Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 101 - Chapitre 110

Celebrations didn’t stop the game, they only forced it to be played in plain sight.Natasha didn’t linger. She never did. After delivering her quiet warning, she slipped back into the room as if nothing had passed between them, laughing lightly with Celeste, accepting a drink, elegance effortless. To anyone watching, she was just another guest: composed, polished, harmless.Sebastian knew better.From the corner of his eye, he tracked Natasha as she approached Arthur and Emilia. Pleasantries were exchanged, smiles carefully measured. Natasha’s hand touched Emilia’s arm, intentional but fleeting. Emilia accepted it with polished warmth, attentive, assessing, open, but never unguarded. Their interaction flowed smoothly, two women fluent in appearances.Arthur, by contrast, offered only restrained courtesy. His nod was polite but distant, his attention already returning to the twins, the party, the moment, anything but her.Gideon remained a step behind, observing. His gaze moved methodi

Nathaniel scanned the classroom with quiet focus, noting movement and patterns without breaking stride. Jamal stood near the door, unobtrusive but alert. A few teachers noticed, exchanged glances, and moved on, they knew who Nathaniel was, and what came with him.Across the room, Nolan and a small group of boys whispered, openly watching. Nathaniel registered them with a brief narrowing of his eyes. He already had them mapped, leaders, followers, watchers. Potential distractions. Possible problems.Mr. Samson began the lesson. Nathaniel slid into it seamlessly, answering questions with calm precision. Heads turned. Brows lifted. Whispers quieted, replaced by curiosity and irritation. Nolan leaned toward a friend, smirking. “That kid thinks he’s smarter than the rest of us.”Nathaniel noticed and let it pass. He observed, assessed, and waited, letting their arrogance reveal itself.The cafeteria buzzed with noise. Nathaniel paused only briefly, taking it in, then moved toward an open t

“Someone was testing the waters, and Sebastian was the only one who knew it.”At Vaughn Enterprises, Sebastian didn’t need speculation.John reported quietly, “The blind item is circulating. No names, no direct references. The timing lines up with Fairfax’s collapse.”Sebastian’s expression remained composed. “Natasha,” he said without hesitation.“Yes, sir.”“She’s not leaking,” Sebastian continued, voice steady. “She’s probing. Applying pressure, measuring how much it takes to draw a response.”He steepled his fingers, gaze unreadable. “Let her,” he said softly. “We observe. We anticipate. And when she moves again, we’ll know exactly where, when, and how to respond.”John glanced at him. “Do you want to counter now?”“No,” Sebastian replied. “Not yet. First we learn the rules of her game. Then we control them.”Across the city, at the Vaughn mansion, Alina reached the same conclusion alone. Her eyes scanned the phrasing, the rhythm of the article, the way it hinted without naming an

The city lights blurred past the window as the car moved through quiet streets. Alina sat still, her reflection faint against the glass. Her mother had been absent for years, physically and emotionally, yet her memory remained vivid. The loss was never about forgetting, only about absence. One gone too soon, the other having walked away.Their home had been modest but rich in thought. The mother she remembered lived in quiet moments, distant, restrained, more presence than voice. Her father became her anchor. A renowned historian and professor, he filled the house with books, maps, and steady purpose. The soft scratch of pencil on paper echoed Catherine’s distant sketches, while Jonathan’s calm voice guided her through homework, through first losses, through a childhood that ended too soon. He had filled the spaces her mother left behind.And then, one day, even he was gone. A door closed, not slammed, just shut. Loss had carved her, shaped her, made her self-reliant, but left spaces

The next morning, Sebastian sat in the boardroom. Sunlight cut through the blinds, but his eyes weren’t on the laptop or the frozen projections. They were fixed on a single name.Knox.John broke the silence. He slid a thin file across the table.“Sir, I got a tip from an insider at Fairfax. Knox was in Gideon Fairfax’s office yesterday. Heated discussion. It centered on the Atheria Port Logistics deal.”Sebastian leaned back, fingers steepled. “Knox is always aggressive,” he said evenly. “But something about this feels... different. What’s the angle?”John hesitated. “From what I gathered, Knox had significant investments tied to Fairfax’s expected involvement in the Vaughn deal. When the contract went to Trade Nexus, Fairfax lost more than prestige, they lost leverage. Investors are pulling out. Knox is one of the biggest.”Sebastian’s gaze sharpened. “So Gideon is bleeding, and Knox is tightening the knife.”“Yes,” John confirmed. “And Knox isn’t used to losing.”Sebastian exhaled