Dangerous Alliances

The air in Elan Vogue’s conference room shimmered with tension as Isla crossed one long leg over the other, brushing the silk of her charcoal colored dress softly.

A single glance from those stormy grey eyes silenced the whole room.

This was her realm now.

This was her throne.

Her kingdom.

Today she was here, not as the wife of a Blackwell.

Not as the woman who was wronged.

Now she was a woman reborn from ashes.

A woman rising as a phoenix.

As her team presented the revenue projections for the upcoming quarter, the glass walls framed the New York sky like a coronation jewel.

Isla Wilde didn’t just come back.

She came back to win. She came back to defeat all those people who watched while she fell in the deepest pits of despair.

But across the room, Leo Stone watched from the edge of the table, swirling amber liquid whiskey in a crystal glass. The faint curve of his mouth spoke volumes which he was left unspoken.

Here was a man with deep and dangerous threads tangled with the very woman that Isla aimed to ruin and destroy.

The woman, his mother - Claire Blackwell.

***

That Evening

The Langoon Lounge Bar

Leo lifted a glass of whiskey towards Isla, “To take down those people,” he said smoothly.

Isla smiled faintly. “To make sure those people don’t have a leg to stand on.”

He tilted closer to her, his voice dropping to an intimate and low whisper. “You’re brave, Isla. But bravery doesn’t always make one win.”

“Then I'll become ruthless. I'll win….at any cost.” she replied, her voice laced with determination.

Leo watched the steel in her gaze. “You’re making an enemy out of Claire. She's not a woman one can easily take down.”

“If you think this way then you don’t know me well enough, Mr. Stone.”

He smirked. “Perhaps. But I do know her. Too damn well.”

Isla froze for a moment and raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

Leo’s voice softened for a second only to harden once again as the past memories swirled inside his mind like a curse. “My family and Claire have…a long history. Let’s just say that she has buried more than one truth about herself. Including one about a Stone boy and a family she ruined long ago.”

Isla’s breath caught in her chest, just for a moment.

“Help me bury Claire Blackwell for good,” she said quietly.

Leo’s jaw tightened and a smirk tugged at his lips. “With you? Always, Isla.”

***

Meanwhile at Lucian Blackwell’s Office- The same day

The screen glowed in the darkness as Lucian poured himself another drink and watched the surveillance footage, his eyes as sharp as a hawk.

Isla and Leo. They were together in a bar talking like old friends.

The way Leo spoke to her, the way Leo looked at Isla, the faint, almost slightly softening in Isla’s expression.

The edge of a smile that once used to belong to him.

There was a time when Isla Wilde used to smile at him the same way…

Something inside him snapped

He hated this.

He hated seeing her with another man.

A twisted feeling arose in his heart. Something which felt like obsession.

He gripped the glass until it nearly shattered.

“Leo Stone,” he growled aloud.

“Of all the goddamn people…why him”

He pressed a button on his phone. “Julien, dig deeper. I want everything you can find about Leo Stone and Claire. Every link, every secret, every buried skeleton.”

He sank into the chair, his voice dropping to a low whisper.

“What are you hiding from me, Isla? I'll find out no matter what it takes.”

***

Midnight

In Isla’s Penthouse

The city glimmered beyond the glass windows, but inside, the air was charged with coldness.

Isla stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass, brushing a finger over the faint scar along her palm.

Memories surged inside her mind, memories of loss, of betrayal, and pain.

The sound of a soft chime suddenly announced Leo’s arrival.

He stepped into the room like a dark shadow, closing the door quietly behind him.

“Claire Blackwell ruined my family,” he said, his voice shaking slightly. “She buried my father’s company. She ruined his reputation and left him to die broken in disgrace and humiliation. Everything I am and everything that I’ve built myself, everything I've done is to rise from the ruin and destroy Claire Blackwell.”

Isla turned back, rising to face him. The pain in his voice resonated with the same ache in her chest.

Claire Blackwell really was no less than a curse in their life.

“Then we have the same enemy, Leo,” she said softly. “And we have more to gain together. We have to ruin Claire the way she ruined us.”

Leo watched her for a long moment before extending his hand towards her. “Allies?”

She placed her hand in his, her voice firm. “Allies.”

***

The Same Night at Lucian’s Penthouse

The evidence was spreading across his desk now. All those documents, old press releases as well as the buried lawsuits. The threads pulled tight as if screaming that Leo Stone and Claire Blackwell weren’t just passing acquaintances. They were enemies, with a past tangled beneath blood and dirt.

And the woman at the center of it all was….Isla.

The same woman he had once failed.

The woman he had ruined.

The same woman he feels guilty towards now.

He slammed a hand down, shaking the desk hard.

What if Isla never betrayed him? What if Isla wasn't a golf digger? What is it was really a plan devised by his mother? But his mother won't do it. Or will she?

The thought swirled inside Lucian's mind like a plague.

“Why didn’t I see it? What if she never betrayed me? Why didn’t I protect Isla? Why?”

The burning obsession twisted inside his mind like a poison.

He pulled out a long-forgotten photo from the drawer. It was a picture of their wedding day

Isla was looking gorgeous and hopeful while Lucian was too proud and too blind.

“No. Not anymore,” he promised to himself in the haunting silence. “I’ll destroy every hand that tries to hurt my Isla.”