THE RETURN Of the LEGENDARY KING of WAR

008: Falling Apart

“You're okay dear? You don't look too good, and you're not eating.” Liliana asks her daughter, Lizzy as they dine on the table.

Different kinds of delicacies are spread on the table, but it looks untouched.

“Yes, I'm fine, Mom,” Lizzy replies, glancing over at the food.

For some reason, she can't bring herself to eat it. Maybe it's because she's grown used to Andrew's cooking, his distinct touch, the way each flavor lingers after savoring it.

Now, the chef's dish tastes bland in comparison, lacking the warmth and finesse she's unknowingly come to crave.

She picks up the napkin and dabs at her mouth, silently scolding herself. Andrew is like a parasite, a relentless leech who clung to her skin. She should be celebrating her freedom now that he's finally out of her life.

She now has Burke, and things are going the way she wants in life. Sure, the gifts he gives her don't match the luxury and quality of that one outfit she wore to the Billion Pub Cooperation, but at least, he buys her things, takes her out, unlike Andrew, who gives nothing but his presence and control.

“So what is wrong with you dear? You've been acting all weird since last week.” Liliana asks in a concerned voice.

‘Yeah, last week,’ she thinks. The week she’s been trying to forget. She forces a smile, one that barely reaches her eyes before leaning back into the velvet chair, arms loosely crossed over her chest.

The silence in the dinning room, save for the soft clinks of cutlery from her mother's side, grows heavier with each tick of her beloved grandfather's clock in the corner. She couldn't afford to throw it away, not when it reminds her what life could have been had he not met his untimely death.

“It's nothing, mom,” she says again, this time, more firmly, but the truth that sits right in her chest like a clenched fist, is far from simple.

"Then what is it?" Her mother asks again.

"The name, mom." Lizzy decides to open up. Maybe talking to someone about it would lessen the weight on her heart. But only if she knew.

Liliana, confused, asks. "What name?"

"Verizon. The name keeps crawling its way back into my mind, staining every other thought!"

Liliana frowns, but Lizzy continues anyway, ranting out her frustration.

"Mom, did you know? For years now, that company has been a symbol of stability in the corporate world, with Valencia at the helm, strong, proud, and intimidating in every press release until last week, when a name she's never heard, a man no one has seen, suddenly returned. The real owner, they say, whispered through news headlines and insider blogs like a warning bell ringing from a mountaintop.

And suddenly, the news hit like a thunderstorm breaking into calm skies with headlines of Valencia's demotion and worse still, no one has heard from her since last week."

"What, do you think something must have happened to her?" Liliana asks. And who is this stranger they talked about?"

"That is what I don't know!" Lizzy sighs with frustration.

She doesn't know what to do with this information. She doesn't know how it will change the delicate path she's carved for herself.

Liliana shakes her head, trying to console her daughter. "Look, I don't think it's that bad. You'll be fine."

"No, Mom, you don't understand. I may have signed the contract for my pharmaceutical project, and I may have smiled when I shook hands with Mr Theodore, but I need you to understand that it was just the beginning. The real deal, the one that seals everything into place, rests on that supplemental agreement.

And that? That has to freaking come through Verizon. Through the now whispered mysterious owner!"

Lizzy drops her eyes to the table, fingers unconsciously tracing a circle over the table as her mother watches her in silence.

“You're thinking too hard, Liz,” Liliana finally says, setting down her wine glass with a quiet sigh. “Whatever it is, I know you can overcome it."

She knows, but on this? She isn't too sure.

How can she tell her that every step she's taken suddenly feels like it's hanging by a thread so thin, waiting for a stranger, this so-called owner—to either cut it or knot it into something stronger?

Lizzy picks up the napkin again, presses it to her lips, then lets it fall onto her lap as she lets out a soft bitter laugh.

“It's…it's just bad timing,” she lies, staring into the distance. “I was this close to securing everything. One wrong move and everything I've built will crumble.”

Liliana sips her drink. “You'll surely get the supplemental agreement.”

Lizzy nods slowly, sighing.

“Plus, that's nothing to worry about. I mean, how can you worry when you have Burke? Don't forget he's the reason you signed that one with Mr Theodore in the first place! When you have Burke, you have nothing to fear. I bet he'll know this mysterious whatever man and will talk to him on your behalf!” She said I'm a proud tone of voice.

Lizzy nods again, her spirits lifting from her mother's words. Like why hasn't she thought about it before?

‘However, when it comes to power, true power, is she sure if Burke holds enough of it to sway someone like the man behind Verizon?’ she thinks.

A man who has remained faceless, nameless, yet manages to shake up the very ground Valencia stood for three years.

Her fingers curled slightly, her mind swirling wildly. Who is he? Why now? And what does his return mean for people like her, who have business hanging on the thin wires of corporate politics?

She closes her eyes for a moment, drawing a slow breath. If only she could meet him. If only she could understand what kind of man he is. Then maybe, she could figure out where to stand.

Lizzy jolts out of her spiraling thoughts as a notification buzzes on her phone. Her fingers move without thinking, tapping the screen, and the moment her eyes land on the email, her heart feels like it's clawing its way out of her ribcage.

“Tomorrow, by 9:00. Meet me in my office! There's a problem!”

Her breath instantly catches in her throat, and she stares at the message as if blinking will change it, or make it go away. And when it doesn't, her stomach coils into a knot!

That night, sleep evades Lizzy. She turns and tosses, imagining every possible thing that could go wrong!

By the time morning creeps in, she's already dressed, too nervous to eat and alert to rest. Her heels click softly against the floor when she arrives at Theo's firm as she walks in, dread pooling in her throat like a stone.

The receptionist gives her a quick nod and informs her that Mr Theo is expecting her. She forces a smile, though her lips barely move, and walks down the hallway that now feels like a march to doom.

When she steps into the office, Mr Theo is already standing behind his desk, a mimi folder in his hand and a deep furrow carving a line between his brows.

“Sit, we need to talk.” he says grimly, gesturing to a chair across from him.

She lowers herself into the seat slowly, fingers clutching her purse tight enough to hurt.

“There's been a shift in authority at Verizon,” he starts, not bothering to dance around it.

“The new leadership isn't honoring any pending supplemental agreements. As of this morning,” he opens the folder and slides a stamped document towards her. “They've frozen all external contracts that aren't directly under their purview. Including…yours.”

Lizzy just stares at him, her mind going blank. No thoughts—just a white, roaring, suffocating noise.

“It's… it's not possible?” She asks.

“I'm afraid not. Not unless someone from the new board reinstates it. And with the way things are over there right now…” Mr Theo lets the sentence hang, unfinished, like a death sentence too cruel to fully say.