2025-09-19 20:20:05The circle of figures tightened around Ethan, their shadows long and sharp under the flickering blue flames. The seal in his palm felt heavier with every passing second, as though it wanted to crush him before he even used it. A voice broke the silence.
“Do you even know what you hold, boy?” sneered Uncle Richard, a tall man with a vulture’s nose and slicked-back hair. His suit was immaculate, but his smile was venom. “That seal is not a toy. It carries more enemies than allies. And you” his gaze raked over Ethan’s simple graduation gown“you are no heir. You are an embarrassment.”
Whispers rippled through the Council. Aunt Sylvia, draped in blood-red silk, stepped forward. “You have lived as a beggar for four years, Ethan. Scrubbing toilets, stacking shelves, flipping burgers. Tell me, how does that prepare you to command armies? To bend nations? To crush men like Blackwood?”
“I” Ethan began, but Sylvia’s laugh silenced him.
“You think endurance equals strength? Endurance is for mules. Heirs require fire, not patience.”
Another cousin sneered. “If Vanessa Lane preferred Blackwood over you, that should tell us everything. You cannot even inspire loyalty in a woman. How will you inspire loyalty in the world?”
The words cut deep, but Ethan forced himself to meet their eyes. “I don’t need Vanessa’s loyalty,” he said evenly. “And I don’t need your approval. My grandfather chose me.”
Gasps fluttered across the room. Some amused, some offended. Uncle Richard leaned closer, his breath foul with cigars. “Do you think his word is enough? The Patriarch is old. Weak. Soon, he will be gone. Then it is we” he gestured to the Council, “who decide if you wear the crown or die forgotten.”
The torches flared as his words echoed. Ethan’s chest tightened. This wasn’t a welcome. This was an execution waiting to happen. The Patriarch’s cane struck the floor again. Crack.
“Enough.” His voice rumbled like distant thunder. “You doubt the boy? Then let him prove himself. Trial by Council. Tonight.”
A deadly silence followed. Ethan’s pulse spiked. “Trial?”
Aunt Sylvia’s smile was razor sharp. “Yes. One test. If you succeed, the Council will bow. If you fail… you leave this estate in a coffin.”
“Bring it,” Richard growled.
At his signal, two servants dragged in a steel briefcase and placed it on the marble floor before Ethan. The latch snapped open. Inside lay a sleek black tablet glowing with encrypted files.
Richard’s eyes glittered. “Here’s your trial. One of our corporations, Cole Industries Asia, has been infiltrated. Someone on the inside is selling secrets to Blackwood. We don’t know who. If you are truly worthy of inheritance, then find the traitor. Tonight. In this room.”
Ethan’s blood chilled. All eyes turned to him, sharp and hungry.
“This is insane,” Ethan said. “You want me to accuse one of you without proof?”
Aunt Sylvia smirked. “Not accuse. Prove. You have the seal. Use it. Show us if you can uncover snakes in the grass.”
The Patriarch’s gaze bored into him. “Do it, Ethan. Power is not about strength. It is about sight. See what others cannot, or be destroyed by it.”
The Council members closed in, their faces half-hidden in shadows, their whispers like knives. Ethan’s chest burned.
He had walked in thinking humiliation by Vanessa was his worst pain. But this, standing in the middle of vipers ready to rip him apart, this was the true test.
His hand tightened around the seal. He activated the tablet, lines of encrypted data flooding the screen. Banking transactions. Emails. Security logs. Too much for one night.
Richard smirked. “Tick-tock, boy. Fail, and we’ll take your corpse back to that little girlfriend of yours. Maybe she’ll finally appreciate what she threw away.”
The laughter stung, but Ethan kept his eyes locked on the screen. His fingers scrolled through the data, his mind racing.
One transfer caught his attention. Billions funneled through shell accounts into a company tied to Blackwood. And the signature… Ethan’s stomach lurched. He looked up slowly, eyes narrowing. “It’s you.”
The room froze. All eyes turned to where Ethan pointed, directly at Aunt Sylvia. Her smile faltered. “What?”
“You’ve been working with Blackwood. You knew about his gift to Vanessa before anyone else. And here” Ethan thrust the tablet forward“these transfers trace back to your foundation. You betrayed the family.”
A deadly silence fell. Then chaos erupted. Sylvia’s face twisted. “Lies!” she shrieked. “You think you can accuse me on your first night here? Who do you think you are?”
The Patriarch’s cane slammed the ground. Crack! “Silence!”
His eyes blazed with a fire that silenced even Sylvia. “The boy is right.”
Gasps rippled through the Council. Ethan’s chest heaved. He had done it. He had passed the trial. But then, A shadow detached itself from the far corner of the room.
A man Ethan had never seen before, cloaked in black, his face hidden beneath a hood. He moved like a phantom, his voice low and chilling.
“Impressive,” the stranger said. “But you’re not ready, Ethan Cole. Not yet.”
Before anyone could react, he hurled a dagger across the hall, straight at Ethan’s heart.
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Chapter 20A– THE HEIR WHO VANISHED
The morning headlines hit like a pulse through the city: Breaking: Ethan Vale, heir to the Vale Conglomerate, missing after reported jet malfunction over the Atlantic.No crash site. No debris. No distress call. Just silence.The Vale Building became a fortress overnight. Security swarmed the marble lobby, reporters camped outside, and stock tickers flashed red across every financial network.Inside the executive boardroom, Margot Delane paced slowly, phone pressed to her ear. Her tone was measured, controlled, the sound of someone holding chaos by the throat.“No, there’s no confirmation,” she said. “Yes, the aircraft vanished from radar. We’re coordinating with Maritime and Aerospace authorities.” She paused. “No comment on succession yet. We maintain stability first.”She hung up, exhaled sharply, and turned to Arthur Vale. Arthur looked like he hadn’t slept.His tie was crooked; his eyes were hollow. “He was on that jet, Margot. You saw him leave.”Margot’s voice was soft but sha
Chapter 19B– THE HALCYON CLUB
Night draped the city in mirrored glass and neon. The Halcyon Club sat hidden beneath one of the oldest hotels downtown, no sign, no entry list, no public record.Only the card Margot had given him, still warm in his pocket, humming faintly like a heartbeat. Ethan approached the unmarked door. A concierge in a crisp black suit looked up from behind the desk.“Invitation?”He handed over the card. The man didn’t scan it or swipe it , he simply placed it on a small silver dish. The metal flared once, faint light rippling across the card’s surface.“Welcome, Mr. Vale,” the man said quietly. “Your table awaits.”The elevator descended soundlessly, deeper than it should have. When the doors opened, the air felt different, cool, pressurized, humming with something unseen.The club was beautiful in a way that money couldn’t buy, vaulted marble ceilings, chandeliers casting dim gold, and a hundred whispered conversations stitched through the air like a symphony of secrets.No laughter. Ju
Chapter 19A– SMOKE AND MIRRORS
Reality itself had been edited. He turned back. “And if it doesn’t disappear?”Arthur hesitated. “Then the Game plays for keeps.”The word slipped out naturally, unconsciously, like something fed into his mind. The entire room went still. Margot’s pen froze mid-air.The others blinked, confused, as if they’d heard the word but couldn’t process it. Ethan’s heartbeat quickened.“What did you just say?”Arthur blinked. “What? I said, the press. The game of politics.”“No,” Ethan said, voice low. “You said the Game.”Arthur frowned. “Did I? Must’ve been, slip of the tongue.”But his hand trembled when he reached for his glass.The aide entered. “Sir, emergency call from the Continental Council. Line four.”Arthur snatched the receiver, his voice shaking. “Yes? Yes, I understand. Of course, we’ll comply.”When he hung up, he was pale. “Orders from the top. We’re to cease all internal investigation. Effective immediately.”Margot’s lips curved. “Then it’s done.”Ethan studied her. Her smi
Chapter 18B– The First Player
The mirror world shook. Fractures raced across the glass floor like lightning veins. Lucien backed away from the emissary’s image, the black coin in his palm now flickering like a dying star.“You broke it,” he hissed. “You tore a hole straight through the Ledger!”Ethan didn’t move. Every reflection showed a different version of him, one bleeding, one crowned, one burning. He felt their thoughts flicker through his head like static.Lucien lunged again, blade first, desperation overtaking grace. “If I end you, it resets!”Ethan raised both coins. Light and shadow collided mid-air, erupting in a burst that swallowed them whole. Glass shrieked. Every mirror exploded outward, shards spinning like comets.Lucien screamed, his own coin melting into his hand. “You’re the anomaly! The Game’s been watching, ”The words were ripped away in the detonation. For a heartbeat Ethan saw everything, Lucien’s face twisting, the emissary smiling in the reflection behind him, the city’s skyline bleedin
Chapter 18 – The First Player
The city at midnight was a mosaic of light and distance, glass towers burning with white fire, traffic veins glowing far below. Ethan stood on the penthouse terrace of the Astra Lounge, the wind cutting cold against his collar.He shouldn’t have been there. Every instinct screamed trap. But the message had come again.COME ALONE. ROOFTOP. ONE QUESTION, ONE ANSWER.No name. No signature. Only the faint watermark of a crown and dagger in the background of the text.He palmed the coins inside his jacket pocket. They pulsed softly, heartbeat rhythm. Since that night with the emissary, they’d grown restless, flaring whenever danger neared. Tonight they burned like fever.A voice floated from the shadows by the glass railing. “You’re punctual. That’s good. Players who arrive late tend not to leave at all.”Ethan turned. The man leaning against the railing could have stepped out of an advertisement, late thirties, silver streak through his dark hair, tailored suit.But there was something t
Chapter 17 – Fallout of the Broken Rule
The silence after the emissary vanished was deafening. No hum of air conditioning. No city traffic bleeding through the glass. Just the shallow, ragged breaths of Ethan and the man sprawled on the carpet.The survivor’s eyes rolled wildly in their sockets, darting from the door to the shattered curtains to Ethan himself.He was pale, sweat pouring down his forehead, blood soaking the sleeve where the dagger’s phantom cut had opened flesh. Ethan crouched beside him, the coins burning still in his grip.“Hey,” Ethan said, forcing his voice low, steady. “You’re alive. You’re safe.”The man recoiled as if struck, scrambling backward on his elbows until his shoulders slammed into the wall. “Safe? SAFE?!” He jabbed a trembling finger at Ethan. “That thing dragged me into this room, out of nothing! You called it!”“I didn’t call it,” Ethan said sharply. “It came for me. You were part of its game.”“Game?” the man spat, hysteria bubbling under his words. “You think that was a game?!”Ethan’s
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