The city woke hungry for scandal.
By sunrise, every financial network carried the same headline in rotating banners beneath polished anchors and urgent commentary.
BLACKWOOD FIRE COVER-UP: NEW EVIDENCE EMERGES
Stock tickers bled red across screens worldwide.
Damian Blackwood watched it all in silence from the glass conference room on the top floor of Blackwood Tower.
He had not gone home.
The same suit from the hospital still clung to him, wrinkled now, sleeves rolled back, exhaustion carving shadows beneath his violet eyes. Coffee sat untouched beside stacks of printed files.
Around him stood only three people: his chief legal officer Grant Hale, head of internal security Mara Kline, and the company’s forensic compliance director.
No assistants. No board members.
No witnesses.
“
