PRICE OF REGRET

CHAPTER 4 – Ghosts and Shadows

The storm had passed, but Foreman Tower still felt electric. Jake’s office, thirty floors above the city, glowed in the half-light of evening. Screens flickered with data; behind them, the skyline pulsed like a heartbeat.

His phone lay on the desk, silent now, but he could still hear that voice: “Someone who’s been waiting for you to come home.”

He played the recording again. Static. Two seconds of breathing. Then nothing. “Trace the number,” he ordered.

Across the room, Elena Pierce, the investigative journalist turned special consultant, looked up from her laptop.

“Already tried. It’s bouncing through six dead servers. Whoever called knows your system inside out.”

“Could it be a rival?”

“Or an insider,” she said quietly. “Project Ascendant rings any bells?”

Jake froze. “Where did you hear that name?”

“A file on your grandfather’s private server. It vanished the moment I opened it.”

Jake leaned back, staring at the city lights. “Then it’s not just a project. It’s a secret someone’s willing to protect.”

Elena closed the laptop. “Whatever it is, you’re already part of it.”

Across town, Daniela Alvarez sat alone in her car outside Foreman Tower’s private entrance. Her reflection stared back at her, flawless makeup, perfect posture, but her eyes betrayed the panic beneath.

“You don’t have an appointment, ma’am,” the guard said.

“Tell him it’s personal.”

“Mr. Foreman doesn’t take personal visitors.”

She forced a brittle smile. “He’ll want to see me.”

The guard’s radio crackled. A female voice replied, “No exceptions. Not even her.”

Daniela’s heart sank. She turned the key, engine humming. He really meant it. Her phone buzzed. Unknown number. “Daniela Alvarez?” a woman’s voice said. “Who is this?”

“Someone who thinks we both lost the same man.”

“Elena Pierce,” Daniela guessed. “Smart girl,” the voice said before the line went dead.

Daniela gripped the wheel. The game had changed, and she wasn’t even on the board anymore.

At the tower, Jake’s office door opened. Lawrence Foreman entered, moving slower than before but still commanding the air around him. “You’re digging already,” he said.

“Someone called me,” Jake replied. “Knew about Ascendant.”

Lawrence’s gaze hardened. “Then stop digging. Some ghosts should stay buried.”

“Ghosts have a way of finding you,” Jake said.

Lawrence sighed, turning toward the window. “You think power is about control. It’s not. It’s about survival. Remember that.”

“Whose survival?”

“Ours.”

And with that, the old man left, leaving the office colder than before. Elena looked up. “You think he’s hiding something?”

“I think everyone is.”

Jake’s phone buzzed again, his assistant this time. “Sir, there’s someone insisting on seeing you. Says it’s urgent.”

“Name?”

“Daniela Alvarez.”

Elena’s eyes widened. “Your ex-wife?”

Jake exhaled slowly. “Send her up.”

The elevator chimed. Daniela stepped out, dressed in white, flawless as ever, but the arrogance was gone. The moment their eyes met, time folded in on itself. “Jake,” she whispered.

“Daniela.”

“I needed to see you.”

“You made that clear last time we spoke, when you told me to leave.”

“I was wrong.”

“About everything,” he said flatly.

Silence filled the space between them, years of silence, weighted with things they could never take back. “I didn’t know who you really were,” she said finally.

“Neither did I.”

“Jake, please… just hear me out.”

“Say what you came to say.”

Her eyes glistened. “You’re in danger.”

Jake’s expression didn’t change. “From what?”

“From your family.”

Elena stepped forward. “Convenient warning, considering your timing.”

Daniela turned to her. “And who are you?”

“Someone who actually believes him.”

The tension snapped. Jake raised a hand. “Enough.”

“Jake,” Daniela whispered again, voice breaking, “Project Ascendant isn’t what you think. It’s not business, it’s control.”

Jake’s heart thudded once, hard. “You’ve heard that name too?”

Daniela nodded. “The man I” She stopped, shame flickering across her face. “The man I thought loved me worked for them. They wanted you gone.”

Elena’s eyes narrowed. “Who are they?”

Daniela shook her head. “If I say more, we all end up dead.”

Before Jake could speak, the lights flickered once, twice, then steadied. His phone lit up with a message: STOP DIGGING.

A chill passed through the room. Elena whispered, “We’ve been tapped.”

Jake looked from her to Daniela. Two women, two lives, both colliding into the storm he’d just inherited. “Whatever this is,” he said quietly, “it’s already started.”

He moved to the window, staring down at the street. A black SUV idled across the road, headlights off, engine running. Daniela’s voice trembled. “They’re watching you.”

Jake turned, eyes hard. “Then let them watch.”

He picked up his phone and called security. “Lock down every entrance. Nobody leaves until I say so.”

Daniela’s breath caught. “What are you doing?”

“Taking control,” he said.

The room buzzed with quiet power. Somewhere below, alarms began to echo. Elena touched his arm. “Jake, this isn’t just business.”

He met her eyes. “Neither was my marriage.”

The elevator chimed again, too soon. The doors slid open, revealing a tall man in a gray suit Jake had never seen before.

“Mr. Foreman,” the man said calmly, flashing an ID marked with the Foreman crest. “The board requests your presence. Now.”

Jake studied him. “And if I refuse?”

The man smiled thinly. “Then they’ll assume you already know too much.”