Amara’s POV
The flash of cameras felt like gunfire.A hundred voices fired questions, their words bouncing off the marble walls of Cruz Holdings’ lobby. Damian stood at the center of it all—perfect suit, perfect mask. But I saw it—the flicker in his jaw, that single muscle that twitched right before he lost control.The scandal had exploded overnight. Rumors about the old acquisition had morphed into accusations—fraud, cover-up, conflict of interest. Words that could destroy empires.And right now, Damian Cruz—untouchable, unshakable—was bleeding.“Mr. Cruz,” one reporter shouted, “is it true Cruz Holdings knowingly inflated the valuation to mislead shareholders?”“No,” Damian said evenly. “That information is false.”Another voice cut in. “Then what about the leaked internal documents this morning? Are those forgeries?”He hesitated. Barely half a second. But in a room full of sharks, half a second was bloAmara’s POVThe elevator ride felt endless.I could still hear the reporters outside — shouting Damian’s name, cameras flashing, chaos spilling through the glass walls. But inside, it was dead quiet. The kind of silence that makes your pulse sound too loud.Damian hadn’t said a word since the press conference. He’d brushed off the board, ignored Lydia’s smug little comments, and just said, “My office. Now.”So here I was — standing across from him in that cold, glass-walled room, the city glittering beneath us while my heart tried to beat its way out of my chest.He paced behind his desk, jacket still on, tie hanging loose. Every movement was clipped, restrained — like he was seconds from losing it.“Do you have any idea what you just did?” he said finally.I flinched but forced myself to stand tall. “Yeah. I stopped you from getting torn apart on live television.”He gave a sharp, humorless laugh. “You hijacked
Amara’s POVThe flash of cameras felt like gunfire.A hundred voices fired questions, their words bouncing off the marble walls of Cruz Holdings’ lobby. Damian stood at the center of it all—perfect suit, perfect mask. But I saw it—the flicker in his jaw, that single muscle that twitched right before he lost control.The scandal had exploded overnight. Rumors about the old acquisition had morphed into accusations—fraud, cover-up, conflict of interest. Words that could destroy empires.And right now, Damian Cruz—untouchable, unshakable—was bleeding.“Mr. Cruz,” one reporter shouted, “is it true Cruz Holdings knowingly inflated the valuation to mislead shareholders?”“No,” Damian said evenly. “That information is false.”Another voice cut in. “Then what about the leaked internal documents this morning? Are those forgeries?”He hesitated. Barely half a second. But in a room full of sharks, half a second was blo
Amara’s POVThe file glowed on my laptop like it had been waiting for me.At first, it looked like routine memos—regulatory updates from an old joint venture. But the timestamps. The headers. They didn’t match.Someone had tampered with them.I cross-checked the files against Cruz Holdings’ records three times before admitting what my gut already knew: all the discrepancies pointed to Harrington & Lowe. A rival firm infamous for playing dirty.It wasn’t proof. Just a pattern. But it was too neat, too deliberate to be coincidence.My chest tightened. This could clear Damian. This could be the break we needed.But what if I was wrong? If I brought this forward without hard evidence, Damian would look paranoid. Desperate. And I’d look like an overstepping assistant who didn’t know her place.Still, the thought of staying silent made me sick. Watching them tear him apart wasn’t an option.I rubbed my temple
Amara’s POVThe boardroom echoes still clung to me hours later. Lydia’s subtle accusation. The way some of the board leaned toward her, hungry for the truth she dressed in silk.And Damian—silent, unreadable, a fortress no one could touch.But for the first time, I’d seen it. A crack.By nightfall, the office was almost empty. The city glittered through the tall windows, a skyline that never slept. I sat hunched at my desk, surrounded by old acquisition files, audit reports, and a forgotten cup of cold coffee.This wasn’t my job. I was an assistant, not an investigator. But I couldn’t shake the suspicion eating at me. The timing of the leak was too perfect, the accusations vague but sharp enough to wound.Someone wanted Damian vulnerable.And I couldn’t sit back and watch it happen.Click after click, I chased numbers, compared reports, looked for patterns no one else bothered with. Hours slipped by, the office
Amara’s POVThe summons arrived like a lightning bolt: Emergency Board Meeting. Attendance Required.Even as a mere assistant, I wasn’t supposed to be there. But when Damian’s calendar pinged and his secretary was nowhere in sight, I was the one who received the instruction to prepare the packets and sit in to take notes.My palms were slick as I stacked folders and carried them down the hushed hallway toward the executive boardroom. Every step felt like it echoed with more weight than I could carry.The boardroom itself was a battlefield disguised in mahogany and glass. Long table gleaming, leather chairs filled with people who controlled empires with the flick of a pen. Their faces were sharp, polished, but tonight, tension cracked their composure.At the head of the table, Damian sat like a statue carved from granite, unreadable, powerful—yet the very center of every accusing eye.And across from him, Lydia perched like a quee
Amara’s POVThe office buzzed louder than usual that morning. Phones rang off the hook, assistants scurried between floors, and conversations dropped to whispers the second I walked by. Even the air felt different—sharp, restless, like a storm pressing against the windows.I didn’t understand why until I passed the glass-walled conference room.The television mounted on the far wall blared the morning business news, but it wasn’t the anchor’s voice that made me pause—it was the name on the scrolling banner at the bottom of the screen.Cruz Holdings embroiled in acquisition scandal.My stomach dropped.The footage cut to Damian, a clip from a past interview where he looked untouchable—composed, sharp in a navy suit, answering questions with ease. But the headline painted a different story: “Was Cruz reckless in billion-dollar acquisition? Sources claim oversight, negligence, and possible cover-up.”The words blurred. Reck