RETURN OF THE SHADOW WAR GOD: The Ex-wife's Ruin

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Selena/Victor POV

Selena’s fingers tore through the heavy black paper of the envelope.

Inside sat a single folded sheet of thick parchment bearing the gold crest of Aureus Royal Vaults. Her eyes scrambled across the sharp, printed text, scanning past legal jargon until her focus locked onto the bold line near the center:

CERTIFICATE OF AUTHENTICITY & TITLED OWNERSHIP

Item: Imperial Blue Diamond (Uncut, Natural).

Carat Weight: 12.4ct.

Appraised Value: $28,500,000 USD.

Registered Owner: Jaden Stallion.

Below the appraisal sat a hand-written note in Jaden’s neat, clipped penmanship:

You called it fake glass. It was the only thing of value I brought into your father's house.

Selena’s breath hitched. Her knees buckled, her heels catching on the carpet as she sank down onto the edge of the small desk.

Twenty-eight million dollars.

Her mind raced, frantically trying to fit the number onto the man she had lived with for three years. Jaden? The man who wore forty-dollar shoes? The man who spent his afternoons chopping vegetables in her mother’s kitchen and waiting by the door to carry her shopping bags?

It didn't make sense. It couldn't make sense. If Jaden actually owned this, it meant she had thrown away a sovereign monarch to sleep next to a corporate debtor. It meant every insult her family had spat at him was a sick joke where they were the punchline. The sheer weight of that realization threatened to crush her chest.

"Give me that!" Victor growled, lunging forward to snatch the paper from her hand.

He scanned the gold seal, his eyes widening in brief, naked terror before his mouth twisted into an ugly, bitter sneer. A sharp, mocking laugh burst from his throat.

"You idiot," Victor spat, tossing the certificate back into her lap. "You actually fell for it?"

Selena blinked, her eyes wet as she looked up at him. "Victor... the seal is official. The marshals outside—"

"The marshals are executing an automated loan default!" Victor snapped, wiping sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. "Think for two seconds, Selena! Do you honestly believe a guy who slept on a sofa in your back room for thirty-six months owns an imperial diamond? Where would he get twenty-eight million dollars?"

"He... he said he brought it with him—"

"He stole it!" Victor shouted, leaning down until his face was inches from hers. His breath reeked of stale scotch. "Use your brain! Jaden worked as a low-level errand boy or driver for Aureus Capital before you met him. That’s how he knew about their internal filing codes! He stole this ring out of an executive vault, hid it in your closet, and used stolen authorization keys to flag my loan account last night!"

Selena stared at the wooden box in her hands. The thought took root instantly, feeding on her desperate need to protect her pride.

Of course.

Jaden wasn't a secret billionaire. He was a thief. A bitter, jealous houseboy who had taken advantage of his former employer’s access codes to pull off a petty revenge stunt against Victor.

"He used stolen authority to freeze my accounts," Victor said, his voice rising with a frantic, triumphant energy as he paced the small room. "He thinks he’s clever. But the moment the real Chairman of Aureus Capital—the real War God—looks at the audit logs and sees a discarded driver using company assets to settle a personal grudge? They’ll skin him alive!"

A wave of cold relief washed over Selena, burning away the panic that had nearly choked her. The illusion was safe. Jaden was still the loser she had always known him to be.

"He stole from the Aureus Chairman," Selena whispered, a dark, cruel smile breaking through her tear-stained face. She clutched the cherrywood box tight against her ribs. "He used a monster's name to bully us. When the Chairman finds out, Jaden won't just be broke—he'll be dead."

"Exactly," Victor hissed. "We just need to find the real executives at Aureus, hand them this stolen ring, and show them what Jaden did. They'll lift my freeze and destroy Jaden for using their name."

Before Selena could answer, two uniformed marshals stepped into the doorway, their heavy boots thudding against the floorboards.

"Out," the lead marshal said flatly, pointing a gloved finger toward the front lawn. "The moving crew is locking the structure."

Victor tried to argue, but the second officer grabbed him by the arm, hauling him backward down the hallway and tossing him out onto the wet grass like a sack of trash. Selena followed slowly, holding the ring box to her chest like a weapon. She stepped over her mother, who was still weeping hysterically on the porch, and stared down the driveway at the gray morning sky.

Enjoy your little victory, Jaden, she thought, her eyes narrowing into cold slits of spite. You played with fire. And the real master of Aureus is going to burn you to ashes.

Six thousand miles away, the supersonic engines of a twin-engine jet whined down to a low rumble as the aircraft touched down on the black asphalt runway of Golden Island.

The storm here was violent. Waves crashing against the high cliff faces threw white salt spray sixty feet into the night air, soaking the tarmac in seconds.

Jaden stepped down the air stairs, his charcoal coat flapping in the gale. Marcus walked half a pace behind him, a satellite receiver strapped to his wrist.

Four black armored SUVs sat idling at the edge of the runway, their headlights cutting narrow beams through the driving rain.

Jaden stopped ten paces from the lead vehicle. He didn't reach for a weapon. He simply stood in the wind, his eyes scanning the dark treeline surrounding the airfield.

The driver’s side door of the front SUV opened. A man in heavy tactical armor stepped out into the rain. He wore the three gold stars of a First Division Commander on his collar.

General Vance. A man Jaden had pulled out of a burning trench eight years ago.

Vance didn't bow. His hand rested heavy on the grip of his holstered sidearm. Behind him, the rear doors of all four SUVs slid open in unison. Dozens of heavily armed contractors stepped out into the dark, their boots crunching on the wet gravel.

"War God," Vance called out, his voice barely carrying over the roar of the surf. He stayed twenty feet away. "You shouldn't have broken dormancy early."

Jaden didn't flinch. He looked at Vance’s hand resting on his pistol, then at the tactical contractors taking up flanking positions around the tarmac.

"Where is Kael?" Jaden asked. His voice was low, but it cut through the storm like steel sliding from a sheath.

"Commander Kael is currently securing the central vault," Vance replied, his posture stiff, his eyes avoiding Jaden's face. "Under Section Nine of the Island Charter, a sovereign who abandons his post for domestic affairs forfeits immediate command during a state of emergency. You are to be placed in administrative custody until the High Council convenes."

Marcus took a fast step forward, his hand dropping to his jacket, but Jaden held up a single finger, stopping him instantly.

Jaden took one slow step toward Vance.

Red laser sights instantly flickered through the fog, dozens of small crimson dots painting across Jaden’s chest and throat.

"Stand down, Jaden," Vance said, his voice tightening as he drew his pistol halfway from its holster. "I have thirty men here. The island grid is locked. You have nowhere to run."

Jaden looked down at the red dots dancing over his coat, then raised his eyes back to the general he had once saved.

"Vance," Jaden said, taking another step forward into the glare of the headlights. "You have five seconds to order your men to put those rifles on the ground. On the sixth second, I stop treating you like my brother."