LOGINLUNA POV
Bryan has always been the sane one in the group, though aloof most times and sometimes looks arrogant, he has always been chill. "Let's park the bags, guys," Bryan said, looking all lazy, like he would rather be somewhere else other than here. The bags were parked and Liam chose to drive the car Bryan came with while Bryan sat at the back, and the boys would take the other car. Sitting beside the driver’s seat, Maya came from nowhere. “Liam, I want to sit beside you. I can’t sit at the back, you know I get car sick easily.” I murmured under my breath, why not just sit this one out or just take a flight to the venue. “Get down, can’t you hear me? I said get down.” I looked up only to see Liam’s scowling face. “Do you have to fight with Maya for everything? Don’t you know she would get sick if she sits behind?” I couldn’t say a word. What would I say? Maya always comes first and he made that clear before we started dating. If I complained, I would just end up getting him angry. If there was anything between Maya and me then you won’t be here, he would say whenever we had the conversation. I came down, taking the back seat and sitting beside Bryan while Maya sat beside Liam, feigning ignorance. “Liam, you don’t have to make Luna sit behind, she is your girlfriend, you know,” she said, glancing behind while giving a smile that always interpreted, see, you may be his girlfriend in name, but he is mine. “Maya, you are so generous, why can’t Luna be like you,” Liam scoffed, while Maya gave him a peck on the cheek. “You are so cute when you are angry,” Maya said while giggling. “Let’s go boys!” Liam screamed from the window while the car slowly rode from the driveway. “I think we should take one car and not two,” Maya said while looking at Bryan and Liam. While Bryan ignored her, Liam replied, “Why dear?” “We won’t have fun in separate cars so let’s stop at any car rental and rent.” “Ok,” Liam said without thinking about it. Pulling up at the rental, Liam and Maya went in to do the formality while holding hands like a couple. “Hey, how is your arm?” “Huh?” “Your arm, it could get infected. Let me treat that for you.” Looking up, Bryan was holding a first aid kit. “How did you get that?” I asked, surprised he had a medical kit with him. “Let me treat that,” he said without even replying to my question. He was cleaning the burn with a poker face while being so gentle at the same time. When I even winced in pain, he blew on it but wouldn’t say a word. I felt my heart flutter. He was being gentle and caring. “Handsome,” I murmured within. He is breathtaking, wonderful physique, perfect nose line, gray eyes… oh my goodness, his perfect jawline. “Back to earth, Luna,” I heard his soft voice. “Why are you gaping at me? Is there something on my face?” “No… no, I was thinking about someone—no, something,” I stammered. What was I thinking? Staring at my boyfriend’s friend like that just because of a little kindness. Am I that desperate? “You must be thinking of someone or something important, and I’m sure that person is lucky you are thinking about them,” he said with a grin. OMG, he is smiling. I could count how many times I saw him smile. My face turned red. “No, no, I didn’t say it was a person, I… I… I just—” “All done. And you don’t have to explain yourself, princess.” Princess? My heart skipped. Why would he call me that? “Princess?” I asked. “Every girl is a princess and a queen to her king. Liam would be out soon,” he said before alighting from the car, going round and opening the door for me. “Thanks,” I said shyly. He didn’t reply as he went back to his stoic face, as Daniel approached. All chattering, the car would be ready, and there was no car available right now that could take both our highness’s many luggages and us, so we would take my car for the luggage, and the rental we would all be in it together. We would also have to hire someone to drive it since the goal was to spend time together and have fun, so here we are. “Ok,” Bryan said with just one word. And Daniel kept quiet. “Ok, let’s offload the bags and put them in the other car.” Moving aside, Daniel, Eric, Richard, and Bryan took a suitcase each, while I tried to help. Bryan just said, without even looking at anyone in particular, “Let the men do this.”The heavy metallic door shut behind Luna, the echo of her footsteps fading down the corridor. Bryan stood frozen, her voice still lingering in his ears — the way she screamed his name, the fear in her eyes.He had faced boardrooms, rivals, and betrayal, but nothing cut deeper than that single backward step she took from him.He pressed a hand to the wall, trying to steady his breathing. He had lost control in front of her. The one person he never wanted to see that side of him had witnessed everything.“Boss,” Marcus’s voice came from behind Bryan, breaking through the silence. He looked breathless, phone still in hand. “Thank God I caught you before you began, he began. We need to talk — it’s about the message.”Bryan straightened slowly, forcing his mind to focus. “The message?”Marcus nodded, stepping closer, lowering his voice. “The one from Walter’s private server. It's been decrypted. It’s… not what we expected.”He handed Bryan a tablet. The screen glowed faintly in the dim cor
The door to the torture room flung open as four men walked in. Two at the front were blindfolded, while the other two behind them were Skye and Blane — Bryan’s most trusted men after Marcus. Shoving the blindfolded men into the corner of the room, Skye ripped off their blindfolds. They winced at the sudden brightness, blinking as their eyes adjusted to the sterile white light of the room. Now seeing the men standing before them, one of the blindfolded men spoke up. “Who are you? Who do you work for?” Walter Blackwood asked, swallowing hard. The two men just stared back in silence, not responding to Walter’s question. “If you can’t answer me, call your boss! I’ll pay any amount he wants — money isn’t the problem!” Walter barked. Skye gave a small smirk, leaning lazily against the wall. “Do you know who I am? How dare a lowlife like you smirk while I speak? When I get out of here, let’s see if you still have that smirk on your face!” Walter spat angrily. “Dad! Dad, Dad!” Justi
: Luna had gone home since it was way past working hours. Reporters filled the entrance of the Blackwood Headquarters, eager for any insider news. She managed to successfully evade them, slipping quietly through the side gate before making her way to the mansion. After taking a warm shower and having dinner, boredom crept in. Having nothing else to do, she decided to go for a walk. The mansion was big, its beauty magnified under the night lights — carefully trimmed hedges, soft garden lamps, and the faint scent of jasmine drifting through the cool air. Luna strolled slowly, her eyes wandering across the flowers and the marble statues that stood like silent guards. Somehow she found herself, Now standing a few steps from the front of the basement door, Luna hesitated. She stared at it for a long time, her pulse quickening. Should I check it out? she thought. If the door’s locked, I’ll just pick the keys or leave. Glancing around to make sure no one was nearby, she took a d
It didn’t take long until every major business outlet in the Dallas had the same headline: “Blackwood Empire Faces Internal Power Shift — CEO Bryan Blackwood Exposes Family Corruption and Becomes the New Chairman of the Blackwood Empire.” The news spread like wildfire — investors buzzing, analysts scrambling to decode what the sudden shake-up meant for the Blackwood Empire. In no time, the Blackwood headquarters was already surrounded by reporters. The usual polished silence was replaced with camera flashes and shouted questions echoing against the glass façade. This was what Bryan wanted, to make his grandfather think his uncle was forced into hiding by the media because he was ready to deal with him his own way. He didn’t care what others said about him, but one thing was certain — he feared his grandfather. He knew his grandfather wouldn’t mind what he planned to do with his uncle but would be angry about not covering every edge. If Edgar could find out, anyone could. Emplo
Ryan wheeled in a laptop and projected the mirrored logs Bryan had been building through the night. The room saw timestamps, file transfers, IP trails — they saw Justine’s login and its redirect.Voices in the room gasped, shuffled, shifted. The display then traced funds — funneling to shell accounts that led to Arizona and to an account linked to the vice president of Carter Holdings.Walter’s face changed. The smugness drained. He was ready to counter Bryan’s solution, but he never expected this.The shareholders began to murmur. Clearing his throat to get everyone’s attention, Ryan began to walk the board through customs release confirmations — proof of bribes and the signature trail. He showed the email chain between the vice president of Carter and an intermediary. He displayed the mirage of the fake “tax invasion” report — a false complaint filed from a shell company linked back to accounts tied to Walter’s office.Then Ryan handed a folder to Edgar, which had photographs, bank
By midnight, the CEO floor was a different place. The monitors on Bryan’s wall glowed softly in the dim light, filled with spreadsheets, IP logs, and intercepted emails. The hum of the servers was the only sound that dared disturb the stillness of the night. Luna had fallen asleep on the couch in Bryan's office, exhaustion written across her delicate features.Bryan stood, his gaze softening as he walked over and gently covered her with a blanket. For a brief second, the steel in his eyes melted — but only for her.A few minutes later, Marcus arrived, breathless, with a USB and a folder clutched tightly in his hands. The two men worked in silence until the city outside finally surrendered to the night, and the first shards of pale light began to slip under the blinds, painting faint silver lines across the floor.When Luna’s name appeared in the logs — the watermark checks, the mirrored access timestamps, Justine’s login token — Bryan felt something dark and cold settle inside him. It







