2023-11-18 23:05:54The next morning, the sun streamed through the guest room curtains, a deceptive warmth spreading across the carpet. I blinked away the lingering tendrils of a restless sleep and glanced at the unfamiliar clock on the bedside table. 7:53 AM. A jolt of pure, unadulterated panic surged through me. The exam. It had already begun. My heart hammered against my ribs, a frantic drumbeat of dread.
Without wasting a precious second, I scrambled out of bed, fumbling with my clothes. My usual morning routine – the careful choosing of an outfit, the meticulous brushing of teeth – was entirely abandoned in my desperate rush. As I bolted out the door, the cold knot of anxiety tightened in my stomach. The weight of this missed, potentially life-changing, opportunity already felt crushing. Outside Cedric's house, I frantically scanned the quiet street for the driver my parents had arranged. My gaze swept left, then right, but there was no sign of the car, no familiar figure waiting. A sinking feeling intensified, turning my stomach to lead. There was only one option left: I had to run. Breathless, my lungs burning, and drenched in a cold sweat, I finally arrived at the imposing entrance of the tech company's building. My vision blurred, but the stern-faced security guard blocking the entrance was starkly clear. He crossed his arms, his expression unyielding. "Sorry, kid," he stated, his voice devoid of sympathy. "The exam has already begun. I can't let you in." Desperation clawed at my throat. "Please, sir," I begged, my voice raspy with exertion and tinged with a raw, desperate hope. "This exam… it means everything to me. Just let me in, please, and I promise I'll make it worth your while." My words tumbled out, a frantic plea for mercy, but they fell on deaf ears. The guard simply shook his head, unmoved by my obvious plight. With a heavy heart, weighted down by profound disappointment, I turned away, the dream shattering into a million pieces. I trudged back to Cedric's house, my legs feeling like lead. I found him waiting in the living room, a worried frown etched on his brow. He looked up as I entered, his concern immediately evident. "You're back early," he remarked, his tone laced with genuine worry. "How did the exam go?" I couldn't bring myself to meet his gaze. My voice was a whisper, thick with shame. "I… I missed it." Cedric's eyes widened in genuine shock, a mirror of the disbelief and despair I felt. "What happened?" he asked, his concern deepening. "I… I overslept," I admitted, the words barely audible. "I don't know what went wrong. I just… didn't wake up." Cedric's expression softened with understanding. He moved closer, placing a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Oh, Edward," he said gently, his voice full of empathy. "It's okay. We'll figure it out. Don't worry, we'll tell your parents together." As night fell, the house remained quiet, save for the insistent, worried chirping of my parents' calls on the landline, their voices a constant, distant reminder of my crushing failure. But I couldn't bring myself to answer, the overwhelming weight of disappointment too heavy to bear, too humiliating to explain. Alone in the darkness of the guest room, I wrestled with suffocating feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. The question of what had gone wrong, why I had failed so spectacularly, gnawed at me with relentless torment. And as sleep, finally, mercifully, claimed me, I found myself praying, with every fiber of my being, for a second chance—a chance to prove myself worthy of the opportunities that felt so out of reach, to silence the nagging voice of failure within.
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CHAPTER 23: The Temporary Refuge
The engine roared to life, a low, angry growl that mirrored the fury coursing through my veins. The slam of the car door was a final, definitive period on the hellish chapter I had just lived. I sped out of the driveway, the sprawling family mansion shrinking in my rearview mirror until it was just a faint, cold light in the distance. I drove with no destination, just the need to feel the wind against my face and the road beneath my wheels, a desperate attempt to outrun the pain that had been inflicted upon me.Flashbacks of the scene at the dinner table assaulted me. The words, my father's punch, the taste of blood in my mouth—each memory was a fresh stab of pain. I drove for thirty minutes, the city lights blurring into a meaningless streak of color. The anger was a fiery, consuming thing, but beneath it was a deep, hollow ache of betrayal. After a while, the adrenaline began to wane, replaced by a bone-deep exhaustion. I needed to crash, to find a place where I could process the
CHAPTER 22: Dinner With The Devil
The office clock finally showed 6:00 p.m., a time that felt like a distant dream just hours ago. The afternoon had been a blur of strained smiles and hushed apologies in conference rooms, a desperate tour with Cedric to placate a host of agitated investors. The meetings were exhausting, but we managed to buy ourselves a little time. Most of them agreed to wait for a solution, a faint glimmer of hope in a very dark day.I packed up my briefcase, the leather feeling heavier than usual, and left the office, eager for the solace of my car and the silence of the road. I needed to go home and rest my head, hoping that a few hours of peaceful slumber could erase the relentless stress of the day.The twenty-minute drive to the family house was a journey into anxiety. As I pulled into the sweeping driveway, my foot hovered over the brake, and I just sat there. The imposing mansion, with its perfectly manicured lawn and grand facade, had always been a symbol of comfort and belonging. Tonight, i
CHAPTER 21: The First Step
The heavy silence of the conference room was a stark contrast to the storm that had just passed. The echo of angry voices still lingered in the air, but now it was just Cedric and me, two men trapped in the aftermath of a corporate firing squad. I felt a strange sense of relief, a brief moment of calm before the next wave of chaos. My mind, still reeling from the events, tried to process everything that had just been said and done.I spent a moment gathering my thoughts, taking a deep breath to steady myself, before finally getting up. I had to get back to my office, to the work that was now a ticking clock, a deadline hanging over my head. But as I reached for the door, Cedric’s voice, a low and even tone, stopped me dead in my tracks.“Ed, you know those people want you gone, right?”Of course I knew. It was a fact that had been drilled into me since the first day my father introduced me as his heir. The board saw me as an imposter, a placeholder for the "true" heir, James. I turned
CHAPTER 20: The Heir's Trial
"Edward, what's going on? Why did Aetherix release a new prototype so similar to ours?"The questions began the moment my chair scraped against the polished floor. A board member, his face a mask of fury, launched the first volley. I hadn't even had a moment to settle in. Before I could formulate a response, another voice, dripping with disdain, cut in."Well, Edward, are you really so careless that you allowed such a thing to happen?"The conference room descended into a chaotic storm of accusations. Each board member, a powerful and unforgiving figure, seemed to be competing to see who could land the most damaging blow. My attempts to speak were swallowed by the noise. They complained about their wasted investments, their voices a chorus of greed and contempt. This was nothing new. They had never liked me, the adopted son who had been given a position they believed I didn't deserve."Everyone, please calm down." My father's voice, a deep and steady command, cut through the din. The
CHAPTER 19: The 12th Floor
I went back to my office, the silent hum of my computer a stark contrast to the frantic energy that still coursed through the building. Ignoring the half-empty cup of coffee on my desk, I began a frantic search of the market, a digital deep dive into the latest technological trends. I was a man on a mission, hoping to find some new, revolutionary project that could, against all odds, surpass the Cobots and save the company from utter ruin. An hour later, a soft, tentative knock on my office door pulled me from my frantic work."Come in," I said, my eyes still glued to the screen, scrolling through endless data. I looked up to see Marcus, his face a roadmap of stress and exhaustion. The hopeful energy I had felt a moment ago dissipated instantly. I braced myself for the bad news."Sir," he began, his voice barely above a whisper, "the IT team checked the EDR. It was disabled last night."I felt the blood drain from my face. My mind, already frayed from the morning’s revelations, strugg
CHAPTER 18: Corporate Espionage
The clock on my dashboard read 7:55 a.m. I pulled into the company's parking garage, the screech of my tires on concrete a jarring echo of the chaos in my mind. The entire building was a hive of frantic energy. I could feel the panic radiating from the glass and steel structure even before I stepped inside. The air was thick with it—a palpable, heavy dread that clung to the polished floors and marble walls.On my way to the conference hall, I saw Cedric, my so-called business partner, cornering two junior employees. His face, usually a mask of detached arrogance, was grim and etched with a severity I’d never seen before. "I need you two to find some high-ranking forensic analysts," he said, his voice a low, urgent hiss. "We need to get to the bottom of this and find out how our prototype got leaked.""Yes, sir," they stammered, their eyes wide with fear, before they scattered like startled birds.Our eyes met for a fleeting second. His were hard, calculating, and devoid of their usual
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