2025-09-19 20:23:04The city skyline glittered like a sea of diamonds outside the penthouse windows. Inside, Damian poured champagne into two tall glasses, the golden liquid fizzing with arrogance.
“To humiliation,” he smirked, handing one to Vanessa. She raised her glass, eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “To putting that loser in his place.”
They clinked glasses and laughed, their voices dripping with cruelty. “You should’ve seen his face when I mentioned the earrings,” Vanessa giggled, leaning against Damian. “Pathetic. He probably can’t even afford toothpaste without counting coins.”
Damian slid an arm around her waist, his grin smug. “Don’t waste your breath on him anymore. He’s finished. I’ll make sure of it.”
Vanessa tilted her head, pouting playfully. “How, exactly? Don’t tell me you’re jealous of a beggar.”
“Jealous?” Damian scoffed. “Please. I’m Damian Blackwood. My father sits on the Global Council of Trade. One word from me and Ethan will never get a job higher than flipping burgers. He’ll vanish into the slums, forgotten.”
Vanessa laughed, tossing her hair. “And to think, he actually thought I’d marry him. Me! The woman who deserves the world. He should be grateful I didn’t spit in his face sooner.”
But as their laughter echoed, the penthouse door opened without a sound. Both froze. A man stepped inside, draped in black, his presence cold as midnight. His face remained in shadow beneath a hood, but the glint of his eyes silenced the room.
Damian’s champagne glass nearly slipped from his hand. “W–who the hell are you? How did you get in here?”
The intruder ignored him. His voice was low, smooth, and unnervingly calm. “You enjoy mocking the heir, don’t you?”
Vanessa stiffened. “What… what do you mean, heir? Ethan’s nobody”
The hooded man tilted his head, and even in the dim light, his smile was chilling. “Nobody? Then why was the Council of Elders watching him tonight?”
Damian’s heart skipped. “Council of, what? What are you talking about?”
The intruder stepped closer, shadows seeming to follow his movements. “You think you’re players in this game. But you’re not. You’re pawns. Decorative pieces. Replaceable.”
His gaze flicked toward Vanessa, sharp enough to cut. “He discarded you because you were never meant to stand beside him.”
Vanessa’s face paled, her earlier arrogance flickering with unease. “Discarded? No. No, I left him.”
The man chuckled darkly. “Believe what you like. Soon, you’ll understand how small you truly are.”
Damian’s voice rose, false bravado covering fear. “Listen, whoever you are, do you know who I am? My family owns”
“Power?” the intruder cut in, his voice sharp as a blade. “You think wealth makes you untouchable. You’ve never seen real power.”
He reached into his cloak. Damian instinctively stepped back, heart pounding. But instead of a weapon, the stranger tossed something onto the glass table between them. A coin.
It was black as obsidian, etched with a sigil neither Vanessa nor Damian recognized. The coin pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat. “What… what is this?” Vanessa whispered.
The man’s eyes gleamed. “Your invitation. The Game has begun. And Ethan Cole is not the prey you imagine, he is the storm that will drown you both.”
Before they could react, the man was gone. No door opened. No window cracked. He simply vanished into the shadows, leaving only the strange coin glimmering on the glass.
Damian’s jaw clenched as he stared at it, his arrogance faltering. “What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?”
Vanessa’s hands trembled, though she masked it with a scoff. “It’s… it’s just a trick. Some lunatic trying to scare us.”
But her voice betrayed her fear. Outside the penthouse windows, lightning split the sky, illuminating their pale faces.
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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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