جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 140

The taxi moved through the heavy city traffic while Lauren sat in the back seat, her hands tightly clasped in her lap. Her fingers pressed against each other so hard they almost hurt, but she did not loosen her grip. She was afraid that if she relaxed even a little, everything that had just happened would disappear. She was afraid it would turn out to be a dream.But it was real.She had actually stood in front of Grant Baker. She had spoken the truth, and he had listened.Her chest rose and fell slowly as she drew a deep breath. And then there was Ann."Damn, I didn’t even get her phone number," she thought.Guilt touched her heart. Without Ann, none of this would have happened. There was no way she would have passed the security guards at the front desk, reached the top floor, or entered Grant’s office. Ann had helped her quietly, without asking for anything in return.Lauren swallowed hard. "I have to find a way to thank her. I can't let her kindness go unnoticed."She let her head

Colt gripped the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles ached. His hands were stiff, and his arms felt like stone. He was pushing the car as fast as it would go, but it wasn't enough. Nothing was fast enough. Every red light felt like a personal punishment, and every car in front of him felt like a wall blocking him from the only thing that mattered.He had already called Lauren more times than he could count, but she wasn't answering.His jaw tightened as he changed lanes, weaving through traffic. He barely heard the angry honk from a driver behind him. He didn't care about the rules of the road anymore.Then his phone buzzed on the passenger seat. His heart leaped into his throat. For a split second, hope rushed through him so quickly it almost hurt. He reached for the phone immediately, his fingers fumbling. But when he looked at the screen, the hope died instantly.It wasn't Lauren; it was his mother.Anger replaced hope in a heartbeat, his face twisting into a scowl. “What the he

Colt tightened his grip on the steering wheel; his hands were beginning to cramp, but he didn't care. He pushed the accelerator harder, feeling the car surge forward with a loud roar. He had never driven this way before. He was weaving between lanes and cutting off other drivers. It was a miracle a police car hadn't pulled him over yet."Please… Lauren, don’t leave me. Please wait."The words kept repeating in his head. They felt like a prayer, but he didn't know how to finish it. He just kept saying her name over and over again under his breath.He grabbed his phone from the passenger seat while keeping his eyes fixed on the road ahead. He used his thumb to dial her number for the tenth time, holding the phone to his ear and praying for the sound of her voice.The ringing didn't even start this time; the call went straight to her voicemail.His jaw tightened so hard it ached. “No… no, no, no,” he whispered, shaking his head as he ended the call and dialed again. Voicemail.He dialed

“Mother, what do you mean?” Colt’s voice came out sharp and edged with disbelief as he tightened his grip on the phone until his hand began to ache. “I saw Madison today,” he went on quickly, brow furrowed. “I was just in Grant’s office. She was completely fine. What could have happened to her in such a short time?”There was a long pause on the other end of the line, a heavy, suffocating silence. Colt could hear his mother’s ragged breathing. When she finally spoke again, her voice was calm. “She was found in an apartment,” she whispered. “She was with… Lauren’s sister.”Colt felt his chest tighten, and a chill crawled up his spine. “Corinne? What was she doing with Corinne?”“It seems there was a fight,” Julia continued, her voice shaking. “The police are saying there was a struggle. Madison shot Lauren’s sister, and then… I don’t know all the details yet, but it was a scene of horror, Colt. Madison was found in a pool of blood. She had fallen onto a glass table, and it shattered ben

Logan slammed the file shut. For a long moment, he stood behind his desk, breathing hard through his nose. His chest rose and fell slowly. “This is not possible,” he said. But the papers in front of him didn't change. He looked down at them again, hoping the words would be different, but they were the same. The signatures were genuine. The numbers were real. The damage was very real.Colt had done it.It was a hostile takeover. It was clean, ruthless, and final. In one morning, he had lost his grip on everything he had worked for.He let out a short, broken laugh, a dry sound that held no humor. He dragged a shaky hand down his face and dropped heavily into his leather chair. Just two days ago, he believed he was winning. He believed he still had control over his company; he believed he still had leverage over Colt. Most of all, he believed that Lauren might still choose him if he pushed hard enough.Now, the company he had spent years building was gone. It had been stripped from h