Lucien learned about the betrayal before it reached the headlines.
That alone told him how close it was.
He stood in the executive lounge of Blackwood Tower just after dawn, the city still half-asleep beneath a veil of gray. His phone lay on the table between two untouched cups of coffee. Across from him sat Marcus Hale—Chief Financial Officer, trusted ally, a man Lucien had pulled up from obscurity years ago.
Marcus wouldn’t meet his eyes.
“That was your final chance,” Lucien said quietly.
Marcus swallowed. “I didn’t think it would go this far.”
Lucien’s gaze was steady, cold. “You rerouted internal projections to an external firm with known ties to my competitors. You allowed them to frame my wife as leverage. Tell me where you thought that would end.”
Marcus’s hands trembled. “Th
