MasukEthan Inside, I moved quickly.I left Serena in the sitting room and stepped into the corridor and made four calls in under ten minutes. Daniel. Ray. Eight additional security contractors I used when I needed numbers fast and trusted faces specifically.By the time I finished, there were six additional guards on the exterior of the estate. Two more on the upper floor. The gate was on double lock with camera monitoring on a live feed to Daniel's phone and mine simultaneously.I went through every instruction twice.Nobody comes in without my direct clearance. Nobody out without Serena's guard detail in place. The house staff were to remain in the kitchen wing. No movement through the main house without supervision.When I was satisfied I put my phone in my pocket and went inside to find Serena.The sitting room was empty.I checked the dining room.Empty.I moved toward the stairs and stopped at the bottom and listened.I heard the faint sound of running water from upstairs. From our
EthanI stared at the phone in Marcus's hand long after the line went dead.Two hours.The voice had been distorted but the confidence behind it was not. This was not a man making empty threats. This was a man who had already poisoned my wife in my own house. Who had already killed two people in my entrance hall without blinking. Who had placed people inside my security like it was nothing.He delivered on what he promised.Marcus was looking at me with the particular expression of a man who had run out of everything. Pride. Options. Pretense. All of it gone. Just a man standing at a gate with blood on his face and nothing left to offer except the truth of how badly he was afraid."Please." His voice cracked on the word. "I know I have no right to ask you for anything. I know that. After everything I did to Serena. After everything." He pressed his hand against his mouth briefly. His eyes were wet. "I couldn't do it. I swear to you I could not hurt her again. I would rather die than d
Marcus "Marcus Wellington," the other one said. Not a question. They knew exactly who I was. Ethan had made sure of that."I need to see Serena," I said. "Mrs. Ashford. Please. It's urgent.""You need to leave," the first one said. Flat and final."I can't leave," I said. "Please. Just tell her I'm here. Tell her Marcus is at the gate. Let her decide.""Mr. Wellington...""Please," I said. "Five minutes. Just tell her."The guard looked at me with the expression of a man who had been given very specific instructions about this exact situation."Leave the premises," he said. "Now.""I'm not leaving," I said.The shift in the atmosphere was immediate.Both guards moved toward me.I didn't run. Running would have been faster and smarter and I had already decided that smart wasn't available to me today."Serena!" I shouted toward the house.The first guard grabbed my arm."SERENA!"The second one grabbed the other arm and they pulled me back from the gate with the efficient force of men
MarcusEight hours.I sat at the kitchen table and looked at the number on my phone screen and felt the walls closing in from every direction.Eight hours before the Boss made good on everything he had promised.My mother was in the next room humming something to herself while she arranged things on the shelf the way she always did when she was trying to make a space feel like home. The sound of it made something in my chest pull tight.She didn't know.She was humming and arranging and completely unaware that her name had been spoken by a man who collected on his promises the way other men collected debts. Quietly. Completely. Without exception.No, I can't continue to wait like this. I had to do something. I can't allow him to kill the only family I had left.I stood up."Mother."She appeared in the doorway with a small ceramic pot in her hands. The one she had bought at the market three years ago and carried everywhere since. "What is it? You want tea?""No," I said. "Sit down."S
Serena The screen went dark.The room was quiet.Then Ethan made a sound.Low and short. Not quite a laugh. Something quieter than that. The sound a man makes when he has just watched something that impressed him and doesn't want to make a large thing of it.I turned to look at him.His expression was composed but his eyes were doing something else entirely."Raymond," he said."I know," I said."We have full confidence in your leadership," he said, in a voice that was a precise recreation of Raymond's tone.I pressed my lips together. "Stop.""Said the man who wanted you to sell your company thirty seconds before.""Ethan.""I'm simply observing," he said.Desmond was gathering his things by the door, carefully not smiling and doing a poor job of it."Friday," I said to him. "Make sure the numbers are ready. Full breakdown.""Already started," he said. "I'll have everything prepared."He nodded to both of us and left.The room settled.Ethan came and sat beside me and looked at me w
SerenaEthan and I looked at each other for a long moment after Desmond left.Neither of us spoke.The document sat on the blanket between us like something alive.Twenty percent to my father's son I never knew.The same twenty percent that had just been acquired by an unknown entity while Lawrence Global bled on the open market. The timing was too precise to be coincidence. Whoever was buying those shares knew about this document. Knew about the son. Knew about the provision.Which meant they either were the son. Or they were working with him."Get some rest," Ethan said finally.I looked at him. "How am I supposed to rest after...""Calm down, babe," he said. "The meeting is tomorrow. You have to rest and handle the board tomorrow." He picked up the document carefully and set it on the side.I looked at the ceiling.Everything in me wanted to get up. To call Desmond back. To start pulling at the threads of this immediately.But my stomach was still aching and my body felt like it h
Serena I turned toward the doorway.Ethan stood there, his face dark with fury. His eyes swept across the room, taking in the scene—Natasha's red face, my calm expression, the terrified servants.All the servants immediately started trembling.Natasha's tears increased immediately. She ran toward
Serena The next morning, I walked into my office feeling like a completely different person.I was wearing a sharp black suit, my hair pulled back neatly, my heels clicking confidently against the marble floor.People greeted me as I passed, bowing slightly."Good morning, President Lawrence.""Go
SerenaThe sound of my phone ringing pulled me out of sleep.I groaned softly, my eyes still closed as I reached blindly for it on the nightstand. My fingers found it, and I brought it to my ear without even looking at the screen."Hello?" I mumbled, my voice thick with sleep."Good morning, Mrs. A
Ethan AshfordI walked into my office building, my mind racing faster than my feet.The security guards bowed as I passed, but I barely noticed. My secretary, James, rushed toward me with a tablet in his hand."Sir, you have three meetings this afternoon and...""Cancel them," I said, cutting him o







