Isabella's POV.I never thought I would be the kind of woman who sits at a polished table, calmly planning the financial downfall of someone who once swore he loved me.But here I was in the private conference room of Declan's estate as papers were placed before my table. Declan leaned back in his chair, watching me with that steady unreadable gaze of his that somehow made my pulse skip. He didn't say a word as he allowed me to take the lead, this was my war to fight and he was simply arming me.I traced a finger over the contract in front of me. “So once I sign this. Levi's company liquidity dries up and his investors will pull out. His loans will get called in and by Monday he is going to drown” I asked as Declan nodded his head at me.“Exactly. You are going to be squeezing him until he cannot breathe anymore. His empire even if it's small, compared to ours starts to crumble” he revealed and I swallowed hard as a strange heat coiled in my chest.Was it a triumph? Or guilt? God I w
Ryan's POV.I always thought that Cairo was predictable. But she was cunning and reckless in the way only a woman with nothing to lose could be.She had come to my office dozens of times and she wouldn't leave without singing My Name multiple times, or pressing her body close to me hoping to slip under my skin.Tonight was no different except from the fact that I was more irritable and more disgusted by my own thoughts. I was alone in my office with a glass of whiskey in my hand. My mind wasn't on Cairo instead it was on Isabella. On how she had laughed at me the last time I cornered her, and how she had clunged to Declan instead.My stomach twisted inside of me because I was angry. And I felt a pathetic ache that made me want to smash the glass in my hand just to feel it cut.Then the door swung open without a knock. Cairo stepped inside, wearing a silk dress that barely clung to her curves. Her hair was styled in loose waves as her perfume instantly hit me.“Ryan” she called out my
Declan's POV.I hadn't slept properly in days. My home office was littered with empty coffees and cold takeout boxes.Half of the boxes were stained with sauce I didn't even remember eating. The screen in front of me kept replaying the damn tape that had wrecked Isabella's life.Over and over again even when her face twisted in pain as she felt humiliated in front of the whole world. Except now. When I saw that it was all fake.“We have run the footage through multiple detection models” Jason said as he pushed his glasses up.Jason had been my lead tech guy for years and I didn't fail to notice the way his eyes darted nervously. He was terrified of me and it was for a good reason. I had screamed at them non-stop for the past forty eight hours.“And what else?” I demanded with a rough voice.“Everything is AI manipulated and the facial movement doesn't match the micro muscle patterns. The voice is cloned and as you can see here” he said as he pointed at the screen, his fingers trembli
Isabella's POV.I sat on the edge of the bed as I gently placed the bowel of chicken broth on the table beside me. I could notice Declan's eyes on me as though he was exhausted by how much I cared about him. “I'm not a dying man Bella. You can't always be hovering around me” he said and I rolled my eyes at him but I didn't move away from him.“Says the man who was nearly ripped apart by glass two weeks ago. Eat your soup right now and stop complaining to me, you are not a little child anymore so don't expect me to run after you” I scolded him but my intentions were laced with nothing but the purest form of love to ever exist.He grumbled under his breath just like a child would do but he grabbed his phone either way. He was always going to respect me, as I watched him scoop the soup to put into his mouth and my chest felt instantly tight.His arm was still wrapped in bandages and where he shifted I could see his stitched wounds from under his shirts. Seeing himself vulnerable did thi
Levi's POV. I was pacing back and forth in her house as though I was a caged animal. My hands were shaking and my heart clenched tightly inside of my body. My suit felt too tight as the collar began to choke me. I hadn't slept in two days just because everything had gotten so damn wrong. After so long, Evelyn finally appeared at the top of the stairs. She wore a silk gown like a queen who was surveying her ruined empire as her eyes landed on me with a calm look and that was what I was meant to be more scared about. “You look like hell Levi. Is that guilt on your face or fear?” she asked and my throat tightened. “I-I tried. Evelyn I did everything you wanted-” “Obviously notes” she cut in and she walked down the stairs. Her perfume was expensive and heavy as it wrapped around me like poison. “Because Isabella is still alive and Declan is also alive. And worst of all they are still together. You just had one job Levi” she said and she assessed me as though I was a stray dog. “
Declan's POV. I woke up to the dull beeping of machines and something warm wrapped around my hand. My body felt like hell and my ribs ached every time I breathed. My shoulder felt so tight as though it was an unmovable stone. But all of the pain I felt inside of my body vanished into thin air when I looked down and saw her. Isabella was asleep in the chair next to me, her head was resting on our joined hands as her hair fell over her face. Her face looked pale and her eyes were swollen like she had been crying for hours and that instilled hurt inside of my heart. God. At first I couldn't remember how I got into this hospital. My head was still in a total mess and my vision was blurry, I couldn't remember anything and even if I tried to, my head would hurt a lot. I wasn't going to give up so soon so I decided to stress my brain just to remember and then I saw Levi's face in my blurry images. I felt the taste of blood in my mouth and Isabella's scream as her voice broke through