LOGINNight erased the city in layers of black and steel.Ethan sat alone in the dim interior of his car, engine off, phone vibrating silently in his palm. The glow of the screen illuminated his face—sharp, hollowed, stripped of pretense. On it was a list of names Alyssa didn’t know existed. Men who watched her from shadows. Shell companies that moved when she moved. Bank transfers timed too precisely to be coincidence.Threats.All of them pointed toward her.He exhaled slowly, jaw tightening.“She doesn’t need to know,” he muttered to no one.That was the lie he kept telling himself.Alyssa was strong—too strong. She believed in confrontation, in control through visibility. Ethan knew better. Some wars weren’t won in the light. Some had to be buried so deeply even the victor never spoke of them again.His phone rang once. A burner number.“Talk,” he said.“They’re closing in,” the voice on the other end whispered. “Two moves. Maybe three.”Ethan smiled, cold and humorless.“Then they’re a
They called it a press conference.Alyssa called it an elegant execution stage.That morning, the company’s main building was flooded with camera flashes and hurried footsteps. Reporters packed together like a flock of predators, waiting for a single misstep to tear apart. Behind the layered glass doors, Alyssa stood alone in the waiting room, staring at her own reflection.A simple black dress wrapped her figure—no excessive jewelry, no soft colors. Her hair was slicked neatly back, revealing a face that no longer carried hesitation. And her eyes… eyes that once trembled with emotion were now calm, sharp, and cold.A new mask.Ethan watched her from the corner of the room, his jaw tightening.“You don’t have to do this alone,” he said quietly.Alyssa didn’t turn.“That’s exactly why I have to,” she replied flatly. “They need to see who’s standing in front of them. Not your shadow. Not Rafael. Not anyone else.”Ethan wanted to argue, but the words died in his throat. There was somethi
The city did not sleep that night.Lights burned behind office windows long past midnight, blinds half-drawn, shadows moving like restless ghosts. Phones stayed face-down but vibrating, messages piling up unread because everyone already knew—whatever came next would not be written in text.It would be written in damage.Alyssa stood alone in her office, jacket discarded on the back of her chair, sleeves rolled up. The glass wall reflected her image twice—one calm, one fractured. On her desk lay three phones, a tablet, and a folder stamped CONFIDENTIAL.She hadn’t opened it yet.She didn’t need to.Her gaze drifted to the city below. Somewhere out there, Davin was awake. Somewhere else, Maya was setting fire to a second fuse. And somewhere much closer than Alyssa liked to admit, Ethan was probably watching the same skyline, thinking of her.Her phone vibrated.Unknown number.She answered without greeting. “If you’re calling to threaten me, be creative. I’m tired.”Rafael’s voice came
Rafael stood alone in the underground parking garage long after the engine of his car had gone cold.The concrete walls amplified the sound of his breathing, slow and controlled, as if restraint were something he could practice like a muscle. His phone rested in his palm, screen dark now, but the last message he had read still burned behind his eyes.Alyssa will be at the east wing tonight. Alone.He hadn’t replied.He shouldn’t have even opened it.Rafael closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the steering wheel. Loving Alyssa had never been simple. It had always been a quiet kind of destruction—slow, dignified, and inevitable.“She’s not yours,” he muttered under his breath. “She never was.”Yet his body moved before his resolve could stop it.Alyssa stood in the half-lit corridor of the east wing, reviewing documents projected onto the glass wall. The building was nearly empty at this hour, the kind of silence that felt deliberate rather than peaceful.“You’re late,” she s
Morning broke with the illusion of calm.The city woke up unaware that by noon, one name would be bleeding across every screen.Maya sat alone in her apartment, barefoot on cold marble, laptop balanced on her knees. The skyline beyond the window glowed pale gold, but her eyes were fixed on lines of code, message drafts, and scheduled releases ticking down to the second.She hadn’t slept.She hadn’t needed to.Fear sharpened her better than rest ever could.Her phone buzzed.Rafael: You’re sure about this? Once it’s out, there’s no recall.Maya typed without hesitation.That’s the point.She clicked open a folder labeled simply: CHESSBOARD.Inside were years of Davin Liang’s secrets—shell companies tied to human rights violations, recorded conversations hinting at bribery, images of offshore transfers that had never been meant to surface. Not rumors. Not whispers.Proof.Maya inhaled slowly.“This is for every time you thought you owned me,” she murmured to the empty room.Her finger h
The boardroom felt smaller than usual.Not because of the long glass table or the towering windows overlooking the city, but because of the tension pressing in from every direction. Alyssa could feel it the moment she stepped inside—the air thick with divided loyalties, unspoken calculations, and fear disguised as professionalism.Every seat was filled.Directors who once spoke with a single voice now avoided each other’s eyes. Some offered Alyssa polite nods. Others didn’t look at her at all.Ethan sat at the head of the table, jaw clenched, fingers interlocked as if holding himself together by force alone.“This meeting is now in session,” Director Klein announced, his tone formal, almost ceremonial. “We are here to address the instability currently affecting Ethan Group.”Alyssa took her seat slowly. She didn’t rush. Fear rewarded haste.“Instability caused by rumors,” Ethan said sharply. “Rumors planted with intent.”“Intent or not,” Director Hargreeve replied, adjusting his glass







