The unstoppable vengeance of Micheal Krux.

31; Price of silence

Chapter 31; The Price of Silence

Layla Luxter POV

The tension from the boardroom did not leave me when I stepped out; it followed me down the corridor, settled into my chest, and stayed there like something unfinished that refused to be ignored. Every face I passed carried a different expression now, some cautious, some curious, and a few openly dismissive, as if my position had quietly shifted overnight without anyone needing to announce it.

By the time I reached my office, I already knew the day was not going to settle into anything normal.

I closed the door behind me and stood still for a moment, letting the silence settle, but even that felt different. The air felt heavier, like the room itself knew something had changed before I did.

My phone vibrated against the desk.

I glanced at the screen.

Unknown number.

For a second, I considered ignoring it, but something in me resisted that instinct. I picked it up and answered.

“Hello?” I said.

There was no immediate reply.

Just a faint sound on the other end, like movement, like someone adjusting their position before speaking.

Then a voice came through.

“Mrs. Luxter.”

The way the title was said made something in my chest tighten.

“Who is this?” I asked.

A brief pause followed, but it didn’t feel uncertain. It felt deliberate, like he was giving me just enough time to think before he answered.

“Someone who is trying to help you make a better decision,” he said.

The voice was calm, controlled, and unfamiliar, yet there was something about it that made it impossible to dismiss.

“I’m not interested in games,” I replied, keeping my tone steady.

“This isn’t a game,” he said. “This is timing.”

I frowned slightly, my grip on the phone tightening.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“To ask you a question,” he replied.

The simplicity of that answer made it more unsettling, not less.

“What question?” I said.

There was a short silence, and when he spoke again, his voice dropped slightly, not louder, but more focused.

“How long do you think Gabriel can protect you?”

The question caught me off guard, not because it was unexpected, but because of how directly it was asked.

“I don’t need protection,” I said.

“Everyone says that,” he replied quietly. “Right before they realize they do.”

I moved away from the desk, pacing slowly, trying to steady the unease building in my chest.

“If you have something to say, say it clearly,” I said.

“I am,” he replied. “You just don’t like what you’re hearing.”

That irritated me.

“Then stop speaking in circles,” I said.

There was a faint sound on his end, almost like a soft exhale, as if he had expected that reaction.

“Fine,” he said. “The man who collapsed this morning wasn’t random.”

My steps slowed.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“He handled records,” the voice continued. “Records tied to decisions made five years ago.”

My heart rate picked up slightly.

“And?” I asked.

“And now he can’t speak,” he said.

The words settled heavily.

“Are you threatening me?” I asked.

“No,” he replied calmly. “I’m informing you.”

A silence followed, but it didn’t feel empty. It felt like something had just been placed in front of me, something I couldn’t ignore even if I wanted to.

“Why tell me this?” I asked.

“Because you’re standing in the middle of something you don’t fully understand,” he said. “And you still have time to decide where you stand.”

The same word again.

‘Decide’

Michael had said it.

Now this stranger was repeating it.

“Who are you?” I asked again, more firmly this time.

There was a pause, longer than before.

“You’ll meet me soon enough,” he said.

The line went dead.

I lowered the phone slowly, staring at it for a moment as if it might ring again and undo what I had just heard.

But it didn’t.

The room felt quieter now, but not in a comforting way. It felt like the silence was waiting for something else to happen.

A knock came at the door, sharper this time.

“Come in,” I said.

Daniel stepped inside, closing the door behind him quickly.

“Miss Luxter,” he said, his tone more urgent than usual. “You need to see this.”

He handed me a tablet.

I took it, my eyes moving across the screen.

My fingers tightened slightly as I scrolled.

The name of the financial controller was there.

Status: Critical condition.

Time of incident.

Location.

There was also a section marked Recovered Data…

curious, I opened it.

At first, it looked like nothing more than numbers and coded entries, but as I read further, patterns began to form, connections that linked accounts, transfers, and approvals in ways that felt too structured to be coincidence.

Then I saw it.

A signature authorization.

My breath caught slightly as I read the name attached to it.

“Daniel…” I said slowly.

He was already watching me.

“Yes,” he replied.

“This doesn’t make sense,” I said.

“It does,” he said quietly. “We just didn’t want to see it before.”

I looked back at the screen, my mind trying to reject what was right in front of me.

Because if this was real, Then everything we had believed about what happened five years ago was incomplete.

And worse was We had been standing beside it the entire time without realizing it.

My fingers hovered over the screen for a second before I spoke again.

“Who else has seen this?” I asked.

Daniel hesitated.

“Just you,” he said.

That didn’t feel like relief.

It felt like pressure.

I looked at the name again.

Read it carefully.

Slowly.

As if doing that would somehow change it.

But it didn’t.

And the question that followed came without warning, settling into my mind with a weight I couldn’t ignore.

If this name was real, then why had Gabriel never mentioned it?