2026-04-24 23:40:34Nelson walked out of the office without a single backward glance. To him, the door closing behind him wasn't just a physical act; it was the final seal on a grave. He was done.
Lisa remained on her knees in the middle of the plush carpet. Time seemed to stretch into an unrecognizable blur. She didn't move until her joints began to ache, her body finally signaling that the floor wasn't going to swallow her whole, no matter how much she wished it would.
She dragged herself to the elevator, her legs feeling like lead. Her face was a messy map of smeared makeup and salt-stained skin. Every word Nelson had uttered—“You and me is over” —played on a loop in her head, a jagged blade cutting through her lingering pride.
This wasn't the Nelson she had married. The man who used to wait up for her with tea, who would apologize even when he’d done nothing wrong... that man was a ghost.
But as she reached the lobby, something inside her snapped. She wasn't ready to let the ghost go. Nelson was a good man. He loved her. He had to. If she could just reach him—really reach him—outside of that cold, intimidating office, maybe he’d remember.
She saw him through the glass doors, walking toward his car.
“Nelson!”
Her voice tore through the quiet professional atmosphere of the lobby. Staff and high-end clients paused, their heads turning in synchronized shock. Lisa didn't care. She ran, her heels clicking frantically against the marble.
Nelson didn't stop. He didn't even break his stride.
She closed the distance, her hand reaching out for his sleeve. She just needed to touch him. But before her fingers could graze the fabric of his suit, a wall of dark blue uniforms stepped between them.
“We’re sorry, ma’am. You can’t go any further,” the security guard said, his voice firm but polite.
“Nelson!” Lisa cried out, her voice cracking. “Please! It doesn't have to end like this. Just give me one minute. Nelson, please!”
For a split second, he stopped.
Lisa held her breath. Hope flared in her chest like a dying candle. Slowly, Nelson turned his head. Only half of his face was visible in the afternoon light—one cold, distant eye that looked right through her.
“Lisa... go home. This conversation is over.”
The car door closed with a heavy, expensive thud.
Lisa froze as the engine purred to life. The candle in her chest didn't just flicker out; it was crushed. She sank to her knees again, right there on the sidewalk, as the black sedan pulled away.
The whispers from the crowd started almost immediately. “Isn’t that the CEO of that furniture startup?” “She looks pathetic. What did she do to him?”
Lisa didn't even try to defend herself. She stood up, her hair shielding her face, and walked toward her own car. But as she gripped the steering wheel, her eyes hardened.
“This won’t end like this,” she whispered to the empty car, her pride clawing its way back to the surface. “I’ll get it all back.”
************
Later that evening...
The Toronto Bar was the kind of place where the lighting was dim and the drinks cost more than a month's rent. Nelson sat in a private booth, his hand resting near Emily’s.
“What would you like?” Nelson asked, his tone softening in a way it never did for the board members.
Emily smiled, a hint of genuine shyness in her eyes. “Something light. I don’t think I have your stamina for the strong stuff.”
Nelson chuckled, the sound rich and relaxed. “Just a sip of the Glenfiddich. It’ll change your mind about whiskey, I promise.”
“You’re very persuasive, Mr. Reed,” she teased.
Across the room, tucked into a corner of the bar, Lisa stood with Bobby. She wasn't drinking. She was staring. She watched the way Nelson leaned toward Emily, the way he laughed—a sound she realized she hadn't heard in years.
That seat beside him... it was hers. Or it was supposed to be.
Bobby noticed the direction of her gaze and let out an annoyed sigh. “Lisa, are we here to have a drink or are we here to watch a movie? Forget him. He’s clearly moved on.”
Lisa didn't respond. She slowly turned and rested her head on Bobby’s chest, but her eyes never left Nelson.
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CHAPTER 80:Glass of whine
“We have to move as fast as possible. We get into the city, get Edmund, and leave immediately. No delays and no unnecessary stops.” Cole stood in the main cabin of the private plane speaking to the men dressed in black who were seated in two rows facing each other. They were all listening and all of them had the focused stillness of people who had been trained to receive instructions without reaction. But something about Cole’s delivery was off and anyone paying close enough attention could hear it. His voice was not carrying the authority it usually carried when he spoke to these men. There was a shakiness underneath the words. A tightness that had nothing to do with the content of what he was saying and everything to do with where they were going. Karlus was sitting at the far end of the cabin and he caught it immediately. He watched Cole for a moment without saying anything. Karlus stood up quietly. “Cole.” He said it without raising his voice. “Come to the VIP section.” H
CHAPTER 79: Justice must be served!
Kyler sat in the living room and let every word Lisa was saying find its way in. He was listening. All of it was registering. But underneath the surface of the conversation, his mind was running on a completely different track. Whatever Karlus was travelling to that state to do it was not purely about Edmund and Kyler knew that with a certainty that sat heavy in his chest. Lisa had not stopped talking. “So while he is away I will be the one overseeing everything at the company. He trusts me with it completely and I am not going to let him down.” She said it with a specific kind of satisfaction. Mrs Park was pressed into the corner armchair the way she always was at this hour. Her small frame fitted that chair like the two of them had reached an agreement over the years. Her eyes were softer than they used to be, the sharpness that had been in them when Kyler and Lisa were growing up had gentled with age, but they still caught things. She smiled at Lisa’s words and it was a gen
CHAPTER 78: Untouchable
“Sir you cannot let those reporters keep dragging your name like that. The whole city has its eyes on you right now and they are waiting to see what your next move is going to be.” Karlus did not even turn his chair toward Cole when he spoke. He sat behind the desk looking out at the city through the wide office window and the smile on his face had not shifted since he walked through that door. Cole watched him from across the room. There was something different about Karlus today and he could not immediately place what it was. It was not the forced composure of a man holding himself together under pressure. It was something more settled than that. Cole stepped closer to the desk. “Sir are you actually listening to me right now? Do you understand what people in this city are saying about this company? About you? The reporters outside the mansion this morning were just the beginning. This is going to get worse before it gets better if we do not address it properly.” Karlus
CHAPTER 77: The question he could not answera
The morning light hit the Reeds' mansion but it did not land the way it used to. It came down dull and flat across the building, the kind of light that does not warm anything it touches. The mansion stood there under it looking like a place that had forgotten what it was supposed to be. The flowers along the entrance that Nelson’s father had planted years ago were overgrown and untended. The windows that used to catch the morning sun and throw it back across the grounds in warm gold were grey and unremarkable now. Since Nelson left that building everything that made it feel alive had left with him. The smiling faces of the staff who had spent years learning every corner of that house were gone. The small sounds of the morning that used to fill the grounds, birds in the trees, the distant movement of workers starting their day, all of it replaced by the heavy presence of military-trained security men who moved through the property with their hands ready and their eyes on everything
CHAPTER 76: Under the table
“This was all my fault. I am really sorry for the damage I have caused.” Nelson’s head was facedown as he spoke. His voice carried the weight of everything sitting on him and he was not trying to hide it. The remorse in it was real and it came through in every word. Nathan was quiet for a moment. When he finally spoke his voice was low and still carrying everything the last few hours had done to it. “Nobody is to be blamed for any of this Nelson. This is what Karlus wanted. He set this whole thing up and he used people inside here to execute it.” He paused and took a slow breath. “Just imagine if that fork had reached me. That would have meant Karlus finally won. But it did not reach me. And that means we are still standing.” He looked ahead at the yard. “We have to be more careful from now on. We do not know who the next target might be or when the next move will come. But we have to stay together and stay sharp. That is the only way we protect each other in here.” Nelson nodd
CHAPTER 75: They Will Bleed For This
The whole cafeteria erupted. Inmates moved in every direction at once, pushing away from the centre of the room, nobody wanting to be close enough to catch a stray anything in the chaos that had just broken out. The noise was immediate and full, filling every corner of the space. Scorpion’s men had already started finding ways out. Slipping through the crowd, heads down, moving fast and quietly, the way people move when they know they have just been part of something that is going to have consequences and they want as much distance between themselves and it as possible. The one who had done the stabbing was gone before most people had even processed what had happened. Nathan raised his head slowly. He was breathing. He could feel that. Lungs working, air moving, everything functioning the way it was supposed to. But something felt wrong and it was not coming from his body. It was coming from somewhere beside him. He looked down. One of his own men had his hand pressed hard agai
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