THE HIDDEN KING

Chapter 2: Cracks in the Empire

The Monroe penthouse glittered in the midnight haze, its floor-to-ceiling windows framing the city like a jewel box. Ashley stood at the balcony with her glass of wine, savoring the illusion of triumph.

She had dismissed Gordon’s cryptic words as nothing more than wounded pride. Yet her hand trembled slightly as she lifted the glass. “Everything you have was never truly yours.”

The memory of his voice lingered, steady and unnervingly calm. She shook her head and muttered, “Ridiculous.”

Her phone buzzed. A message from her assistant: Summit Corporation has requested to delay tomorrow’s signing.

Ashley’s brows furrowed. “Delay? Why?”

She dialed immediately. Her assistant’s voice came, small and nervous. “M-Madam Monroe, they didn’t say much. Just that… they want to reconsider the terms.”

Ashley’s grip tightened on the glass. “Reconsider? After everything I’ve done to secure this?”

“I—I don’t know, Madam. But they sounded… distant. Different.”

Ashley hung up, fury flashing in her eyes. “Reconsider? They wouldn’t dare.”

She turned back toward the living room. The couch was empty. Gordon was gone. The following morning, Monroe Group’s headquarters buzzed with its usual intensity.

Ashley strode through the lobby, every inch the queen of her domain. But the whispers followed her.

“Did you hear? Summit postponed the signing.”

“Strange… they were so eager last week.”

“Could it be they found another partner?”

Ashley ignored them, head held high. But unease gnawed at her. In the elevator, her assistant, a petite woman named Clara, shifted nervously beside her.

“Clara,” Ashley said sharply, “find out what’s going on with Summit. I don’t care what strings you have to pull.”

“Yes, Madam,” Clara replied quickly.

The doors opened to the executive floor. Ashley swept out, heels striking like a metronome of authority. But as she entered the boardroom, her gaze snagged on an empty chair. Gordon’s chair.

She frowned. He had never missed one of her meetings, no matter how humiliating she made them. “Where’s Gordon?” she asked casually.

The executives exchanged puzzled glances. One of them cleared his throat. “Mr. Gordon… he wasn’t seen this morning.”

Ashley smirked faintly. “Finally decided to sulk at home, has he? Good riddance.”

But beneath the smirk, something unsettled her. Meanwhile, across the city, Gordon sat at a quiet café tucked away in a narrow street. He stirred his coffee slowly, watching the steam curl upward.

Opposite him sat a man in his forties, sharp-eyed, wearing a tailored suit that screamed influence. The man leaned forward. “You’ve finally decided,” he said, a note of approval in his voice.

Gordon nodded. “Yes. I’ve wasted enough time in the shadows. From today, I cut my ties.”

The man’s lips curved. “Then the city will soon know the name it has forgotten.”

Gordon’s eyes hardened. “Not yet. Let them underestimate me a little longer. But when the time comes, Ashley will realize exactly who she dismissed.”

His phone buzzed. A notification flashed: Summit Corporation postpones deal with Monroe Group.

Gordon’s lips twitched. “The cracks have already begun.”

Back at Monroe headquarters, Ashley’s boardroom thundered with tension. “What do you mean they’re considering other options?” Ashley demanded, slamming her hand on the table.

One executive winced. “Madam, Summit received another proposal last night. We don’t know from whom, but…”

Ashley’s eyes narrowed. “But what?”

“…they said it was… more appealing.”

Ashley’s temper flared. “More appealing than Monroe Group? Impossible. Who would dare challenge me now?”

Silence.

Ashley’s gaze swept the room. “Find out. Immediately. And whoever is behind this will regret it.”

She stormed out, her fury echoing in the silence left behind. That evening, Ashley returned to the penthouse, exhausted and seething. She dropped her bag on the counter and called out instinctively, “Gordon! Get me a glass of water.”

Silence.

Her heels clicked across the floor. The lights glowed softly, but the apartment felt… emptier. “Gordon?” she called again, irritation creeping in. Still silence.

On the dining table, she spotted an envelope. No name. No decoration. Just plain white, resting like a shadow. She picked it up, tore it open.

Inside was a single card with neat, bold handwriting: Don’t mistake silence for weakness.

Her hand trembled. The words burned into her. She crumpled the card and hissed, “Pathetic scare tactic. He thinks I’ll be intimidated?” But her heart pounded in her chest.

Two days later, at Summit Corporation’s gala, the city’s elite gathered under chandeliers of crystal and gold. Ashley arrived in a gown of midnight silk, determined to reclaim her dominance. Cameras flashed, guests whispered her name.

She scanned the crowd for Summit’s directors, rehearsing her charm. But before she could approach them, the room shifted.

Whispers rippled. Heads turned. Ashley followed their gaze,  and froze. Gordon had entered the hall.

Gone was the plain shirt and crooked tie. He wore a perfectly tailored suit, every line sharp, every step steady. At his side walked the sharp-eyed man from the café, speaking to him with a deference that stunned the crowd.

For the first time, Ashley saw people looking at Gordon, not with disdain, not with pity. But with recognition. Respect. Her glass nearly slipped from her hand.

“What… what is he doing here?” she whispered.

A nearby guest chuckled. “You don’t know? That’s Mr. Gordon. He’s been keeping a low profile, but rumor has it his connections run deeper than anyone thought.”

Ashley’s pulse quickened. She forced a smile. “Nonsense. He’s just my husband.”

But even as she said it, the doubt clawed at her. The man in front of her was no husband in the shadows. He was someone else entirely.

From across the hall, Gordon’s gaze found hers. Calm, unshaken, unreadable. He raised his glass in silent acknowledgment, not to her as his wife, but as a stranger.

Ashley’s chest tightened, her arrogance colliding with a sudden, inexplicable fear. For the first time, she wondered if she had underestimated him all along.

The gala lights glimmered, the whispers grew louder, and Ashley felt the ground beneath her begin to shift.