LOGINJuliusCatherine, our CFO, looked troubled. "Julius, what are you proposing we do about this?""I'm proposing we terminate Hudson's employment effective immediately. Remove him from all leadership positions, revoke his access to company resources, and make it clear that his behavior will not be tolerated.""You can't do this!" Hudson said, standing up. His face was flushed, anger replacing the earlier confidence. "I'm your son. I'm your heir. You can't just throw me out because you're angry about Jane.""This has nothing to do with Jane. You're a poor leader, a thief, and a liability to this company. The board has the right to remove any executive who fails to perform their duties ethically and competently. You've failed on both counts.""I'll fight this. I'll take it to court. I'll tell everyone about you and Jane, about how you stole my fiancée...""Go ahead," I said, my voice like ice, not caring at that moment that the board was there to witness this. "Tell them. Tell the whole
JuliusI spent the drive back making calls. Each one was precise, setting pieces in motion that would systematically dismantle everything Hudson had built on the foundation of my name.The first call was to the head of our legal team."I need you to pull every contract Hudson has signed in the last eighteen months. Every business deal, every partnership agreement and every acquisition. I want to know where my signature was forged, where he exceeded his authority, and where he made decisions that violated company policy.""Sir, that's going to take some time to compile...""You have four hours. I also need you to prepare a complete severance of Hudson from all Armstrong Enterprises. Remove him as beneficiary from trusts, cut off access to all accounts under the family umbrella, draft the paperwork to remove him from my will entirely. I want it airtight. No loopholes and no technicalities he can exploit."There was a pause on the other end. "Julius, are you sure about this? That's an ex
JuliusHudson studied me for a long moment. Then he smiled, and it was the coldest thing I had ever seen. "You want to know what I have? Fine. I'll tell you."He pulled out his phone, swiped through it, then turned the screen toward me.The photo made my chest tighten. It was Jane in her wedding dress, pressed against my car in the parking garage. My hands were on her waist, her arms around my neck, kissing like the world was ending. The image was grainy but clear enough. Anyone who saw it would know exactly what was happening."Keep looking," Hudson said, his voice almost cheerful.He swiped through photo after photo."And this is my favorite," Hudson said, swiping to a video.It was security footage from the parking garage. The angle showed the interior of my car. Jane's wedding dress bunched around her waist, my dark suit jacket on the seat beside us. The windows were fogged, but you could see enough. "You sick bastard," I breathed."I have hours of footage, Dad. From the weddin
JuliusMy head of security arrived at the penthouse, bringing two of our best security analysts with him. I had cleaned up the blood on my hand and wrapped it in a towel, but I hadn't bothered with the destruction around me. "Sir, are you alright?" He took in the broken glass, the holes in the wall and the overturned furniture."No, but that doesn't matter right now. I need you to find out everything about Jane's movements yesterday. Everything. Where she went, who she talked to, every single detail," I stood by the window, my reflection ghostly in the glass. "Something happened. Someone got to her.""You think she was coerced?" He pulled out his tablet, already making notes."I know she was. The question is how and by whom." I already had my suspicions. There was only one person who had the motive and the lack of morality to do something like this. My son.The security analysts got to work immediately. They pulled footage from the building's cameras, nearby street cams and starte
JaneThe hotel room I lodged in was plain and soulless with beige walls, a beige carpet and abstract art that I couldn't understand hanging above a bed. I sat on the edge of the bed, my suitcase still packed by the door where I left it hours ago. I hadn't been able to bring myself to unpack. Unpacking meant accepting that I had actually done what I had done. That I had looked Julius in the eye and told him the most devastating lie I could think of.My phone buzzed again on the nightstand. I didn't have to look to know it was him. It had been buzzing constantly since I left the penthouse. I picked it up with shaking hands and saw his name on the screen. Twelve missed calls. Eight text messages. The most recent one just said, "Please, Jane. Just tell me you're safe."My thumb hovered over the screen. I wanted so badly to call him back and hear his voice. I wanted to tell him everything, but I couldn't. Hudson had made that very clear."If you tell him the truth, I'll destroy him. I'
JuliusThe penthouse was completely silent when I walked in. "Jane?" I called out, my voice rough from hours of not speaking.There was no answer. I walked through the foyer into the living room which was empty. The kitchen was empty too and my chest was getting tighter with every empty room."Jane?!" My voice was louder this time.There was still no answer.I went to the bedroom, pushing open the door, and stopped dead.The closet door was open and her side was completely empty. All her clothes, her shoes and her stuff were gone. The bathroom counter where she kept her makeup and perfume and all those mysterious products women used were cleared off like she had never been there at all.I walked back out into the living room in a daze. The books she had been reading were gone from the side table. The throw blanket she liked to wrap up in while watching TV was missing from the couch. Even the scented candle she bought that I pretended to hate but actually kind of liked was gone.Sh
HudsonI straightened my tie in the bathroom mirror, checking my reflection with satisfaction. I was perfectly composed and there was not a strand of hair out of place. No one would ever know I had just spent the last twenty minutes balls-deep in my fiancée's best friend.Maribel emerged from the
JaneMy eyes locked with Julius’s and in that moment, I saw my own desperation reflected back at me.“Please,” I whispered, my hands sliding up his chest to frame his face. “Please make me forget. Just for a few minutes. Make me forget Hudson. Make me forget—” My voice cracked. “Make me forget eve
JaneJulius froze. For one terrible, endless moment, his lips were still against mine and his body was rigid with shock. I had made a mistake. A horrible and irreversible mistake. I was kissing my fiancé's father. The man who was supposed to become my father-in-law in less than twenty minutes. Wh
JaneJulius Armstrong's piercing grey gaze locked with mine, and I didn’t think it was possible, but the humiliation grew even worse. It wasn't enough that I had caught my fiancé fucking my best friend minutes before our wedding. It wasn't enough that Hudson had kept going, had mocked me and had







