Semua Bab THE CEO’S SECRET HEIR: Bab 1 - Bab 4

Zephyrine "Zephy" Vance povThe obsidian surface of the desk in Executive Suite 400 didn’t reflect the city light so much as it swallowed it whole. It was 6:15 AM. Through the floor-to-ceiling glass framing the forty-second story of Mercier Group Headquarters, London was nothing more than a bruised, charcoal sky bleeding cold silver into the Thames.My fingers flew across the mechanical keyboard, the rhythmic, muted clicking the only sound breaking the dead silence of Canary Wharf before dawn. I didn't need to look at the monitor to map out Laurent Mercier’s day. I had constructed it piece by piece, like a delicate, high-stakes puzzle that could collapse if a single second slipped out of place.0700: Emergency briefing with the Zurich asset management team.0830: Breakfast conference with the board of directors—no pastries, double-shot espresso, exactly two drops of milk, served at precisely sixty-five degrees Celsius.1000: Hostile buyout defense prep.1130: Call with his uncle, Jean

: Zephyrine "Zephy" Vance povThe smell of St. Thomas’ Hospital always hit me before the noise did. It was a suffocating cocktail of industrial disinfectant, stale tea, and the sharp, metallic tang of cold fear.I burst through the double doors of the Emergency Ward, my heels clicking a desperate, erratic rhythm against the linoleum floor. My executive armor—the immaculate charcoal blazer, the silk blouse, the sharp confidence I wore like a shield at Mercier Group—felt like a lead weight pressing into my collarbones. Less than forty minutes ago, I had been standing in Laurent’s office, staring into the abyss of his hidden diagnosis. Now, the terror in my chest had morphed into a different kind of agony."Vance," I breathed out, leaning over the admissions counter, my hands gripping the Formica edge so hard my knuckles turned marble-white. "Diggory Vance. He was brought in by ambulance an hour ago. Cardiac distress."The receptionist didn't look up immediately. Her fingers tapped lazil