All Chapters of The CEO's Toxic Placeholder : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The lights snapped off, plunging the whole world into absolute, freezing darkness.I heard Eleanor’s scream—a high, sharp sound of warning—from the black opening of the manor door. The sound hit me harder than any punch.She’s out of hiding.The attacker was already on me. I didn't see him; I only felt a heavy weight slamming into my shoulder. He was fast, moving like a machine in the dark.The blow was aimed for my head, but instinct—years of training—made me lift my arm just in time. The heavy object glanced off my forearm, sending a white-hot spike of pain up to my neck.I dropped the leather ledger. It hit the stone driveway with a muffled thud and slid away.I grabbed the attacker instantly. He was thick, solid, and completely silent. He didn't grunt or swear. This wasn't some desperate thief; this was someone trained.We slammed against the cold stone pillar. The fight was a mess of scraping leather, heavy breathing, and blind grappling. I used my elbows and knees, fighting for

The manor felt like a battlefield wrapped in silk. The security team I trusted had finally secured the grounds, but the danger wasn't outside; it was everywhere the traitor wasn't. They were out there, free, and they had the only page proving their guilt.I was standing in the drawing room, the torn ledger open on the table, when my secret phone buzzed. The sound was muffled, only audible to me.The screen showed a coded message from my off-grid contact in London. It was a single, terrifying location ping, less than a mile from Henry Ashcroft’s main office. Henry was supposed to be hiding or already in custody after his public attacks.Henry is free, I realized. Or someone powerful made sure he was free.The traitor was using him as a distraction or a tool. Time was almost gone.I needed to move, but first, I needed to see Eleanor. I walked quickly down the silent corridor to the secure north wing vault where we had safely placed Vivienne.Eleanor was inside, sitting beside the uncons

The abandoned Blackwood Shipyard loomed before us. Rusted, skeletal cranes clawed at the pale dawn sky. The air smelled sharp, metallic, and heavy with salt and decay. It was the smell of old industry and a decade of silence.It’s a trap, I thought, but I didn't slow the car. I drove onto the cracked asphalt of the outer lot and killed the engine instantly. Silence dropped over us, thick and unnerving."The contract is signed, Eleanor," I whispered."The risk is accepted, Jasper," she whispered back.I scanned the immense area. The main parking lot was empty, except for a single set of fresh tire tracks—deeper and heavier than my own—leading straight toward a chain-link gate near the largest warehouse.I felt the familiar, cold pressure of my analytical mind taking over. This place wasn't random. This was the exact spot where the original betrayal happened, where Eleanor’s father was ruined. The traitor was forcing us to play out the past.We moved out of the car, keeping low. Eleano

JASPER! DAVIES IS DOWN! I HAVE THE PAGE!"Eleanor’s shout was the music I needed to hear. It was loud, clear, and full of victory.She had done it. She had taken down the boss and secured the evidence. The battlefield had just shifted completely.My focus snapped away from survival and onto winning. Julian. Eleanor. Capture.The two attackers—the huge brute and the fast, sneering fighter—heard the shout too. The brute stopped roaring; the fast fighter stopped circling. They knew their plan was ruined. They started fighting not to win, but to escape. Their movements became clumsy and desperate.The fast fighter saw his chance. He lunged at me, aiming low, trying to take out my legs and get to the exit. I blocked his move with my forearm, the sharp pain ignored. I was ready for him.The brute, slower but huge, came from the side. He swung a haymaker that could have broken my jaw.I didn't try to block the brute’s power. I used my brain. I ducked low and drove my shoulder into the brute’

The safe house was quiet now, lit only by the bright lamp over the coffee table where the torn ledger page lay. The sun was long gone, and the darkness outside felt like a thick, heavy blanket covering London.We were looking at the page, which held the secret to the Final Board."Platform 13," Jasper murmured, tracing the symbols I had identified. "An abandoned section of the old Metropolitan line, directly beneath the foundations of the Blackwood Tower."The realization sent a chill down my spine. The men who controlled the city, the men who had ruined my father and tried to destroy Jasper's family, were meeting directly under the center of Blackwood power.Our planning was a tense, focused energy that pushed the fear away. We were a perfect, desperate machine.Julian pointed to a small, hand-drawn symbol on the page—a triangle inside a square. "Davies used to draw that when he was bored in meetings. He said it meant 'The Foundation.' It must be the entrance point."Jasper laid out