Beneath The Mask

Chapter 1: The Return of the Ghost

The boardroom reeked of desperation masked by expensive cologne and tailored suits.

Men who once ruled the city with iron fists and forged smiles now sat across from one another, their eyes shifting nervously toward the empty seat at the head of the table. Their voices were hushed, their power rattled. They didn’t know who had summoned them—only that he now controlled the future of their legacy.

Voss International, the once-untouchable titan of industry, had been bleeding for years. What remained of its shattered empire was barely afloat. Their stocks were in freefall, their subsidiaries being devoured one by one. And now, out of nowhere, a mysterious investor had acquired 51% of their voting shares—through shell companies, offshore accounts, and a network so intricate even their best analysts couldn’t untangle it.

They waited.

Then the door opened.

A man walked in. Not rushed. Not uncertain. Every step he took was measured, deliberate, controlled.

Tall, dark suit, no tie. His jet-black hair was slicked back, face clean-shaven, features sharp. His gaze swept the room once—and every man present felt the urge to lower his eyes. There was no nameplate in front of him. Only silence and the pounding realization that they were no longer in charge.

The man took the head seat. Crossed his legs. Rested his fingertips together.

“Gentlemen,” he said, his voice calm and smooth like a blade. “Let’s begin.”

“Forgive me,” stuttered one of the directors, “but we don’t even know who you are.”

The man smiled—but there was no warmth in it. “You don’t need to know my name. You only need to know one thing: I own you now.”

A few gasps. One man rose in protest. Another reached for his phone. The stranger spoke again, barely raising his voice.

“Sit down, Mr. Eldridge. And do not call your lawyer. He’s already working for me.”

The phone was slowly lowered. Eldridge sat.

“You’ve all had your fun,” the man continued, tone turning cold. “Pillaging the company. Laundering assets. Selling off the legacy of the Voss family like it was your personal piggy bank.”

The directors stiffened.

He leaned forward. “But the Voss name? It’s not dead. And starting today, neither are its consequences.”

He reached into his jacket and slid a folder across the table. One of the directors opened it and turned pale.

It was a full audit. Offshore transfers. Embezzlement. Bribes. Signatures. Faces. Everything.

“You’re bluffing,” muttered Serena Voss, standing at the far end of the room. The only woman present. Elegant. Proud. Arrogant.

The man turned to her, studying her like a biologist examining a dead insect. “Serena. Still pretending you’re relevant?”

Her eyes narrowed. “Who the hell are you?”

The man didn’t answer. Instead, he stood and walked slowly to the glass wall behind him. The city skyline stretched out in all directions—steel, smoke, and shadows.

“I came back for one reason,” he said quietly. “To finish what you all started ten years ago.”

Serena froze.

The air shifted.

And then it hit them.

The voice.

The posture.

The fury in those cold eyes.

It couldn’t be.

“Damian…?” whispered one of the older men. “Damian Voss is dead.”

The man turned back, and for the first time, his smile reached his eyes.

“Then consider this my ghost story.”

Twelve hours earlier…

The rain fell hard over the city, smearing neon lights across black pavement. Damian stood by the window of his penthouse suite, watching the chaos below like a king observing the peasants from his throne.

The documents in his hand were warm from the printer. Finalized contracts. Ownership transfers. Stock certificates. It was done. Voss International was now under his control—at least, enough of it to make the rest beg for mercy.

Behind him, Cole Maddox, his second-in-command and war-forged companion, poured two glasses of scotch.

“They have no idea what’s coming,” Cole said, handing Damian a glass.

“That’s the point,” Damian replied.

He stared at the whiskey but didn’t drink it.

Ten years.

Ten years since the world turned on him.

They called him a thief. A fraud. A murderer.

They stripped his name, dragged his father through the mud, and lit the empire his family had built on fire—then watched it burn.

And when it was done?

They left his body in the river.

At least, they thought they had.

Present…

In the boardroom, Serena clenched her fists. “You expect us to believe you’re Damian Voss? After all these years?”

He walked past her, brushing her shoulder like she didn’t exist. “Believe what you want. I’m not here for your approval.”

“You’re a criminal—”

“Wrong. That was the lie you all sold to protect yourselves.”

He turned to the rest. “Effective immediately, I am appointing new internal auditors. Legal compliance teams will review every transaction from the past decade. If any of you think about running, I’ll have you arrested before your private jet leaves the runway.”

“You don’t have that kind of power!” someone barked.

Damian’s phone buzzed. He opened a live feed from the press.

The headline:

BREAKING: Cross Global Acquires Majority Shares in Voss International – Full Audit Announced

Cameras. Reporters. Police escorts.

Damian looked back at the room. “I do now.”

Later that night…

In a dim parking garage beneath the tower, a young woman waited by a black sedan.

Elara Quinn. Hired spy. Corporate mole. Seductress with a flawless cover.

She had orders: get close to the new CEO. Gain his trust. Learn his secrets.

As she lit a cigarette, the phone rang.

Victor Voss.

Her real employer.

“Elara,” he said. “Is it done?”

“He took the company,” she replied. “He’s… dangerous.”

“Find out who he really is.”

She hesitated. “I think I already know.”

There was a pause on the other end. “Who?”

“I think he’s your nephew.”

Victor went silent.

Then he laughed. Cold. Cruel.

“Impossible. Damian is dead.”

Elara didn’t answer. Her fingers trembled.

Because in the elevator earlier that day, when she passed the new CEO, his gaze had locked onto hers like a hunter spotting prey.

And for one second, just one, she saw it.

Pain.

Fire.

Recognition.

He knew her.

And she knew…

She had once helped destroy him.

 Damian’s penthouse — midnight

Cole handed Damian a sealed envelope. “This came from our contact at the courthouse.”

Damian opened it.

A birth certificate. A name. A signature.

Victor Voss’s illegitimate son.

Hidden.

Protected.

Being groomed to inherit everything.

Damian stared at the paper.

Then at the skyline.

Then into the mirror.

He adjusted his tie.

“Time to take back what’s mine.”

A sniper’s red dot appears on Damian’s suit through the window—but when the trigger is pulled… the bullet hits someone else.