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THE FALL OF ARIA DONOVAN
Last Updated : 2025-11-14
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Betrayed. Framed. Fallen. Former CEO Aria Donovan rises from ruin to reclaim her empire and uncover the truth behind a deadly web of lies, corruption, and lost love. In The Price of Power, passion and betrayal collide where trust can cost everything.
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The Storm Before The Fall
The boardroom doors burst open just as security tried to stop her.
“Touch me, and you’ll lose that hand,” Aria Donovan snapped, striding past them in blood-red heels that echoed like gunfire across the marble floor.
Every head turned. Cameras flashed. News crews shouted her name.
On the screen behind the board, her face glared back — CEO UNDER INVESTIGATION FOR BRIBERY AND FRAUD.
Aria slammed a folder onto the table. “That’s a lie. And you all know it.”
The chairman cleared his throat, avoiding her gaze. “Aria Donovan, please—”
“Save it.” Her voice cut like glass. “You think I don’t know what this is? You needed a scapegoat. And Ethan—”
Her eyes locked on him.
Her ex-fiancé. Her traitor. He sat calm, collected, the perfect picture of control.“This isn’t personal,” he said quietly.
Her laugh was sharp, hollow. “Everything with you is personal.”
Security moved closer. Outside, thunder cracked — hard, violent, as if the sky itself was warning them all.
As they led her out, Aria didn’t fight. She looked back only once, eyes like ice.
“You took my company,” she said softly. “Now I’ll take yours.”
The rain hadn’t stopped since she left the building. It came down in sheets now, washing the city in cold silver.
Pier 47 was almost deserted — except for the hum of the waves and the occasional flicker of headlights cutting through the fog. Aria’s coat clung to her as she walked toward the edge, heels clicking softly on the soaked wood.
Her phone buzzed again.
Unknown Number: “Five minutes late. You don’t seem like the careless type.”
She froze, scanning the darkness. “Show yourself,” she called out.
A shadow detached itself from the mist — tall, composed, moving like someone who’d been trained to disappear.
“Ms. Donovan,” the stranger said. His voice was calm but sharp. “You’ve made powerful enemies. And you’re running out of time.”
She crossed her arms. “If you wanted to scare me, you’ll have to do better.”
He tossed a small flash drive toward her. She caught it without flinching.
“Everything you need to clear your name is in there,” he said. “Names, accounts, transfers — including the one your ex-fiancé approved.”Her blood ran cold. “Ethan?”
“Nothing is what it seems,” the man said. “Someone used you both. Follow the trail — but be careful who you trust. Even the ones who look like saviors have something to lose.”
Before she could speak, he was gone — swallowed by fog and silence.
Aria stared at the drive in her palm. Her heart pounded. If what he said was true, this was no simple betrayal. It was war.
And she was done playing the victim.
Ethan Cole stood by the office window, watching the rain carve trails down the glass. The city glittered beneath him — alive, restless, indifferent.
They were already calling him a savior. The man who saved DonovanCorp.
If only they knew the truth.
He loosened his tie, but the pressure around his throat didn’t ease. His reflection stared back at him — polished, composed, and completely hollow. The mask fit too well now.
“Mr. Cole,” his assistant’s voice broke the silence. “The press conference is ready.”
“Delay it,” he said flatly.
She hesitated. “Sir, the board expects—”
“I said delay it.”
When she left, Ethan turned back to his desk. The encrypted folder on his tablet blinked, a reminder of the deal that had started all this — the bribes, the forged documents, the threat that forced his hand.
He had thought he could protect her.
He had thought giving her up would keep her safe.But Aria Donovan didn’t need saving. She needed the truth. And if she ever discovered why he betrayed her — that he’d traded their future for her freedom — she would never forgive him.
Latest chapter
THE FALL OF ARIA DONOVAN Shadows In Donovancorp
Aria had promised herself she wouldn’t return to DonovanCorp alone.Not after everything.But Sienna had been missing for four days, and the silence was beginning to crawl under her skin like ice. And the envelope Sienna left her…“If anything happens to me, don’t trust anyone inside.”Those words rang in her mind as she slipped into a black hoodie and grabbed her car keys.At 11:45 pm, DonovanCorp’s headquarters looked deserted when she got down from a cab she ordered. From the outside, only one floor shone with faint light the archives level. Employees never worked there at night.Aria’s heartbeat quickened.Something’s wrong.She knew the building well enough to enter through the maintenance entrance, a door guards rarely checked at night. She stepped inside quietly with her flat slippers you could barely hear a sound when she took a footstep.The corridors were empty.The entire floor felt cold, still except for the sound she was sure wasn’t supposed to be there:A cabinet slamm
Last Updated : 2025-11-14THE FALL OF ARIA DONOVAN A father’s shame
The academy’s courtyard was alive with chatter. Students in new uniforms, parents adjusting ties and fixing hair, teachers directing the crowd with rehearsed smiles. The banners read Matriculation Day, but the tension and excitement beneath them felt far more personal.Chairman Victor Haynes stepped out of his car to a wave of bowed heads and murmured greetings. Staff members straightened themselves the moment they spotted him. Respect followed him like a shadow.But the real center of attention was his son, Miles Haynes, an 18-year-old teen unimaginably privileged, and very aware of it.His posture was perfect, his uniform flawless, his eyes sharp. A group of boys whispered near the entrance, giving him a wide path as he walked with his chin held just slightly higher than necessary.“Move,” Miles said flatly when a one student blocked his way without noticing. The boy scrambled aside, stuttering apologies as Miles passed without a second glance.Victor watched him with a quiet, unrea
Last Updated : 2025-11-14THE FALL OF ARIA DONOVAN Old wounds, new wars
The room was silent, the kind that forces confessions. Aria sat across from Luca, her hands clasped tightly as she struggled to find the right words.Aria: “You said you and Ethan have history. I need to know what happened everything. He wasn’t just my rival, Luca. He was… someone I almost married.”Luca’s gaze hardened, his expression unreadable. “I know.”Aria looked surprised. “You knew?”Luca: “I knew long before you did. Ethan was always the kind of man who hid daggers behind smiles. When I first met him, I was still building my father’s name back into the company. He was charming, brilliant and dangerous. People loved him. But I saw what he truly was.”Aria leaned forward, voice low. “What did he do to you?”Luca took a breath, his tone turning colder. “He betrayed me. Years ago, I worked on a high-profile investment deal with him. It was supposed to save a struggling branch of the company. Instead, he used my name, my credentials, to authorize illegal payments bribes to fore
Last Updated : 2025-11-14THE FALL OF ARIA DONOVAN The silence in the dark
~SIENNA'S POV~Time here had no meaning. The men who took her rarely spoke; their voices came muffled through the steel door, sharp and hushed, followed by the sound of keys jingling and boots scraping across the floor. Every few hours, they’d shove a tray of food toward her greasy, cold, untouched. She refused to eat. Refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing her break.Her throat burned from thirst, yet she turned away from every glass of murky water they left. Her lips were cracked, her skin pale, her once-bright eyes dimmed but still defiant. The bruises on her arms told stories of struggle of how she’d fought when they dragged her off the street, blindfolded and gagged, before throwing her into this underground cell.Occasionally, she could hear the distant hum of engines above, the faint rumble of voices — proof that she wasn’t buried too deep beneath the city. She tried counting the seconds between sounds, desperate for something to anchor her sanity.That evening, the
Last Updated : 2025-11-13THE FALL OF ARIA DONOVAN Crown of lies
The media room buzzed with anticipation. Cameras were being adjusted, microphones tested, and reporters murmured like restless bees waiting for honey or blood. The massive gold emblem of Donovancorp gleamed behind the podium, a silent witness to the empire’s next betrayal.Before the conference began, the story rewound to three years earlier to the night it all began.~Flashback~: Victor Hayes’ Private Office , 11:42 P.M.Ethan walked into the chairman’s office in his expensive suit shadowing the hunger in his eyes. Across from him, Victor Hayes poured two glasses of whiskey, sliding one across the desk.“So,” Victor began, his tone smooth as silk, “you’re tired of being number two.”Ethan smirked, taking the glass. “Aria’s soft. Her father’s death hit her hard, and she’s distracted. The board respects her out of pity but that won’t last.”Victor leaned back, eyes gleaming. “And you want her seat even when she's your fiancé?.”“I deserve it,” Ethan replied, voice sharp. “I built half
Last Updated : 2025-11-12THE FALL OF ARIA DONOVAN When Silence Speaks
Aria’s POVSunday night bled into Monday morning without rest. Aria lay awake with a question looped in her mind — Did Sienna make it home?By dawn, she gave up on sleep. She showered, dressed, and reached for her phone. A message blinked on the screen — still no response. She tried calling. The line rang, then cut off.At first, she brushed it off. Maybe Sienna had overslept, or lost her phone again. But a small, sharp worry began to form under her ribs.By 10 a.m., Aria sent another message:Aria: Morning, Sienna. Just checking in ... are you okay?Aria: How’s work? Did Ethan notice anything?The messages went through. No reply.Her heart sank lower with every passing hour.By noon, the office felt colder. Conversations hummed around her , fragments of laughter, gossip, the usual chaos , yet she felt detached, her focus somewhere else.She opened her email. Nothing from Sienna. No meeting notes. No updates.Odd. Sienna never missed a check-in.Aria decided to call the department dir
Last Updated : 2025-11-11
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