The light that crept through the heavy, charcoal-colored drapes of my bedroom was a pale, wintery grey, casting long, skeletal shadows across the dark oak floorboards. For the first time in my life, I hated the morning. I hated the way the sun rose without permission, indifferent to the absolute chaos of my world, ticking away the precious seconds of the forty-eight-hour clock my brother had set.
Derrick’s ultimatum was a heavy, physical pressure resting on my chest. Every breath felt restricted. Every beat of my heart was a reminder of what was at stake. If I didn't liquidate Sterling Global, if I didn't dismantle the empire I had bled, fought, and sacrificed my soul to build, he would destroy me. But worse,infinitely worse,he would destroy the fragile thread holding Leo to me. He would
