. Andy was already waiting. He no longer looked like a fierce harbor thug; he wore a branded shirt, attempting to look high-class, though the scar on his chin still gave away his true nature.

"Mr. Crowe," Andy stood up, his voice slightly trembling. The incident at the harbor yesterday was clearly still fresh in his mind. "I didn't realize you wanted to meet formally."

Kellan sat down uninvited. "I hear you're Paulo’s go-to guy for 'field' matters."

Andy swallowed hard. "I just follow orders, sir."

"I have a new order for you," Kellan leaned forward. "Dwayne Philips. He has a project downtown. I want some 'technical issues' there. A strike, a material shortage—whatever it takes to delay construction for a month."

Andy frowned. "But... Dwayne is Paulo’s ally. Paulo is the one guaranteeing his project's security."

Kellan placed a check on the table. The figure written there was enough for Andy to retire and move abroad without ever fearing Paulo.

"Paulo gives you orders; I give you a future," Kellan said coldly. "And if you refuse, I still have the CCTV footage of you killing that police informant at the pier two years ago. Which do you choose, Andy?"

Andy’s face went pale. He stared at the check, then into Kellan’s eyes, which held not a single flicker of doubt. "What do I need to do?"

---

That night, Kellan returned to his "golden cage." He opened the black phone again.

On the screen, he saw chaos. Gina looked panicked in her office. Dwayne was there, pacing back and forth while talking on the phone, his face flushed red. It seemed the news about the bank’s withdrawal and the project issues had reached him.

Kellan watched Dwayne bark at someone over the phone, then slump dejectedly into a guest chair in Gina’s office. Gina approached, handed him a glass of water, and patted Dwayne’s back to comfort him.

Dammit.

Kellan slammed his fist against the wall. Instead of pushing Dwayne away, his plan was making Dwayne look like a "struggling victim" in Gina’s eyes.

"Sydney!" Kellan roared.

Sydney emerged from the darkness of the balcony as if she were always there, monitoring Kellan’s every move. "You’re too emotional, Sebastian. You want to destroy him, but you’re just giving him a stage to play the martyr."

"He’s using her empathy to get close to my wife!" Kellan turned with bloodshot eyes. "Every time he suffers, Gina will feel indebted because he’s suffering 'to help her'."

Sydney walked closer, staring at the phone screen still displaying the scene. "Then change the narrative. Don’t make him look like he’s suffering to help her. Make him look like he was the cause of the problem all along."

Kellan went silent. His military brain began to churn. He couldn't just attack from the outside. He had to make Gina doubt Dwayne.

"Vane!" Kellan called his assistant again. "Find out about Dwayne’s past relationship with Paulo. I don’t believe Dwayne could be this successful without a 'dirty hand' helping him. There must be documents, under-the-table contracts—anything that can show Gina her hero is part of the group that’s choking her."

"In progress, sir," Vane called back from the next room.

Kellan looked back at the screen. He saw Dwayne stand up, attempting to hug Gina. Gina didn't fully reciprocate; she only touched Dwayne’s arm as if to offer encouragement.

A glimmer of hope sparked in Kellan’s heart seeing Gina maintain her distance.

"Just you wait, Dwayne," Kellan whispered. "You think you can take my role? I am the ghost that will destroy every inch of ground you walk on."

Kellan turned off the phone. He knew this war would be long. 600 chapters? He could wait, provided that in the end, he got to see Dwayne Philips crawling at his feet while Gina returned to his arms.

He stood up and walked to the window, staring toward his distant home. The rain began to fall again.

"Two years, Sydney," Kellan said without turning around. "But I’ll make sure that in six months, Dwayne Philips has nothing left to offer my wife."