It felt like the world stopped. As Harry stood in front of them, his smile far too familiar and wide, Anita's pulse pounded in her chest. There was a dreadful feeling of déjà vu, like if the ghosts of her past had come back to haunt her, even though the gun was aimed directly at her heart.Nathan stepped between them, his weapon still raised but his full focus on the man who had once been family. "Harry," he growled, his voice low and menacing. "What the hell are you doing here?" A mocking smile twisted Harry's lips, and his eyes briefly shifted to Nathan before returning to Anita. Do you miss me? His tone was a smooth mix of humour and menace, and his words were almost too gentle. Did you truly believe that you could escape from this situation, Anita? You ought to have been more aware of it.The breath caught in Anita's throat. How many times had she fantasised of this, of standing up to Harry, of facing the guy who had so completely deceived her? Nevertheless, it didn't fe
The weight of Harry's mysterious revelation was still circling around in Anita's head, and the air seemed thick with unsaid words. With her pulse pounding in her ears, she hardly noticed Nathan dragging her across the dimly lit hallway of Grant Enterprises' secure wing. As her mind raced, the screech of alarms, the screams of guards, and the distant sound of explosions all faded into the background. The prize is you. You were always. She got the unshakeable impression that Harry had just torn back the curtain, revealing something she wasn't ready for. The secret? Even so, what did that mean? Was he being truthful? Or was he playing mind tricks again?She was pulled back into the present by Nathan's tightening hold on her hand. As they turned a corner, Anita's gaze was fixed on him, the man who had previously only been a stranger to her, despite the harsh white lights of the safe passageways flickering overhead. a man she had desperately married. A man who now held her futu
8Smoke curled against the shattered glass and blazing emergency lights as it moved through Grant Enterprises' higher floors like ghosts. Anita could hardly hear the distant sirens shrieking. She had a louder heart. Silent, numb, and confused, she navigated the maelstrom like a phantom herself. Nathan had left. Gone into whatever hell his past had brought back to life, into the darkness, into the flames. She had known as soon as the vault door had banged behind her. He was not accompanying her. Carter had claimed that he was buying time. However, it felt like sacrifice to Anita.Behind her, there was a thundering explosion that rocked the earth. She slipped and slammed into the chilly executive corridor marble wall. She had trembling hands. It was from something much more dangerous than fear—no, she had long since given up being terrified. Sadness. rage. Love. Betrayal. She had been shut out of the truth as well as the vault by Nathan. of him. She became acutely aware
Like ravenous tongues, the flames licked the ceiling, consuming steel, glass, and wood without distinction. With each inhale, Nathan's lungs filled with bitter, scorching smoke, but he continued. couldn't. Anita had been shut out by him. As the fire burned all around him, that was the only idea keeping him anchored to reality. His gaze was tormented by her face, which was pale in the flickering emergency lights. She had been looking at him with anger, betrayal, and fear, but she was still trying to find anything valuable in him. He had not allowed her to remain. Because she would have perished if she had. Like a phantom, he navigated the top chambers of the vault, avoiding crumbling beams and passing broken monitors and overturned furniture. He was aware that every second was borrowed time now. But he had one last thing to do, one last message to deliver. Nathan arrived at the command terminal. With sparks exploding from its console like dying stars, it was half-destroyed. Neverthele
She was followed by the smoke. Smoke clung to her skin, her hair, and her thoughts even after the building collapsed, after the sirens screamed, and after a guard who was only devoted to Nathan pulled her from the turmoil. Ash was like mascara on her lashes. She left it in place. She was immobile. Not at all. As firefighters doused the already-dead with water, she watched from the other side of the yellow tape. Like a last curse, the vault's bones continued to smoulder and spew black clouds into the night. Twisted metal shrieked as it cooled, and steel bent where it shouldn't have.They referred to it as an accident. A spill of gas. electrical malfunction. There were rumours that it was terrorism. Some believed it to be sabotage. The contents of Nathan's vault were largely unknown. Only she. She also suspected she didn't know everything. She wrapped her fingers around the flash disc. A security guard with shaking hands and terrified eyes had put it into her palm. He h
Everything was silent. Too silent. As the last echoes of the explosion vanished into the darkness, Anita stood at the edge of the flaming debris, her body shaking. The structure that had once stood for Nathan's empire, his legacy, and his castle was now reduced to a charred skeleton of ash and twisted steel. She was unable to hear the distant cries of emergency sirens. Smoke spiralled into the sky like mourning veils, and all she could hear was the harsh, uneven sound of her own breath. He had returned for her. after which she was barred out. Her voice was hoarse from yelling his name, and her palms were scraped raw from beating on the sealed exit. He never did, however, open the door.Since he never meant to. She muttered, "Nathan," as though the wind might take her words back in time, past the debris and the fire, to the man who had given all up. Security, firefighters, and medical personnel moved around her, but she remained still. The edges of the world were blurred.
As the sun sank below the horizon and the city was bathed in an orange glow, the penthouse was eerily quiet. With the city's lights glimmering like far-off stars, Anita stood in front of the enormous windows. However, the vista began to feel more like a battlefield than a privilege. She was reminded of the empire she now ruled and the power that accompanied it by every shadow and light flicker. She didn't know when she had gone too far, when she had ceased to grieve for Nathan and begun planning her next course of action, but it had happened. The grieving had shifted to resolution sometime between viewing the files and realising the stakes.Everything Nathan had left behind had been given to her. All the nasty secrets. All of the shady deals. All the truths she had been denied. The world would suddenly be aware of it. There was no turning back. She had gone too far. Those who believed they could control, manipulate, and exploit Anita Grant would soon discover the hard way
Standing at her elegant mahogany desk, Anita felt the weight of the power she suddenly possessed pressing down on her chest. She had the authority to run the business and the empire that had previously belonged to Nathan, but that authority also came with the burden of tearing it down and starting over, brick by brick. The future would be shaped by every choice she made going forward. Standing upright in front of the board, she had already demonstrated her worth, but that was just the start. She was startled out of her daydream as her phone buzzed on the desk. When she noticed the caller ID, she paused her fingers as she reached for it. Daniel. This was what she had anticipated. Daniel's voice crackled over the phone, "Anita." "There is a circumstance. It's urgent. You must hear this firsthand.The anxiety she had been repressing began to creep up her spine as her heart skipped a beat. "What's happening?" "It concerns Harry." Anger rose in her chest as her pulse accelera
The next morning brought a storm Anita hadn’t seen coming—not from the frontlines, but from within the walls of the fortress she had so carefully built.Anita entered the boardroom at Grant Holdings, expecting support, strategy, and a unified front. Instead, she walked into silence and stiff backs. The tension was visceral, as if the air itself was laced with suspicion.Nathan sat at the head of the table, jaw tight. Across from him, Reva Langston, the very woman who had shaken Anita’s hand just hours ago, now stared at her with cold detachment.“What happened?” Anita asked, setting her tablet down.Reva didn’t blink. “Dominic Pierce filed an injunction against you, Anita. He claims your press conference was a smear campaign backed by falsified documents.”“That’s absurd. We verified everything.”Nathan spoke then, voice clipped. “Pierce is claiming the documents you presented were stolen from a secure database in Switzerland—and that Grant Holdings was complicit in cybercrime.”A chi
Dominic Pierce thought he’d rattled her.He’d sent the orchid as a warning, veiled in civility. But Anita wasn’t the girl she’d been when she first walked into Nathan’s world. She’d been made, broken, burned, and reborn.She knew now that in games of power, silence was never safety—it was strategy.Anita stood before the mirror in her office, buttoning a crisp ivory blouse. Her reflection stared back with poise and purpose. Behind her, Patricia’s photograph smiled faintly on the bookshelf. That reminder was all she needed.Nathan appeared in the doorway, his frame a towering presence. “The press conference is set. Noon.”She turned, slipping gold hoops into her ears. “Are the files ready?”“They are.” He stepped closer. “Are you?”She met his gaze. “You’re not the only one who keeps leverage, Nathan.”He raised a brow. “You’ve been building something?”“I learned from the best.” Her voice was calm, but there was steel beneath. “Remember when I asked you to assign me as your proxy on t
Anita didn’t speak during the drive home.She sat in the back of the armored black Maybach, eyes fixed on the lights bleeding through the city skyline, replaying every word Dominic Pierce had said. The man didn’t blink. Didn’t threaten. He didn’t need to. His offer wasn’t just power—it was a declaration.He didn’t want to destroy Nathan. He wanted to replace him. With her.And that made this war far more personal.When the car pulled into the private elevator bay at the Grant penthouse, she stepped out, shoulders straight, heels echoing like declarations of defiance. The moment the elevator doors opened, Nathan was already there—jacket off, tie undone, eyes stormy with anticipation.“Well?” he asked.Anita let out a slow breath. “He wants to recruit me.”Nathan’s brow twitched. “Recruit?”“Full takeover. My own firm. Resources. Autonomy. And I’d never need you again.”Silence settled thickly between them.He crossed the room slowly, eyes scanning her face. “And?”“I told him to go to
The Calm Before the WarThe rain had stopped, but the tension hadn’t.Nathan stood at the balcony of the penthouse, shirt sleeves rolled up, the city sprawled beneath him like a conquered battlefield. Yet victory felt heavy, laced with exhaustion. His mind replayed every detail from the boardroom, every reaction—Delacorte’s twitching eye, Chen’s collapse, and Anita’s unflinching resolve.She’d been magnificent.Behind him, Anita moved through the living room, barefoot, still in the suit she hadn’t changed out of since the night before. Her hair was slightly tousled, and fatigue clung to her frame like a second skin, but her eyes… they were alive. Sharp. Focused.She approached him quietly, holding two mugs of black coffee. No celebration. No champagne. Just coffee. Because they weren’t done yet.“You’re not sleeping,” she said, offering the cup.He took it, brushing her fingers with his. “Neither are you.”She leaned on the railing beside him. “We just humiliated one of the most corru
Shortly after midnight, the storm broke out. Rain battered the penthouse windows as lightning illuminated the skyline and thunder cracked over the metropolis. Everything was moving in Nathan's battle room, which used to be his office. Anita leaned over a computer table showing the activities of shareholders, Gregor yelled orders into a secure queue, and Nathan Nathan observed her. Something about her had changed. Once standing unsurely at the edge of wolf-infested boardrooms, the woman now stood in the middle, unwavering. Making calculations. Sharp.While looking over the information on the encrypted server that Nathan had previously concealed from even his own legal advisor, Anita remarked, "We're going to need proof." "The board's plan cannot be overturned without concrete proof of wrongdoing or manipulation." "Misconduct always occurs," Gregor mumbled. "These men didn't reach the summit without stepping on people." "Then we discover the corpses," she answered in a firm
As Anita's remarks reverberated across the room, silence descended once more, this time more profoundly. It's time to invite those they never thought to invite. It's time to reverse the situation. At first, Nathan remained silent. He looked her, truly studied her, and his eyes narrowed, calculating. He was constantly aware of Anita's intelligence and fortitude. However, this? This was a very different matter. Instead of cowering in the shadows behind him, she was stepping into her own and daring to confront the machine that had moulded their world. "Who are they?" With care in his voice, Gregor asked in a low murmur. "We need details if we're going to take action. Right now.Anita averted her gaze from both of them and looked up at the glistening skyline. In addition to her face, the mirror in the glass depicted the woman she had grown into, one who had withstood manipulation, treachery, and a web of power struggles that would have destroyed anybody else. She whirled aro
The air was packed with unspoken words as they locked the doors of Nathan's private office. The slight bustle of the metropolis beyond the glass walls felt distant, replaced by an oppressive silence that hung between them. Nathan stood at the far end of the room, his back to her, hands clasped behind his neck, gazing out into the darkness. His figure was black against the lighted skyline, with the weight of leadership—and everything they had worked for—weighing heavily on him.Anita took a deep breath, feeling the chilly air on her skin as she stepped into the chamber, her shoes' heels clicking quietly on the polished marble floors. Despite the opulence of the setting and the vista, everything about this moment felt off. The tension between them was real, like an invisible thread about to snap. She had never seen him this remote, closed-off.She opened her mouth to speak, but the words died on her lips as Nathan turned around, his face determined. His gaze met hers, his face op
With the large estate in front of them softly lit by the moonlight, Nathan and Anita stood at the mansion's threshold during a tense night. Their brains were racing from the weight of what had just happened at the family meeting, and the air was heavy with unsaid words. After Nathan's audacious statement, the family-filled room had quieted down, but the situation was far from done. Now, as the night drew on, the uncertainty of what was ahead hung heavy."Do you think they’ll accept it?" Anita asked in a low voice that could hardly be heard above the gentle sound of leaves rustling in the breeze. She wasn't discussing the family. She wanted to know about the future Nathan had planned for them. the notion of restoring the family, dismantling Eleanor's poisonous authority, and forging something more resilient out of the ruins. It seemed like a huge undertaking that would call for more than simply assurances and words.As Nathan gazed off into the distance, his eyes darkened and h
After Eleanor left, the air had a strange feel to it, full with an almost tangible energy that Anita found difficult to comprehend. The family's long-standing barriers to control had crumbled, and the balance of power was changing in the silence that followed her departure. Everyone was trapped in the aftermath of what had just happened, and nobody appeared to move right away.For a few while, Anita remained motionless, her fingers still clasped together with Nathan's. Though it wasn't as strong as it once was, she could still feel the heat of his touch. She felt more confident since he now had a strength and a resolve that she had not seen before. She came to the realisation that this win was only the beginning, though, when the dust settled. There was still so much to discover. Nathan responded, "She’s gone," in a cool but slightly ferocious tone. "But that doesn’t mean this is over."Slowly, Anita nodded, her mind racing. There was still so much to accomplish, more to reve