The Collapse

Chapter 3

The first alert hit at 5:03 a.m.

Adrian didn’t wake slowly. His eyes snapped open, body already tense before his mind caught up. His phone kept buzzing on the nightstand, sharp and constant.

He grabbed it.

One message.

Then five.

Then twenty.

Markets reacting.

Lucien Moreau Holdings sudden drop.

Trading halted in two divisions.

An emergency board meeting was called.

Adrian sat up, the sheets falling to his waist, heart beating fast but steady.

“No…” he said under his breath.

Not disbelief.

Timing.

Too fast.

He swung his legs off the bed and stood, already opening the first report. Numbers filled the screen, moving, shifting, dropping.

Fast.

Too fast.

This wasn’t a crack anymore.

This was a break.

He walked to the window, staring out at the city that still looked the same. Quiet. Calm. Like nothing had changed.

But everything had.

Lucien Moreau was falling.

Adrian let out a slow breath.

“So it’s happening,” he said softly.

He should feel one thing.

Victory.

That’s what this was supposed to be.

The moment he had been working toward.

The moment Lucien stopped being untouchable.

And yet

Something didn’t sit right.

Adrian shook it off and moved.

By 6:00 a.m., the news broke.

Not quiet rumors this time.

Loud.

Public.

Every screen. Every channel. Every feed.

“Breaking: Lucien Moreau Holdings faces sudden financial crisis.”

Adrian walked into his office with the news playing on three different screens at once. His team was already there, voices overlapping, tension thick in the air.

“Sir, this is bigger than expected”

“Investors are pulling out”

“We’re getting calls from”

Adrian raised a hand.

Silence.

“Details,” he said.

One of his analysts stepped forward, tablet in hand. “It started with a leak late last night. Internal data. Real numbers. It spread fast.”

“How fast?”

“Minutes.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

Too clean.

Too fast.

“Keep going.”

“The market reacted immediately. Stocks dropped before the opening bell. By the time trading started, it was already chaos.”

Adrian glanced at the screen again.

Numbers in red.

Falling.

“Cause?” he asked.

The analyst hesitated.

“That’s the problem,” he said. “We don’t have one clear cause. It’s… everything at once.”

Adrian frowned.

“That doesn’t happen.”

“No,” the analyst agreed. “It doesn’t.”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

Because he knew that.

A collapse like this didn’t come out of nowhere.

It was built.

Planned.

Pushed.

The question was

By who?

Adrian turned away from the screen, walking toward his office slowly.

“Get me everything,” he said. “I want a full breakdown. Every movement. Every transfer. Every name is attached to this.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And find Lucien.”

The room went quiet again.

“We’re trying,” someone said. “He’s not answering calls.”

Adrian stopped.

Not answering?

“That’s not like him.”

“No,” the analyst said. “It’s not.”

Adrian looked back at the screen one more time.

Lucien didn’t disappear.

He faced things headon.

Always.

So why

Adrian pushed the thought aside.

“Keep trying,” he said. “I want eyes on him.”

By 8:00 a.m., it was chaos.

Not just in the market.

Everywhere.

Adrian stepped out of his car into a wall of noise.

Reporters. Cameras. Questions flying all at once.

“Mr. Adrian! Do you think this was sabotage?”

“Do you believe Lucien Moreau is responsible for the collapse?”

“Is your company involved in any way?”

Adrian didn’t stop walking.

No reaction. No answers.

But his mind was moving fast.

Sabotage.

The word stuck.

Because it made sense.

Too much sense.

Inside the building, the noise faded, but the tension didn’t.

Screens lined the walls, all showing the same thing.

Lucien’s empire falling apart.

Piece by piece.

Deal by deal.

Adrian stood in front of one screen, watching a live report.

“and as you can see, the losses are spreading across multiple sectors. Experts are calling this one of the fastest financial collapses in recent history”

Adrian muted it.

He didn’t need commentary.

He needed answers.

His phone buzzed again.

Another message.

Still no contact.

Adrian exhaled slowly.

“Where are you?” he murmured.

Because this

This was the moment Lucien should be everywhere.

Fixing things.

Controlling the damage.

Proving everyone wrong.

That’s what he did.

That’s who he was.

Adrian’s chest tightened again.

That same feeling from before.

Stronger now.

Because something wasn’t adding up.

By noon, the story had taken over everything.

Every conversation.

Every headline.

Every room Adrian walked into.

People watched him differently now.

Not just as a rival.

As the man who might take Lucien’s place.

He hated that look.

He didn’t want Lucien’s place.

He wanted to beat him.

There was a difference.

Adrian stood in his office, staring at the city again, phone pressed to his ear.

“Tell me something useful,” he said.

“I’m trying,” the voice on the other end replied. “But it’s like he vanished.”

Adrian’s grip tightened.

“People don’t just vanish.”

“Lucien does, apparently.”

Adrian didn’t respond to that.

Because it didn’t feel right.

Nothing about this felt right.

“Yes, the company is collapsing,” the voice continued. “Yes, the numbers are bad. But this this level of damage? It doesn’t match what we saw before.”

Adrian’s eyes narrowed.

“Explain.”

“It’s too clean,” the voice said. “Too complete. Like someone wanted it to fall all at once.”

Adrian went still.

That again.

Too fast.

Too perfect.

Like it was planned.

“But not by him,” Adrian said quietly.

A pause.

“You don’t think Lucien caused this?”

Adrian’s jaw tightened.

“I think Lucien doesn’t lose control like this.”

Silence.

Then

“Then who did?”

Adrian didn’t answer.

Because he didn’t know.

And he didn’t like not knowing.

By evening, the sun had gone down, but the noise hadn’t.

If anything, it got worse.

Adrian stood alone now, the office finally quiet, the screens still running.

Still showing the same thing.

Collapse.

Loss.

Failure.

Words that never belonged to Lucien.

He picked up his phone again, scrolling through messages, reports, updates.

Nothing new.

Nothing useful.

Just the same question over and over.

What happened?

Adrian set the phone down slowly.

His reflection stared back at him from the dark screen.

Calm.

Controlled.

But his eyes

They gave him away.

Because this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.

He was supposed to win.

Not watch Lucien fall like this.

Not without a fight.

Not without

Adrian’s phone buzzed again.

He frowned, picking it up.

Unknown number.

Again.

He opened the message.

One line.

You got what you wanted.

Adrian’s chest tightened.

“No,” he said softly. “I didn’t.”

Because this

This didn’t feel like winning.

Another message came in before he could think.

This one

Different.

Short.

Sharp.

And it hit harder than anything else that day.

He’s gone.

Adrian froze.

“What?”

He read it again.

And again.

Still the same.

Gone.

Not unreachable.

Not unavailable.

Gone.

Adrian’s heart kicked hard against his chest.

“Where?” he typed back.

No reply.

He called the number.

No answer.

Again.

Nothing.

Adrian stood there, the silence pressing in around him.

Lucien didn’t disappear.

He didn’t run.

He didn’t hide.

So why now?

Adrian grabbed his jacket, already moving.

This wasn’t over.

Not even close.

Because if Lucien was gone

Then something bigger was happening.

Something they weren’t seeing yet.

And Adrian had a feeling

A bad one

That the collapse wasn’t the end.

It was just the beginning.