2025-09-09 20:07:31The suite Clara reserved was perched high above the city, its floor-to-ceiling windows offering a dazzling view of neon streets and endless traffic. Yet Thomas Bradley sat in silence, his eyes fixed on the broken shards of the pendant scattered across the coffee table.
The weight of them crushed him more than any battlefield ever had. Mother… I failed to protect even this.
“Thomas,” Clara’s voice was soft for once. She crouched beside him, her playful mask replaced by rare seriousness. Carefully, she gathered the fragments and cupped them in her hands.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she said, forcing a small smile. “This isn’t the end. I know someone, a craftsman who owes me favors. He can restore it.”
Thomas looked at her, his sharp gaze softening just slightly. “It won’t ever be the same.”
“Maybe not,” Clara admitted, “but sometimes even broken things can be made stronger.” She pressed the pieces into a velvet pouch, then slipped it into her purse. “Let me carry this for you. I’ll bring it back whole.”
He exhaled slowly, nodding once. “Thank you.”
Clara’s lips curved into a brighter smile, though her eyes betrayed a flicker of jealousy. “I don’t like seeing you like this, brooding over her. You deserve better, Thomas. You deserve someone who sees you for who you really are.”
Before he could answer, she perched on his lap, her fiery presence impossible to ignore. “In fact…” she tilted her head, her tone turning playful again, “I need you. I’m hosting my first major charity banquet tonight. I can’t face all those sharks alone. You’ll come with me, won’t you?”
Thomas sighed, rubbing his temple. “Clara, I just want some peace tonight.”
Her pout was immediate, her eyes glistening with faux tears. “Peace? Do you want me to embarrass myself in front of the entire city? My father will never let me live it down if I fail. Please, Thomas. Just stand by me, nothing more.”
He stared at her for a long moment, then finally allowed a chuckle to slip past his guard. “You never change.”
“Is that a yes?”
“It’s a yes.”
Clara’s eyes sparkled. She threw her arms around his neck, her relief so transparent it almost made him laugh again. For her, just being near him was victory enough.
Meanwhile, across the city, Katherine Liu sat in the backseat of a luxury car, her phone pressed to her ear. Her mother’s voice crackled through the line, laced with fury and feigned despair.
“Katherine! That man, Thomas, he’s already found another woman! We saw it with our own eyes. He flaunted her wealth and used her thugs to have your brother beaten! We’re on our way to the hospital now.”
Katherine’s heart skipped. “That’s impossible.”
“It’s the truth! He humiliated us, your own family. And when I asked him to let it go, he, he almost killed your brother!”
A muffled groan echoed in the background, her brother’s pathetic theatrics. Then his voice cut in, weak but smug. “Sis, it’s true… I’m hurt badly. And he… he’s cheating on you. Right in public.”
Katherine’s hand trembled on the phone. Her mind raced back to the pendant, Thomas’s demand that she return it. Had she been wrong about him?
“No,” she whispered, more to herself than to them. “He wouldn’t”
“Come to the hospital and see for yourself!” her mother insisted.
Katherine bit her lip, torn. She couldn’t, not tonight. The charity banquet with Zedixon Group was critical for her company’s survival. Missing it wasn’t an option.
“I can’t leave,” she said at last. “I’ll send someone”
Her brother cut her off. “Sis! Cooper is here, isn’t he? Your future brother-in-law? Let him come, too. He’ll see the truth.”
Her temper flared. “Watch your words! Mr. Yan and I are business partners, nothing more.”
But Cooper, slick, charming, always too close for comfort, leaned forward in the car, his voice slipping smoothly into the receiver.
“It’s fine, Katherine. Being acknowledged by your family is an honor.”Her grip tightened. “Don’t encourage him.”
She ended the call, her chest tightening with unease. “Trouble?” Cooper asked smoothly, adjusting his cufflinks.
“Family matters,” she said coldly.
He smiled as though he knew every secret in her heart. “Then let me ease your worries. Tonight, with me at your side, MAGETO-Group will surely win Zedixon Group’s cooperation.”
Katherine forced a thin smile, but her thoughts drifted elsewhere. Her mother’s accusations lingered, sharp as glass. Thomas… are you really with someone else?
The car rolled to a stop before a glittering banquet hall, where chandeliers blazed like captured stars. Cooper stepped out first, offering his hand gallantly. Katherine hesitated only a moment before taking it.
From the shadows nearby, another car pulled up. Clara Zhao emerged, her fiery gown a weapon, her arm linked tightly through Thomas Bradley’s. Two worlds were about to collide.
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Chapter Fifteen: Between Love and Lies
The storm broke over the city like a war drum. Thunder cracked, rain hammered against steel and glass, and lightning carved jagged scars across the night.Inside MAGETO-Group’s headquarters, the corridors were nearly empty. Midnight had driven most employees home, but the glow of servers still pulsed from the top floors.Thomas Bradley moved like a shadow, his steps silent, his presence cloaked in authority no one here would recognize. To them, he was still the ex-con son-in-law, despised and discarded. To the nation, he was a five-star general, hunting traitors in his own backyard.The surveillance team had tracked the hacker’s signal here, originating from Katherine Liu’s office.He paused outside the door, the storm’s reflection glimmering on the glass. His hand brushed the shards of his mother’s pendant in his pocket, a reminder of everything broken, everything lost. If it’s you, Katherine, He pushed the door open.The office was dim, lit only by the pale glow of monitors. Katheri
Chapter Fourteen: Fault Lines
The storm had passed, but the city still smelled of rain and gasoline. Thomas Bradley stood alone on the rooftop of the compound, the skyline stretching endlessly before him.Dawn painted the glass towers in gold, yet to him they gleamed like blades drawn against his throat.His hand tightened around the photograph of Katherine Liu, edges curled and stained with blood. Beside it lay the digital printout: User ID — Liu.K.Coincidence? Or betrayal?He slipped both into his pocket as the officer approached. “Sir,” the man reported carefully, “our sweep confirmed: the hacker who entered the bank’s system used credentials tied to MAGETO-Group. The trail leads straight to Katherine Liu’s personal clearance.”Thomas’s chest constricted, though his face remained calm. “Clearance can be stolen.”The officer hesitated. “Yes, sir. But if it wasn’t?”Thomas turned away, his eyes narrowing against the rising sun. “Then I’ll handle it myself.”Across the city, the Zhao family boardroom seethed wit
Chapter Thirteen: The Counterstrike
The city never truly slept. From the windows of the military compound, Thomas Bradley watched the towers of glass and steel glow like a thousand eyes in the darkness.Below, the streets pulsed with the lifeblood of commerce and secrets, each neon light a reminder of the battlefield he now walked.He was a general without an army in the eyes of this city. A discarded son-in-law, a convict released early, a man mocked in hushed whispers. Yet behind closed doors, he carried the full weight of command, and tonight, he would strike back.The encrypted files recovered from the warehouse sprawled across the table before him, lines of numbers painting a map of betrayal.Offshore accounts, shell corporations, siphoned funds. He traced them with his finger, each trail leading back to a single spider in the web: Yan Ming. But at the heart of it, intertwined like poison ivy, lay another name. MAGETO-Group. Katherine Liu’s empire.His jaw tightened as he stared at the glowing screen. The photograp
Chapter Twelve: Lines in the Storm
The rain had eased into a steady drizzle by the time Thomas Bradley stepped out of the warehouse. The night air was sharp, laced with the smell of gunpowder and salt. Behind him, officers swept the scene, gathering evidence.Thomas’s grip tightened around the bloodstained envelope in his pocket. The photograph of Katherine Liu weighed heavier than any dossier, heavier even than the rank pinned to his name.The infiltrator’s words echoed in his mind. Closer than you think. Someone you trust. But trust was a luxury he had long since buried.“Sir,” the officer said, approaching with a hard drive sealed in a plastic bag. “Recovered from their systems. It may trace the offshore accounts.”Thomas nodded. “Good. Get it decrypted. And double the guard on our informants, someone’s silencing them before they can talk.”The officer saluted. Thomas turned toward the city skyline, its towers stabbing into the night like blades. Somewhere in that glittering maze sat Katherine, Clara, Yan Ming, and
Chapter Eleven: Echoes in the Dark
Rain drummed against the corrugated roof of the warehouse, each drop echoing like a war drum. The air smelled of rust and salt, the docks eerily quiet at this hour.Thomas Bradley stepped inside, his boots crunching on broken glass. The cavernous space was dim, lit only by a few hanging bulbs that swayed in the draft.Shadows shifted in the corners. Men emerged, hard-eyed, their hands resting on hidden weapons. At their center stood a man in a tailored suit, his smile oily and practiced.“General Bradley,” he said, his voice dripping with mock respect. “Or should I say… ex-convict son-in-law? I must admit, your disguises are as sharp as your reputation.”Thomas’s expression didn’t change. “You know my name. I don’t know yours. That puts you at a disadvantage.”The man chuckled. “Names don’t matter in my line of work. What matters is money. And someone has paid a fortune to see the Zedixon Group bleed tonight.”Thomas’s eyes narrowed. “Yan Ming.”A flicker in the man’s smile was all th
Chapter Ten: Wolves in Silk, Shadows in Steel
Rain lashed against the armored car’s windshield as Thomas Bradley scanned the dossier under the glow of dim light. Each page sharpened his fury.The infiltrator’s trail was clear: offshore accounts feeding back into shell corporations. And one of those corporations was tied directly to MAGETO-Group. Katherine’s company.His hand clenched into a fist around the folder. Coincidence? Or was someone using her family as a shield? Either way, her world was already tangled in the web of his mission.The officer seated across from him spoke carefully. “Sir, shall we mobilize strike teams?”Thomas’s gaze remained locked on the papers. His voice was calm, but it carried the weight of command.“No. Not yet. I want names confirmed before we move. If the MAGETO-Group is being used as a front, we need to know who’s pulling the strings.”He closed the file, the edges digging into his palm. Katherine… even now, our paths cross in ways you’ll never understand. The vehicle surged forward into the stor
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