Chapter One

“Your numbers are strong, Adrian. Stronger than ever. But your eyes aren’t on the room.”

Victoria Kane’s voice cut across the boardroom. She didn’t raise her tone, she didn’t need to. Her words carried weight.

Adrian Knight leaned back in his chair at the head of the polished black table. Floor-to-ceiling glass framed the skyline behind him, a city that he had grown used to. To anyone watching, he was untouchable. To Victoria, he was distracted.

“My eyes are everywhere,” Adrian said smoothly, his baritone carrying the kind of confidence that built empires. Yet his jaw tightened. He caught it in his reflection on the glass, his control slipping for just a second.

“The board doesn’t like uncertainty,” Victoria continued, folding her manicured hands. “And lately, you breathe uncertainty.”

Murmurs rippled among the executives seated around the table. Adrian let them talk. He’d learned long ago that silence unsettled men more than shouting ever could. When the whispers grew, he leaned forward, palms flat on the table.

“This company runs because of me,” he said quietly. “Don’t confuse distraction with weakness.”

The room stilled. No one challenged him, not openly. But Victoria’s eyes lingered on him, sharp and calculating.

Adrian glanced around the table, his gaze sweeping over the directors. “Numbers are up. Profits are climbing. Shareholders are happy. That’s what matters. Not gossip and definitely not rumors.”

One of the younger executives cleared his throat. “There’s been… chatter in the media, sir. Questions about your leadership style. Some are saying…”

Adrian cut him off with a single look. “Some are always saying something. That’s what keeps journalists in business. Let them chatter. I build. That’s the difference.”

The man sank back into his chair, red-faced.

Victoria, however, wasn’t finished. “You may control the numbers, Adrian. But you can’t control perception forever. People are watching more closely than you think.”

“Then they’ll see what I want them to see,” Adrian replied coldly.

A long silence followed. The meeting continued, but the tension lingered heavily in the air.

“Perhaps we should discuss risk,” another board member said cautiously. “The lawsuit from last quarter is still unsettled, and there are rumors of another.”

“I’m aware,” Adrian said without looking at him.

“Yes, but awareness isn’t enough,” Victoria pressed. “If we don’t act quickly, we’ll look reactive instead of proactive.”

“We?” Adrian’s brow arched. “Or you?”

She didn’t flinch. “I speak for the company. Isn’t that what you taught me?”

Adrian gave a low laugh, but there was no humor in it. “Don’t mistake ambition for loyalty, Victoria. I know the difference.”

“Then you know I’m right,” she said, leaning back with a practiced calm. “You can’t afford to drift, not even for a moment.”

The older board members exchanged uneasy glances. The air thickened, every word laced with challenge.

One of them, trying to ease the tension, leaned forward. “The markets are steady. Investor confidence is still high. Perhaps what’s needed is less confrontation, more reassurance.”

Adrian looked him dead in the eye. “Reassurance is for children. Investors respect strength and strength is what they’ll get.”

The man looked down at his notes, chastened.

Another executive spoke softly, almost apologetic. “Still, sir… perception does move markets. Maybe we could prepare a press release? A softer image might…”

“No,” Adrian interrupted. “I won’t parade softness to please gossipers. They will follow because I lead, not because I bend.”

Victoria’s lips curved in a polite smile, but her eyes told another story. “Then I trust you’ll show them that soon. Before doubt spreads further.”

When the meeting finally ended. Adrian didn’t head for his office. He went to the balcony. Wind clawed at his suit, carrying the hum of traffic below. He should have felt invincible. He was one of the richest men. But instead, a familiar name lingered on his mind.

Gabriel.

The name flickered in his mind like a flame refusing to die. Years had passed, yet it came with the same weight it had the day he walked away. Adrian closed his eyes, fingers tightening on the railing. He told himself he had made the right choice, ambition demanded sacrifice. But the memory of Gabriel’s eyes, the betrayal in them, still carved at him.

A voice pulled him back. “You’re off your game.”

Adrian turned. Isabella Moreau stood a few steps away, her presence as polished as ever. A fitted dress, diamond earrings, lips painted in a cruel shade of red.

“Breaking into my office now?” Adrian asked, masking surprise with cool amusement.

“Your assistant still likes me.” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes. “And I hear things. You’re distracted. You’ve always been weak when it comes to…” She paused, her smile sharpening. “...affections.”

Adrian’s gaze hardened. “Careful, Isabella.”

“Oh, I’m careful,” she said, her heels clicking as she stepped closer. “You left me at the altar, Adrian. Did you think the world forgot? Because I didn’t.” She tilted her head, studying him. “One day, everyone will see you’re not as untouchable as you pretend to be.”

Adrian exhaled slowly, keeping his face unreadable. “You’re still chasing the past. Let it go, Isabella.”

“Past?” She laughed, low and bitter. “You made me a Past t. Do you know how humiliating it was to stand in front of hundreds of people while they whispered, pitied, mocked? That doesn’t disappear. It festers.”

“You deserved better than a lie,” Adrian said, his tone flat.

Her eyes flashed. “Better? You ruined me.” She leaned close, her perfume cloying. “And now I’ll return the favor.”

Adrian didn’t flinch. He’d faced worse threats than her wounded pride. But something in her tone settled like a seed of warning in the back of his mind.

“Don’t test me, Isabella.”

“Oh, I don’t need to,” she said softly, almost sweetly. “Life will do it for me. All I have to do is wait.”

Her perfume lingered long after she left, sweet and suffocating.

Back inside, Adrian’s phone buzzed. A message from his legal team.

URGENT. A new case filed against Knight Enterprises. Opposition attorney: Gabriel Vega.

For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.