LOGINAxel's POVBack in the office, the air conditioning was way too loud. The lights were too bright, and the whole massive place felt empty now that she was gone forever.I was sitting at my desk, but I wasn't Axel, the CEO, anymore. I was just this weaponized version of grief, focused on nothing but the kill list.My grief wasn't for tears or smashing things up. It was pure, terrifying efficiency, instead.I was using the cold silence of my office as a launchpad for total, organized destruction. The first target was easy, obvious, and necessary.That target was Jason. He was the pathetic idiot who enabled Linda, and he was the one who gave the dangerous prototype chip to Sheila.He deserved to be atomized for all of it.I called my legal eagles, the best, meanest corporate lawyers I have, into a secure conference call immediately. Their faces looked blurry on the screen, which was fine.Their voices were sharp and ready, which was what mattered.“Jason is our priority,” I told them, com
Axel's POVIt was raining heavily. Like, a full, dramatic downpour that felt like the sky was just as pissed off as I was.Standing there felt completely ridiculous. I looked like I was in some sad, old movie where the main guy always gets soaked at the graveside.Except, this wasn’t a movie at all. It was the actual, horrible mess of my life.The funeral crowd had already cleared out. That’s exactly what I wanted them to do.They were all there for the show anyway. They came for the “tragedy of the beautiful young wife.”My mother’s people, the Board members, the lawyers—they were all just here to confirm the asset was neutralized. They weren't there to actually grieve.Now it was just me, the fresh pile of wet dirt, and the sound of the rain hitting the black umbrella Victor was holding over me.I completely ignored Victor. He was trying to talk, I could hear his low, worried voice cutting through the noise of the rain.But the sound was just static to me.“Axel, sir, you need to co
Axel's POVI slammed the keys onto the marble counter of the secured suite's kitchen. The metallic clatter echoed in the sudden, deep silence of the room. It was over. The collapse was initiated, Linda was exposed, and the Geist cabal was running for cover. I had sacrificed my world to give Brielle her clean exit."Brielle!" I called out, my voice rough, needing to hear her answer. I needed to confirm she was safe, that she had gone to the extraction point I had secretly provided, the one meant only for her.Silence. Just the expensive, sterile quiet of the unused suite.I walked quickly to the bedroom. The bed was untouched. Her trench coat wasn't there, which was good, so she took the exit. But her backpack—the one with the red binder and the files—was sitting neatly on the desk, sealed shut. That wasn't good. She was supposed to have the leverage with her.I checked the small, connected office, then the bathroom. Nothing. Just the faint scent of her perfume, light and floral, cling
Brielle's POVThe noise was gone, replaced by the soft, ambient chatter of a high-end downtown café. I was sitting at a small table near the window, watching the silent, frantic faces on the muted television screen hanging above the bar. My hand rested on the subtle, undeniable curve of my abdomen. The baby was fine. We were both fine.On the screen, the financial pundit looked pale, sweating slightly under the studio lights. He was struggling to articulate the chaos—the complete, catastrophic collapse of the Julliard energy tech’s valuation. It wasn’t just the collapse of a stock; it was the collapse of an entire future sector, poisoned by the very secret it was built on.Axel’s move—the final, brutal injection of the instability flaw—had worked perfectly. It hadn't saved the legacy, but it had guaranteed that no one, especially not Linda, would ever profit from it. The market had reacted exactly as we calculated: with immediate, wholesale panic and utter abandonment of the technolog
Axel's POVThe air in the private command suite was thin, electric with the terrible choice we had just made. My technical team, handpicked by me for their loyalty and discretion, were gathered around the secure console. They looked grim, terrified, and utterly confused. They had just watched me, their CEO, decide to destroy the very foundation of the Ferdinez corporate structure.I looked at Brielle, standing near the window, her face calm and focused, the true architect of this final, devastating move. She had given me the final instructions, the exact sequence of data to leak—the hidden, unedited reports proving the fundamental instability of the prototype. The truth that made the Julliard legacy toxic waste.I turned to my team. I had to tell them the truth, or at least enough of it to justify the imminent act of corporate treason.“This is treason,” I stated, my voice flat, devoid of emotion, allowing the full weight of the words to settle over the silent room. “This will likely
Brielle's POVI didn't wait for Axel to find me. I found him.After receiving Richter's frantic, coded message about the global market collapse—the chaos that confirmed Linda had finally sold the prototype—I knew the time for hiding was over. The game had just shifted from corporate survival to total, mutual annihilation.I used the emergency back entrance of his corporate tower, bypassing the security theater, and walked straight into his private command suite. He was standing in front of his wall of bleeding red screens. He was the image of a defeated general watching his fortress crumble. He didn't even turn around when I entered; he knew it was me. He could probably smell the desperation and the adrenaline.I didn't raise my voice. I didn't yell about the tracker, the lies, or the danger he had put me in. The noise outside was loud enough.“Your mother. Linda. They’re selling the empire,” I stated, my voice low, perfectly controlled, cutting through the panic of the market crash.







