All Chapters of HEIRESS REBORN: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

POV: ELENAI wake up to six missed calls, four text messages, and one headline that makes my stomach twist like it’s trying to eat itself.“Cross Campaign Faces Scrutiny Over Cabal Embezzlement.”I stare at it, blinking, like maybe the words will shift into something else if I just keep looking.They don’t.“Fuck,” I whisper under my breath, and it sounds too small for what I feel.I don't even remember walking to the mirror. But I see myself now. My hair’s a mess. Makeup smudged from whatever half-assed attempt I made last night. I slept in my office again. There's a tight line creased into my cheek from the couch pillow. I look like hell.A knock. Then the door opens before I answer.“Morning,” Simone, my chief of staff, says, too casually for what’s happening.I turn away from the mirror, holding her eyes. “How bad?”She shrugs. But not the normal kind. The nervous kind. The kind people use when they’re afraid of your reaction.“It’s everywhere. The senator from New Jersey already

POV: ALINAI know when a storm is about to break. I can feel it in my bones.It starts quiet, like the way your body knows something’s off before your brain catches up. That’s where I am right now. Watching from a distance. Listening. Waiting.I sit in the back of a nondescript car, the engine off, Theo in the driver’s seat next to me. The windows are tinted, and we’re parked across the street from a Cross Industries subsidiary office, just one of the many branches Nathaniel uses to shuffle people and money around.He doesn’t know I’ve had someone inside it for the last six months. Someone quiet. Someone scared. Scared people are predictable. Loyal, in their own broken way.Theo says nothing, just hands me a small folder. Paper clipped. No digital copies, like always. I flip it open.Inside is a fake conversation well, real now. But fake in origin. A planted trail of emails and text exchanges between two of Nathaniel’s closest board members. Looks like they're planning to turn on him

POV: ALINAHe storms into Ashen like he owns the damn place.I hear his voice before I see him. Loud, sharp, entitled. Like always and the receptionists are already panicking by the time I get the alert on my phone. He didn’t even wait to be announced.What an asshole."Where is Vivian Lane? Where is she?" Nathaniel barks.I walk out of my office slowly, like I have all the time in the world. Because I do. And because he doesn’t.Vivian is already standing near the front, arms crossed, calm, waiting for me. Like she didn't just cancel two meetings to deal with this circus.“You expected this?” she asks as we make our way down together.“Sort of. Nathaniel is greedy, not stupid. He was bound to see that we are benefiting too much from his downfall. He is here to stake his claim.”“How do you want to play it?”“Hold the front. As usual. I am not ready to let them off yet.”We round the corner and Vivian takes the lead "Me. Cross," she says, her tone cool but polite. "You can't just wa

POV: ELENA CROSSIt starts with screaming. Not mine, even though I am close to doing so myself. No.It is the screams of protesters. Outside the hotel ballroom, again. Same signs. Same chants. "Cross out corruption!" Over and over. Louder now. Closer. The sound cuts through the music like a knife through silk.I would laugh at the world play if it wasn't so damn infuriating.“Mrs. Cross, maybe we should wrap this up,” my campaign manager whispers beside me, face tight, as he keeps gaining out the window.I nod once, curt. Give a smile to the rich couple I have been sweet-talking for twenty minutes. “Excuse me, I need to step away. Just for a moment.”They nod, distracted by the noise. Everyone is distracted.I storm out the side door, heels clicking too fast against the marble floor. The moment I’m in the hallway, I rip the earpiece out.“I said get them back! Where the hell is security?” I snap at no one in particular. My assistant practically jogs to keep up.“They are doing what t

POV: ALINAIt hits the press by 9:03 a.m.“Anonymous Memos Suggest Cross Industries Rigged City Contracts.”That headline runs on four major outlets within the hour.By 10:15, a government ethics watchdog calls for an emergency review. By 11:22, Elena cancels a luncheon with two top donors. By 12:30, her team issues a shaky statement denying any knowledge.By 2:00 p.m., her face is on every channel.I sit on the edge of my desk, phone in hand, watching her squirm in real time. No sound. I don’t need it. I know the rhythm of panic just by the way her jaw clenches. The way her hand twitches near her mouth. She is spiraling. Panicking, enraged and spiralling.Good.Vivian steps into the room without knocking. She never knocks. She knows better.“They are panicking,” she says. “Elena’s comms director just emailed us. They want to arrange a sit-down with Ashen. Private. Off the record. Before the audit starts.”I raise an eyebrow. “Desperate already?”Vivian nods. “They want you to backdat