2026-04-16 13:59:34Margaret Chase stood outside Vantage, her face flushed with rage and humiliation. The security guards had retreated to their posts, refusing to meet her eyes. The manager had disappeared inside with Logan, leaving her standing on the sidewalk like common trash.
Her hands trembled as she pulled out her phone and jabbed at Vivian's contact.
It rang twice before her daughter answered.
"Mother, I'm getting ready. What is it?"
"Vivian!" Margaret's voice came out in a strangled hiss. "You need to get Brandon to fix this. Right now."
There was a pause. "Fix what?"
"That ex-husband of yours followed you here! To Vantage! And somehow — I don't know how he did it, probably lied or bribed someone — but he got inside. The manager actually escorted him in personally while I was left standing outside like some beggar!"
"What?" Vivian's voice sharpened. "Logan is there?"
"Yes! That pathetic leech somehow conned his way past security. I tried to stop them, but the manager threatened me. Threatened me, Vivian! Said he'd revoke Brandon's platinum membership if I caused a scene. Can you believe the audacity?"
Vivian was silent for a moment, and Margaret could practically hear her daughter's mind working.
"He followed me," Vivian said finally, her voice cold. "Of course he did. He can't handle the fact that I've moved on. That I'm with someone better. Someone who actually matters."
"Exactly!" Margaret snapped. "Which is why you need to get Brandon to handle this. He knows the manager. He can have Logan thrown out on his ass where he belongs."
"I'll call Brandon now," Vivian said. "Don't worry, Mother. Logan made a mistake coming here. A very big mistake."
The line went dead.
Inside the VIP dining room on the restaurant's middle floor, Vivian lowered her phone and turned to Brandon Holt, who sat across from her looking every bit the successful executive he claimed to be. Tall, polished, wearing a suit that probably cost more than most people's monthly rent.
"Brandon," Vivian said, her voice smooth but urgent. "We have a situation."
Brandon looked up from his wine glass, his brow furrowing slightly. "What kind of situation?"
"My ex-husband somehow got into the restaurant. My mother says he's here, probably to cause trouble or humiliate me. She was denied entry because of him."
Brandon's expression darkened. "That's unacceptable. Don't worry, darling. The manager here is a good friend of mine. I'll handle it."
He pulled out his phone with the confidence of a man who had never been told no in his life.
Vivian watched him dial, her lips curving into a satisfied smile. This was exactly what she needed. Brandon taking charge. Brandon solving problems. Brandon being the kind of man Logan could never be.
The phone rang. Once. Twice.
Then Daniel Cross answered, and his voice was not friendly.
"Mr. Holt. What can I do for you?"
Brandon's smile faltered slightly at the tone, but he pressed on. "Daniel, good to hear from you. Listen, there's been a mix-up at the entrance. My future mother-in-law was denied entry because of some nobody who—"
"Mr. Holt." Daniel's voice cut through like ice. "I'm aware of the situation. And I'm going to stop you right there."
Brandon blinked. "Excuse me?"
"Do you know who is dining on the top floor tonight?"
"I… no. Why does that matter?"
"It matters," Daniel said, his voice dropping to something cold and dangerous, "because Samuel Wright and the CEO of Imperial Group are hosting a very important guest. A guest whose identity I cannot disclose but whose presence supersedes every other consideration in this restaurant tonight. Including your mother-in-law's complaints."
Brandon's face went pale. "Samuel Wright? The president of the Creston City Chamber of Commerce?"
"And the CEO of Imperial Group," Daniel repeated slowly, as if speaking to a child. "The same Imperial Group that just partnered with your fiancée's company. Do you understand what I'm telling you, Mr. Holt?"
Vivian leaned forward, her eyes sharp. "What's he saying?" she whispered.
Brandon held up a finger, his expression frozen somewhere between shock and panic.
"Your future mother-in-law," Daniel continued, "caused a scene at the entrance. She disrupted the atmosphere of this establishment and insulted a guest of the highest priority. If she continues to make noise outside, I will not only deny her entry — I will personally ensure that you, your fiancée, and your entire party are removed from the premises. And your platinum membership will be revoked. Permanently."
Brandon's throat worked. "Daniel, I—"
"Furthermore," Daniel's voice hardened even more, "if I receive one more complaint, one more disruption, one more second of drama related to your party, I will personally call Samuel Wright and inform him that the disturbance came from associates of Stellar Finance. Do you want me to do that, Mr. Holt?"
The blood drained from Brandon's face entirely. "No. No, of course not."
"Then I suggest you tell your future mother-in-law to go home. Immediately. And if I were you, I would spend the rest of this evening being very, very quiet."
The line went dead.
Brandon stared at his phone like it had just bitten him.
"Brandon?" Vivian's voice was sharp now, tinged with worry. "What did he say?"
Brandon set the phone down slowly, his hand trembling slightly. "He said… he said Samuel Wright and the CEO of Imperial Group are upstairs. Hosting someone."
Vivian's eyes widened. "Samuel Wright is here? Tonight?"
"And Marcus Reed," Brandon added, his voice hollow. "The CEO of Imperial Group."
For a moment, Vivian forgot about Logan entirely. Samuel Wright was one of the most powerful men in Creston City — a kingmaker, a man whose single word could make or break entire industries. And Marcus Reed was the face of Imperial Group, the empire that had just agreed to partner with her company.
Both of them. Here. Tonight.
"Who are they hosting?" Vivian asked.
"He wouldn't say." Brandon ran a hand through his hair, his earlier confidence completely evaporated. "But whoever it is, Daniel made it very clear that we don't matter compared to them. He threatened to kick us out, Vivian. Threatened to revoke my membership. And if we cause any more trouble, he'll tell Samuel Wright and Marcus Reed that we were the ones disrupting their dinner."
Vivian's jaw tightened. "What about my mother?"
"He said she needs to leave. Now. Before she causes more problems."
Vivian grabbed her phone and called her mother back.
Margaret answered immediately. "Did Brandon fix it?"
"Mother, you need to go home."
"What? No! Vivian, that little worm is inside and I'm stuck out here like—"
"Mother!" Vivian's voice cracked like a whip. "Samuel Wright is in that restaurant right now. And the CEO of Imperial Group. If you keep making a scene, you're going to ruin everything. Do you understand? Everything. The partnership, the deal, all of it. Go. Home."
There was silence on the other end.
Then, finally, a sharp intake of breath. "Fine," Margaret bit out. "But this isn't over. That pathetic ex-husband of yours—"
"I'll handle Logan," Vivian said coldly. "Just leave. Now."
She ended the call and set her phone down, her mind racing.
Across the table, Brandon was staring into his wine glass like it held answers.
"Samuel Wright and Marcus Reed," Vivian murmured. "Both here. Hosting someone."
"Someone important enough that Daniel Cross nearly had a stroke when he thought we might offend them," Brandon added quietly.
Vivian's eyes gleamed with a mixture of excitement and ambition. "We need to find out who it is."
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CHAPTER 369
The room went quiet. Logan stood near the window with his arms at his sides, watching Daniel the way a man watches water rising against a wall, measuring how much time remains before it breaks through."Fear kept you alive." Logan's voice carried no judgment. "But it also kept the people who did this safe. Every day you stayed silent was another day they didn't have to worry about anyone finding the truth."Daniel looked up at him. Something shifted behind his eyes. The fear was still there, enormous and familiar, but beside it was something newer. The exhaustion of a man who had spent so long carrying a secret that the weight of holding it had become worse than the danger of letting it go."I have copies." Daniel swallowed hard. "The original records. Before they were changed. I copied them the night before the second employee disappeared because I could feel what was coming. I stored them in an old facility on the east side of the city. A storage unit registered under a name that no
CHAPTER 368
The plaster dust was still settling when Logan crouched beside the bullet hole in the wall. He pressed two fingers against the edge of the impact and studied the angle the way a surgeon studies an incision before deciding whether to cut deeper."Whoever took that shot had a clear line." Logan straightened up and looked toward the rooftop across the street. "From that position, at that distance, a trained shooter doesn't miss. Not by that much. Not unless missing was the entire point."Daniel was still sitting on the floor with his back against the wall and his hands pressed flat against his knees. His breathing had not returned to normal. Every inhale came in short, shallow pulls, like a man trying to drink air through a straw that was already cracked."This isn't the first time." Daniel's voice was thin and broken. "They've done this before. Three times in the last four months. Once outside my apartment. Once at a gas station on the highway. Once through the window of a motel room I
CHAPTER 367
Logan arrived faster than she expected. The door opened and he stepped into the room the way a storm enters a valley. No hesitation. No pause. Just the immediate, complete awareness of a man who had already measured every threat in the room before his second foot crossed the threshold.The nearest attacker turned toward him. Logan caught his wrist, twisted it behind his back, and stripped the weapon from his hand in a single motion that lasted less than two seconds. The man hit the floor and stayed there.The second attacker released Daniel and rushed Logan with both hands aimed at his throat. Logan sidestepped, redirected the man's momentum into the wall, and dropped him with a controlled strike that ended the fight before it properly began.The third man tried to drag Daniel through the side exit. Logan crossed the room in three steps, caught the man by his collar, and pulled him backward hard enough to separate him from Daniel entirely. The attacker turned and fought with the despe
CHAPTER 366
Hayley did not walk away.She stood on the sidewalk with the traffic moving behind her and the afternoon sun cutting between the buildings, and she watched Daniel Rowe's back as he tried to disappear into the crowd like a man who had practiced vanishing so many times it had become a reflex instead of a decision."You don't get to tell me to leave and then run." Hayley caught up with him in four steps and grabbed his arm. Her voice was low enough to stay between them but sharp enough to make the woman walking past glance sideways. "You disappeared for months. No call. No message. Nothing. I spent weeks wondering whether you were dead, and now you show up on a street corner looking like you haven't slept in a month and tell me to pretend I never saw you?"Daniel pulled his arm free. His eyes moved across the street, scanning every parked car, every window, every person standing still for too long. The fear in his body was not the kind that came from nervousness. It was the kind that had
CHAPTER 365
An hour later, one of Victor's men called in. Dominguez had gone straight to an abandoned warehouse on the industrial strip near the river. He had met a stranger inside and handed over a small drive. Victor's men moved in to intercept, but the stranger was faster. He set fire to the warehouse before they could reach him and disappeared through a service tunnel behind the building.By the time the fire was controlled, the drive was gone. Melted. Whatever had been on it was now ash and molten plastic.Logan and Victor arrived at the scene twenty minutes later. The warehouse was still smoking. Victor's men had secured the perimeter, but the stranger had vanished completely.Logan walked through the wreckage slowly. The fire had destroyed everything inside except the metal frame of the building and the heavy industrial door at the rear entrance. He stopped in front of the door and crouched.A symbol had been carved into the metal. It was small, roughly the size of a playing card, cut into
CHAPTER 364
One of the traitors, Dominguez, was on his knees near the storage racks. His face was swollen and his hands were bound behind his back. When Victor turned toward him, the defiance that had been in his eyes earlier was completely gone. In its place was the desperate terror of a man who had just realized that the rope he had been pulling on was attached to something much heavier than he could carry."Victor, please." Dominguez's voice cracked. "I made a mistake. Rafael told me you were losing control. He told me the network was falling apart and that the only way to survive was to get ahead of the collapse. I believed him. I was stupid. Please. Give me another chance."Victor stared at him. The silence stretched for five seconds. Ten. Fifteen. Long enough for Dominguez to start believing that the next sound he heard would be his own bones breaking."Get up." Victor's voice was flat. "Leave. Go home. Don't contact anyone in my network. Don't call anyone connected to Rafael. If I find out
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