2026-04-24 23:40:08The silence that followed was heavy enough to crush the lungs.
Lisa stood frozen, her eyes wide as she tried to reconcile the man in front of her with the man who had lived in her house for four years. This wasn't the "house-husband" who quietly cleaned the floors and made her tea. This was a titan. The way he held himself, the cold sharpness in his eyes —he looked like a stranger wearing her husband's face.
“So,” Nelson said. His voice was deep, smooth, and utterly devoid of the warmth he used to reserve for her. “What was so urgent that you had to hunt me down in my own office?”
Lisa’s mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Her mind was a chaotic mess of memories and realization. Nelson was the heir. Nelson was the power behind Reeds. Every deal she’d ever closed, every "lucky break" her company had ever had... it hadn't been her talent. It had been him.
The weight of her own arrogance hit her like a physical blow.
Nelson didn't offer her a seat. He didn't move from behind his massive mahogany desk. He just watched her struggle, his expression as cold as the glass windows behind him.
Suddenly, the strength left Lisa’s legs. She didn't just sit; she collapsed onto her knees on the expensive plush carpet.
“Nelson… please,” she sobbed, the sound echoing in the cavernous office. “If this is about the divorce… if it’s about the way I treated you… please. Find it in your heart to forgive me. Don't throw away everything I've worked for because of a personal mistake.”
Nelson’s expression didn't soften. If anything, it turned darker. He stood up, the chair sliding back with a harsh scrape, and slammed his hand against the desk.
“Mistake?” he hissed. The calm mask finally slipped, revealing a raw, jagged fury. “You think four years of being treated like a servant was a mistake? You think the way you and your mother looked at me—like I was a parasite—was just a misunderstanding?”
He stepped around the desk, his presence looming over her as she knelt on the floor.
“I loved you, Lisa,” he said, his voice dropping to a dangerous, vibrating whisper. “I gave you everything. I used my family’s influence to clear every obstacle in your path, and I did it all while letting you believe you were doing it on your own. I wanted you to feel powerful. I wanted you to be happy.”
He laughed, a bitter, hollow sound that made her flinch.
“And the moment you got a taste of that power, the very first thing you did was use it to kick me out like a stray dog. You told me I wasn't on your level. Well, look at us now, Lisa. Tell me... who exactly is on whose level?”
Lisa reached out, her fingers trembling as she tried to grab the hem of his trousers, but Nelson stepped back instantly, as if her touch were toxic.
“Nelson, please! I didn't know! I worked so hard for that Kingston deal. It’s my dream! You’re taking away my entire life!”
“No,” Nelson corrected her, his voice turning ice-cold again. “I am taking back what was mine to begin with. That deal was a gift from the Reeds family. You didn't earn it. You were given it because of the man you called a nobody.”
He walked back to his desk and picked up his coat, his movements precise and dismissive.
“You and your family didn't just want a divorce, Lisa. You wanted to break me. You wanted to make sure I knew I was worthless. Well, mission accomplished. I am broken—at least, the part of me that cared about you is.”
Lisa looked up at him through a blur of tears. For the first time in her life, the pride was gone. There was no arrogance left, only the crushing weight of regret. She realized that she hadn't just lost a contract; she had lost the only person who had ever truly, selflessly supported her.
“Please, Nelson…” she whispered. “Don’t do this. Give me one more chance. Just one.”
Nelson paused at the door, his hand on the handle. He didn't look back.
“The divorce is final, Lisa. And so is this. You wanted a world without me in it? You’ve got it. I hope it’s everything you imagined.”
The door opened and closed with a soft, final click.
Lisa remained on the floor, the silence of the massive office wrapping around her like a shroud. She had come here to save her company, but as she sat in the empty room, she realized she had lost something far more valuable.
The man she had stepped on to reach the top was the only one who had been holding the ladder. And now, she was falling.
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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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