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Chapter 43 (Eleanor's POV)

Author: Amiwrites
last update Last Updated: 2026-01-06 20:55:58

Jasper’s announcement was quick and firm. He immediately informed the senior executive team about the Ethical Review of Historic Corporate Practice. He named me as the sole leader. He made it clear that my authority in this investigation was absolute.

The reaction was immediate and cold.

The executives did not argue publicly. They were too professional for that. They kept their voices level. But their eyes, their silence, and their closed-off posture told me everything I needed to know. They saw me as the enemy. They saw me as the reckless outsider who was tearing apart the family structure.

This was a house divided. There was Jasper and me, representing the new legacy of truth and light. And there was everyone else, representing the comfort of the old, secretive ways. They were loyal to the power that paid them, which was Lord Blackwood's way of doing business.

My first task was launching the forensic audit of Veritas Holdings. I needed all the financial records, internal memos, and
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  • The CEO's Toxic Placeholder    Chapter 59 (Eleanor's POV)

    I didn't leave the East Wing for three days. I stayed in the room that smelled of sawdust and new beginnings, which now felt like a tomb for my hope. Every time Jasper knocked on the door, I ignored him. Every time he sent flowers, I had the staff put them in the hallway.He had once seen me as a "liability shield." A sacrifice. A placeholder for his family's sins. That thought was a jagged piece of glass in my heart.But on the fourth night, the door didn't just rattle with a knock. It swung open. Jasper didn't ask for permission this time. He walked in, his suit jacket gone, his tie hanging loose around his neck. He looked like a man who hadn't slept in a century."Get out, Jasper," I said, standing up from the window seat."No," he said. His voice was a low vibration that seemed to hum in the floorboards. "We are not doing this, Eleanor. I am not letting you rot in here because of a ghost of a contract that I destroyed months ago."He walked toward me, and I tried to move past him,

  • The CEO's Toxic Placeholder    Chapter 58 (Eleanor's POV)

    The air in the library was thick with the scent of old paper and the lingering heat of our argument in the lobby. Jasper hadn't let go of my hand since we entered the Manor. His grip wasn't painful, but it was absolute. He led me toward his private study, a room I rarely entered. It was his inner sanctum, the place where the Ruthless CEO made the decisions that moved markets and crushed enemies.He closed the door and leaned against it, watching me. The fire in the hearth was low, casting long, flickering shadows across his face."Henry is a parasite, Eleanor," Jasper said, his voice dropping to a low, dangerous register. "He feeds on your doubt. He wants you to believe that I am just another version of him. That I am using you."I looked at him, my chest heaving. The adrenaline from seeing Henry was still coursing through my veins, but it was being replaced by something else. A magnetic pull toward the man standing by the door."Are you?" I asked. "Are you using me, Jasper? The paper

  • The CEO's Toxic Placeholder    Chapter 57 (Eleanor's POV)

    I stopped dead in my tracks. The air in the executive lobby felt like it had been sucked out of the room. Henry was wearing a charcoal suit that I had bought for him last Christmas. He looked handsome. He looked familiar. He looked like the three years of my life that I had wasted.He held a single white lily. It was my favorite flower. He knew it. Every detail was a calculated move to pull at the strings of my heart."What are you doing here, Henry?" I asked. My voice was steady, but I could feel my pulse thrumming in my fingertips.The security guards looked uncomfortable. They knew Jasper’s orders. But Henry Ashcroft was a name that still carried weight in this city. He had likely used his family’s old connections to slip past the front desk."I came to check on you, Eleanor," Henry said. He stepped forward. He didn't move like a stranger. He moved like a man who still thought he owned the space around me. "I saw the news. I saw how Jasper is using you to clean up his family's mess

  • The CEO's Toxic Placeholder    Chapter 56 (Eleanor's POV)

    The morning after the gala was too quiet. The sun came through the windows of the East Wing, but it felt cold. The flowers from the ballroom were already starting to wilt. Their sweet smell had turned heavy and sour. I stood in the kitchen of the Manor, holding a cup of tea. My hands were steady, but my mind was not.I had spent the night feeling like a Queen. I had stood on that balcony with Jasper and felt the world at my feet. But as the caffeine hit my system, a strange feeling of dread began to grow in my stomach. It was the feeling of being watched.I opened my laptop to check the early news. I expected to see photos of the foundation. I expected to see quotes from my speech.Instead, the first headline I saw made my heart stop.“BLACKWOOD GALA: A DISPLAY OF POWER OR A COVER-UP?”The article was not from a tabloid. It was from a serious financial paper. It didn't mention my dress. It didn't mention my "double life." Instead, it focused on Jasper. It focused on the way he had dis

  • The CEO's Toxic Placeholder    Chapter 55 (Eleanor's POV)

    The morning of the gala was clear and bright. The air was cold, but the sun was strong. I stood in the center of the newly finished library in the East Wing. It was no longer a place of shadows. The dark mahogany was gone. The walls were painted a soft, warm cream. The shelves were made of light oak. Large windows now looked out over the gardens. It was a room that invited the light.This was the headquarters of the Ethical Review Foundation. It was the place where the "Blackwood Rot" would be turned into something good.I looked at the plaques on the wall. They listed the names of the first scholarship recipients. They listed the non-profit groups we were funding with the Veritas money. We were taking the wealth built on lies and using it to tell the truth.Jasper walked into the room. He was not wearing his office suit. He was wearing a casual sweater. He looked relaxed, but I could still see the edge of the man from yesterday. I could still see the Ruthless CEO who had destroyed Vi

  • The CEO's Toxic Placeholder    Chapter 54 (Eleanor's POV)

    I sat in the silence of my office. I did not open the door. I did not look at the news. I did what Jasper told me to do. But the silence was not quiet. It was heavy. It was full of the sound of my own heart. It was the sound of a woman waiting for the world to end or begin.I looked at the mahogany desk. I looked at the silver pen Jasper had given me. Everything in this room was beautiful. Everything was expensive. But an hour ago, it had all felt like a lie. Vivienne’s betrayal had turned my world into glass. She had shattered it with a single click of a button.I felt a strange mix of emotions. I felt the sting of public judgment. But deeper than that, I felt a new sensation. I felt the heat of Jasper’s protection. He had stood between me and his father. He had threatened to burn his own empire for me.I decided to look at my laptop. I know he told me not to. But I had to know. I opened the browser. I went to the same tabloid site.The headline was already different.“CORRUPTION LEA

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