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Chapter one hundred and nine
Author: The Ink of D
last update2025-09-06 21:16:00

The next morning, Cassandra had scarcely left Nathan side. The staff moved like whispers through the corridors, each one watching the clock, each one afraid of what Liam’s next move would bring.

It came just after dawn.

The phone rang, a simple vibration against polished oak, but the weight of it was crushing. Nathan answered, jaw clenched, and Cassandra leaned close enough to hear. No words, this time—only another video file, transmitted with chilling efficiency.

When Nathan opened it, the room filled with the sound of torment.

Mr. Hayes lay slumped in a chair, his face bruised, his breaths ragged. A hand—Liam’s—tilted his chin toward the camera. “Time is slipping, Nathan,” Liam’s voice hissed. “Your father’s strength is slipping with it. Make the trade. Fifty-one percent, and this ends.”

Then the screen went black.

Behind them, Marjorie had been watching. She gasped, one hand clutching her chest, the other reaching toward the phone as though she could pull her brother out of it.

“No
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  • Chapter one hundred and fifteen

    The villa got closer as Nathan and Cassandra approached.Cassandra walked a step behind him, her eyes scanning the walls, the trees, every hidden corner where danger might stir. Her heart pounded in rhythm with her footsteps, but her voice was low, steady. “Remember, he expects you to be desperate. Give him that—but only enough to keep him blind.”Nathan gave a short nod, jaw set. He had practiced this moment in his mind countless times, yet reality pressed heavier than imagination. Beyond these gates, his father was bound, silenced, and entirely at Liam’s mercy. And Liam was not a man who showed mercy freely.They were within thirty feet of the gate when the first sound broke the fragile quiet: the metallic crack of an alarm. Red lights flared across the stone walls, slicing through the dawn haze.Cassandra froze, eyes darting upward. “He knows.”From the shadows, men emerged—Liam’s thugs, dressed in black, their weapons catching the light. Within seconds, Nathan and Cassandra were s

  • Chapter one hundred and fourteen

    Cassandra sat nearby, curled on the edge of the armchair, watching him with quiet intensity. She had chosen to share her secret—the clue about the villa—and now there was no turning back.“We have one chance,” Nathan muttered, eyes fixed on the flickering dot that marked Liam’s stronghold. His voice was steady, but his grip on the device betrayed the storm beneath. “If we go in wrong, Liam won’t hesitate. He’ll use Father as leverage until he’s squeezed every drop of power from us.”Cassandra leaned forward, folding her hands. “That’s why we have to control the game before he does. You said it yourself: he thinks you’ll fold, but you don’t fold, Nathan. You strategize.” Her eyes held his, dark and unwavering. “So let’s finish this.”Her resolve stirred something inside him—a warmth, a strength he hadn’t realized he needed until this very moment. For months, Cassandra had been an advisor, cautious yet ambitious. Tonight, she had stepped into the fire with him.Nathan exhaled. “All righ

  • Chapter one hundred and Thirteen

    The night settled heavily over Hayes mansion, its silence broken only by the occasional rustle of leaves in the garden and the muted footsteps of staff lingering in nervous anticipation. Nathan sat alone in the study, a half-drained glass of scotch untouched beside him.He didn’t hear Cassandra enter until her reflection appeared in the glass of the tall window. She had that quiet strength about her again, the kind that wrapped itself around him without demanding attention. But tonight, there was something different—an urgency, a weight in her expression that told Nathan she had been carrying more than she’d let on.“Nathan,” she said softly, closing the door behind her. “There’s something you need to know.”He turned in his chair, brow furrowed. “Another warning about patience?” His voice was tired, sharper than he intended.Cassandra shook her head and came closer, placing a small envelope on the desk. “No. This is something I should have told you earlier. I didn’t, because I wasn’t

  • Chapter one hundred and twelve

    Nathan sat in the library of Hayes mansion. His leg ached, a dull throb from the injury that hadn’t healed properly, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the storm inside his chest. On the table before him lay his phone, the latest message from Liam still open on the screen.The video played again, despite Nathan’s reluctance. He forced himself to watch, his fists tightening against the carved oak table as Mr. Hayes appeared on-screen. His father’s hair was disheveled, his face hollowed by exhaustion—or the appearance of exhaustion. The camera angle was crueler this time, deliberately catching shadows that deepened the lines around his eyes. The voiceover, Liam’s cold and theatrical tone, announced:“You’ve stalled long enough, Nathan. Fifty-one percent of Hayes Holdings—or the old man suffers worse. Twenty-four hours. Fail me, and the world sees what kind of son you are.”The image cut abruptly, but the silence afterward was louder than the threat.Nathan pressed pause, exha

  • Chapter one hundred and Eleven

    Nathan had always known the weight of legacy could crush a man, but tonight the pressure pressed heavier than the ache in his injured leg.The message still flickered across his phone screen: “Time is running out. Your father’s fate depends on your decision.”It wasn’t just a threat—it was a calculated performance, staged to tighten the noose around Nathan’s resolve.Yet beneath the surface panic, Nathan held something Liam didn’t know: the tracker’s report. The villa, tucked behind those iron gates, had betrayed itself with deliveries and power spikes. It wasn’t much, but it was a starting point.He traced the floor plan on the desk with his fingertip, lips pressed tight. “If I can keep him believing the negotiations are real, he’ll slip. And when he does…” Nathan’s voice trailed off, but the determination in his eyes sharpened like steel.From the window, Cassandra watched him in silence. Her reflection in the glass seemed almost ghostly, her brow creased with worry. She had argued

  • Chapter one hundred and ten

    The video spread like a virus.Not thirty minutes after dawn, Nathan’s phone buzzed incessantly with alerts, news outlets, gossip blogs, investors’ groups, even political commentators sharing the same cryptic clip. The image was grainy, shot in dim light: Mr. Hayes, hunched in a chair, his wrists tied, his head drooping as if each breath weighed a ton. A blurred voiceover, Liam’s unmistakable sneer masked by distortion, taunted, “The empire collapses when its pillars rot. Fifty-one percent for a man’s life. You have until sundown.”Nathan stood frozen before the television in the mansion’s lounge, his reflection ghosted across the screen. His father’s frail figure flickered there — not dead, not gone, but humiliated, displayed like some grotesque exhibit. His jaw clenched until the muscles ached. Rage pressed hot against his ribs, yet beneath it lay a sharper edge: fear.The markets reacted instantly. Hayes Telecom’s stock line dipped red as analysts speculated, spinning theories that

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