All Chapters of When Enemies Breathe Together : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Sign here, Ms. Calder.”The man across the table slid the folder toward me, his manicured fingers lingering on the edge like he didn’t quite trust me with it yet. The boardroom smelled faintly of coffee and polished wood, the kind of room designed to intimidate without trying too hard.I looked down at the merger agreement.My name was already typed at the bottom of the final page, crisp and official. Elara Calder. Black ink, clean font, no room for doubt. All that was missing was my signature—and the quiet destruction of a rivalry that had defined my career.I traced the corner of the paper with my thumb, grounding myself.Valemont’s skyline glinted through the floor-to-ceiling windows, all glass and ambition. This city didn’t care about feelings or history. It rewarded the ones who adapted fast enough and buried the rest under progress.“You can take your time,” the mediator said, though his tone suggested the opposite.I almost laughed.Time was the one thing Calder Holdings had ru

Elara knew the merger had teeth the moment her access badge stopped working on the executive floor.She stood before the glass doors, watching her reflection flicker in the polished surface as the scanner blinked red. Once. Twice. Denied.A quiet humiliation, perfectly corporate.She exhaled slowly, fingers tightening around the strap of her laptop bag. The floor behind her hummed with muted activity—assistants moving with purpose, voices kept low, the unspoken hierarchy already rearranged.A receptionist looked up, professional smile fixed. “Mr. Hale asked that you check in first.”Of course he did.Elara followed her down the corridor, heels echoing softly against marble. Offices lined the hallway, all glass and clean angles, power displayed without apology. This was Valemont Holdings’ heart—where decisions were made quickly and consequences arrived faster.Adrian Hale’s office sat at the end like a final period. Floor-to-ceiling windows. No blinds. Nothing to hide.He was already i

The lights were dimmer, the hallways quieter, the power stripped of its audience. Elara moved through the building with her coat still on, heels muted against the floor, every sense alert. This wasn’t just work anymore. It hadn’t been for a while.Adrian’s office door was already open when she arrived.He stood inside, jacket off again, tie loosened, sleeves rolled high enough to show the faint tension in his forearms. His phone lay face-down on the desk. He looked up as she entered, eyes sharp despite the late hour.“You came fast,” he said.“You said tonight,” Elara replied. “I don’t waste time.”A corner of his mouth lifted. “I’m learning that.”She shut the door behind her. The sound echoed too loudly.“What did you find?” she asked.Adrian didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he crossed the room and tapped his laptop awake, the glow lighting his face in pale blue. “I pulled the access logs you flagged. Cross-referenced them with executive travel data.”Elara stepped closer. “And?”

By 8:17 a.m., the boardroom was already full. Screens glowed along the walls, executives seated in rigid silence, assistants hovering like shadows. News outlets hadn’t caught on yet—but they would. Elara could feel it in the air, the way the building vibrated with restrained panic.This was the day.She stood beside Adrian at the far end of the table, hands clasped behind her back, posture steady. She hadn’t slept. Neither had he. But there was no hesitation in either of them now—only resolve.Marcus Vale arrived last.He looked composed, tailored suit immaculate, expression relaxed in a way that would have fooled anyone who didn’t know better. His eyes flicked briefly to Elara, then to Adrian, sharp with calculation.“Let’s begin,” the board chair said.Adrian didn’t sit.“I requested this emergency session,” he said calmly, “because Valemont is compromised.”Murmurs rippled through the room.Vale leaned back in his chair. “That’s a strong claim.”“So is treason,” Adrian replied.Sil

The city woke beneath a low, iron-colored sky, the kind that pressed down on the city until even the tallest towers seemed to bow. Elara Calder noticed it the moment her car crossed into the financial district. The buildings looked closer today. Watchful.She felt the same way.Her phone buzzed again. Adrian.She didn’t answer.It wasn’t punishment. It wasn’t pride. It was fear — sharp and unfamiliar. For weeks, they’d been circling each other with half-truths and borrowed trust, pretending their rivalry was enough to keep things clean. But something had shifted last night, in the quiet moment after the board dinner, when Adrian had looked at her like she wasn’t a strategy or an obstacle, but a choice.And Elara Calder had never trusted choices that came with feelings attached.By the time she reached Calder Global’s headquarters, rumours were already moving faster than elevators. The merger vote was less than forty-eight hours away, and leaks had surfaced overnight — internal project