He left the study and moved swiftly down the hallway, pausing only as he reached the bedroom door. Inside, she was already asleep, curled beneath the sheets, peaceful and unaware of the shift that had just happened.He stood in the doorway for a moment, grounding himself in the sight of her.Then he turned and disappeared back into the hall, back into the dark.The sun may have risen today with promises of peace—but tonight, Adrian knew better.The real enemy had just called.And war was coming.The morning sun spilled into the bedroom in golden streams, warming the sheets and brushing gently against Elena’s face. She stirred slowly, stretching beneath the covers with a soft hum, her fingers reaching instinctively for the space beside her.Empty.She blinked, sitting up slightly. The room was quiet. The faint scent of cedar and citrus—Adrian’s cologne—still lingered in the air, but he was gone.Elena rose, wrapping her robe around her and padding barefoot into the hallway. She followe
The afternoon sun was high, casting sharp shadows across the floor-to-ceiling windows of Adrian’s home office. The room, sleek and modern with its clean lines and dark walnut accents, was unusually silent except for the low hum of Adrian’s gadgets.Papers were scattered across the desk, reports and old files he’d been combing through in quiet obsession. His mind wasn’t resting. It couldn’t—not with the call from last night still replaying in his head.He reached for his coffee, only to find the cup long cold.A sharp buzz from his phone snapped him out of his thoughts.Unknown number.His stomach twisted.He hesitated for only a second before answering, pressing the phone to his ear with slow precision.“Adrian,” he said coldly.Silence.Then came the voice.Distorted. Hollow. Mocking.“You’re still standing,” the caller said, his tone laced with amusement. “I have to admit—I didn’t expect you to sleep so soundly after our little message.”Adrian stiffened, his fingers tightening arou
The morning had started like any other.Adrian sat in his high-rise corner office, the skyline of the city stretching far and wide before him. The floor-to-ceiling windows let in a flood of pale sunlight, casting long streaks of gold over the sleek marble desk where Adrian’s focus was pinned on the files before him.Blueprints. Projections. Contracts.The next big deal was just within reach—one that would cement his name further in the industry, expand his empire, and secure control over a global tech hub. It should’ve felt thrilling.But the buzz in his chest wasn’t excitement.It was the hum of war drums.He hadn’t slept well. The two masked calls had left a tight coil of tension wrapped around his spine, and though his exterior remained unreadable, his mind was anything but calm.He flipped to another document, his eyes scanning but his thoughts drifting again—until his phone rang.Private Number.Again.He stared at it for only a beat, then answered, standing from his chair slowly
The car ride home was quiet.Adrian sat behind the wheel, one hand resting on the leather steering wheel, the other holding Elena’s. His grip was firm but warm, grounding—like he needed to feel her presence just to stay anchored.Elena glanced sideways at him more than once, catching the stiffness in his jaw, the tension buried beneath his silence. She knew him well enough to recognize when something inside him was unraveling.Still, she waited.Dinner was quiet, too. Even the rich aroma couldn’t erase the storm cloud over Adrian’s head. He ate, but barely tasted. His mind was elsewhere.It wasn’t until they had moved to the living room, wine glasses in hand, the low lights casting golden shadows on the walls, that she finally spoke.“You’ve been in your head all evening,” Elena said softly, curling her feet beneath her on the couch. “Talk to me, Adrian. What happened at the office?”Adrian looked at her then, truly looked—and the hardness in his eyes softened just a little. He set hi
The large boardroom was colder than usual—not just in temperature, but in energy. A silence hung thick in the air, broken only by the occasional shuffling of papers or the faint clink of coffee cups. The long glass table reflected the serious expressions of the board members seated around it, their eyes occasionally drifting toward the empty chair at the head.The chair reserved for Adrian.He walked in five minutes late—not by accident, but with intention. Calm, composed, and unreadable as ever in a tailored navy suit. Elena walked a step behind him, her expression graceful yet alert, poised like a queen entering a battlefield.Adrian took his seat without apology. “Let’s begin.”There was a pause before one of the senior board members, cleared his throat and leaned forward.“Adrian, we’ll get straight to it. This company is thriving—yes. Profits are up, expansions have been seamless. On the surface, all seems well.”“But beneath that,” Mr. Trent interrupted, “there’s a rising tide o
The sun had barely dipped below the horizon when Adrian and Elena stepped into their villa, the doors closing behind them with a soft but determined thud. The air inside was warm, filled with the aroma of spices from the dinner their chef had prepared, but neither of them had much appetite.They headed straight to the study, where maps, documents, and files lay spread across the large desk like the battlefield it had become.Adrian poured two glasses of wine, handing one to Elena.“We’re not giving up,” she said, taking a seat and fixing her eyes on him. “Not the company. Not the legacy. And certainly not to a ghost from your past.”Adrian leaned back against the desk, his eyes shadowed but sharp. “No, we’re not. I’ve come too far. I know what Elias is trying to do—get me rattled, unstable, then weakened from the inside. And now the board... they’re just another piece on his board.”“Then we flip the board over,” Elena said calmly.Adrian smiled faintly. “You make it sound easy.”“No,
The ride home from the board meeting was quiet, but it wasn’t silence filled with tension—it was the quiet before a storm. The kind of stillness that wrapped around a plan forming, a decision waiting to unfold.Inside the villa, Adrian discarded his blazer and sat at the head of the long mahogany dining table. Elena brought over a fresh cup of coffee and took the seat across from him, her eyes steady and calm.“We need to talk,” she said, folding her hands together.“I know,” Adrian nodded. “The deal.”She leaned in slightly. “You said it yourself—it’s one of the biggest we’ve ever aimed for. If we secure it, we bury Elias and any threat from within the board. But we’ve got problems.”Adrian rubbed his jaw. “The board knows about the deal. Which means our mole—Mr. Trent—knows too. Elias has his ears and likely already made moves to sabotage or outbid us.”“And other companies are in the race,” Elena added. “Bigger names, hungry to win, with no drama dragging them down.”Adrian’s eyes
One of the other men, Mr. Crane raised a brow. “That’s bold. Even for you.”“I don’t have the luxury of waiting around,” Adrian said plainly. “I built my company to withstand storms—economic, corporate, even personal. And through every storm, we’ve delivered results, year after year.”He let that settle before continuing. “I know the others will come with flashy slides and empty promises. I came with proof. And with relationships that weren’t built yesterday.”Mr. Stan chuckled, leaning back. “You always did know when to strike. And you’re right—we go way back. We’ve seen how your company weathered chaos and came out on top every single time.”Crane exchanged a glance with the third executive, then nodded slowly. “So what are you offering today?”Adrian slid the folder toward them. “Everything you asked for—and more. With guarantees. No delays. No press. Just results.”The room went quiet again as they opened the folder and scanned the proposal. Minutes ticked by like seconds. Then ca
“We’ve faced betrayal, sabotage, theft, and attempts on our lives. What began as corporate rivalry escalated into organized, personal warfare.” He paused, his eyes narrowing. “Today, we are revealing the truth.”The first slide appeared on the massive screen beside him. It wasn’t dramatic—just a name.Elias Wolfe.The gasps began. A few reporters exchanged stunned glances.Adrain continued, “This man, who posed as a business rival, is the orchestrator behind every scheme we’ve endured. From planted board moles to cyber attacks, from bribed assassins to embezzlement attempts—all roads lead back to him.”One by one, more slides appeared: encrypted emails decrypted by cybersecurity teams, testimonies from the arrested hackers, confessions signed and dated. There were financial trails, everything linking back to Wolfe, phone logs, and messages retrieved from burner devices.Then came the final blow—a video of the hackers, eyes puffy, face bruised, voice trembling.“We work for Elias Wolfe
The silence that followed was not empty—it was expectant, as though the walls themselves held their breath waiting for the man who had just crossed the threshold to speak.He was calm, or rather slow, heavy. Not with exhaustion, but with the burden of something far heavier than physical fatigue.Elena stood up, her silhouette outlined by the soft amber glow of the chandelier above. She was wrapped in one of his old button-down shirts, sleeves rolled to her elbows, a cup of tea in her hand—untouched.“Is everything okay?,” she said gently, stepping closer.Adrain nodded once, unbuttoning his cuff, his expression unreadable. His suit jacket slid off his shoulders with practiced ease and landed on the armrest of the nearest chair.Elena didn’t need to ask. Not really. But still, her voice was soft when she spoke again. “How did it go?”He sat down beside her, elbows on his knees, hands clasped tight. A storm passed behind his eyes.“It’s him,” he said after a long pause. “It was Elias Wo
The low hum of Elena’s voice drifted through Adrain’s office like a thought made audible.“If what that man said is true,” she said, her fingers tracing slow circles along the polished glass edge of the Adrain's office table, “then you were right from the beginning. Elias Wolfe has always been the one to watch.”Adrain stood across from her, arms crossed as he stared at the flash drive he had left behind. Sunlight from the tall windows glinted off the metal casing, but the weight of what it held was darker than anything light could touch.Elena pushed off from the table and walked toward him, heels silent against the marble floor. “We can use this,” she said, her voice firm now. “This… this could be the piece that breaks Elias.”Adrain’s eyes flicked up to hers, fire gathering behind their calm surface. “I’m heading to the station,” he said.Elena didn’t stop him.***At the precinct, the air was heavy with tension. They sat handcuffed, bruised and jittery, their masks of bravado stri
The tension sat thick in the air like fog before a storm. Adrain, behind his desk, arms folded, watching the man in black who had just dropped a flash drive that could dismantle Elias Wolfe’s cyber operation.The silence was tight, stretching.Then, the man cleared his throat, voice low and rough like gravel under boots.“There’s something else you need to know. About Victor Langley.”Adrain’s eyes sharpened. Elena tilted slightly forward, her brows knitting together.“You already said Elias pulled the strings on the hack. What’s Victor got to do with it?” Adrain's investigator asked, arms still crossed, but his tone had shifted. More alert. Less skeptical.The man nodded, slowly stepping away from the center of the room toward a leather chair. He didn’t sit, only touched its backrest, as if grounding himself in what he was about to say.“I was hired by Victor,” he began, each word measured. “To end either you or your wife.”The words dropped like a glass shattering on tile. Elena’s b
The soft hum of the air conditioner merged with the distant clatter of keyboards outside the office. Inside, the room was a contrast of silence and thought. Adrain sat at the head of his office desk, one arm draped loosely over the armrest while his other hand tapped a slow, deliberate rhythm on the glass surface.Elena stood by the wide window, watching the golden afternoon light pour in, casting patterns across the floor. Adrain's investigator flipped through documents on his tablet, eyes narrowing everything, so often as he took mental notes.“I still can't believe that Mr. Trent had a hand in this,” he muttered. “Also, the hackers’ skill level… the coordination… it's just different.”Adrain didn’t respond. His gaze lingered on nothing in particular. Still. Focused.A knock disrupted the stillness.Three raps. Calm. Confident.Elena turned. Adrain's investigator raised an eyebrow. Adrain looked toward the door and said, “Come in.”The door creaked open, and a man stepped inside, th
The low hum of computers and distant chatter of staff filled the open space of Adrain's company. On the outside, it was another ordinary day—files exchanged hands, deals were closed, coffees brewed. But at the core of it all, in the executive wing, Adrain and Elena moved with a calm that was unnerving to anyone who paid close attention.Their composure was like still water over deep currents.Elena, seated at her sleek glass desk, typed away on her keyboard, occasionally glancing at her screen. Her brows were relaxed. No tension in her shoulders. If anything, she looked lighter than usual. Adrain had already walked past three departments with a slight smile and an easy nod. He'd even complimented the receptionist’s new haircut.No boardroom meetings. No whispers in corners. Just business as usual.But somewhere else in the city, that silence was setting a fire.**Elias Wolfe leaned over his desk, jaw set hard as he spoke into his phone. “They’ve said nothing,” he growled. “Not a sing
They’re watching,” Elena replied, voice distant but assured. “They don’t need reassurance in words. They need to see their leaders walking forward. Calm breeds calm.”Sophie got up and joined her at the window, arms folded. “Still… doesn’t it burn? Knowing someone thinks they’ve outplayed you?”Elena’s smile didn’t falter. “Only if they truly have.”The two women stood in silence for a beat, overlooking the sprawling city. Cars moved like ants on their trails. People rushed without knowing whose war they were walking under.Sophie turned her head slightly. “So… what now?”Elena’s gaze sharpened. “Now, we wait. We let them get greedy. And when they do… we’ll be ready.”A quiet knock tapped on the door again, this time lighter, more formal.A junior assistant stepped in nervously. “Ma’am… Mr. Adrain asked me to tell you that the European proposal has been updated, and he wants your final thoughts before he sends it out.”Elena nodded. “Tell him I’ll be right there.”As the assistant sli
“No. Don’t lock the leak. Keep the route open. We’re baiting them.”Another pause. Adrain’s fingers tapped the edge of the desk lightly.“They bypassed surface-level security. That wasn’t random. Someone’s been inside—knows our system language. I want full trace protocols on the backend. Key mirroring. Subtle algorithm shifts. Anything they’ve left behind.”He listened, eyes never leaving Elena.“Yes. Remote only. Do not alert IT. Don’t even breathe a word in our system channels. If anyone asks, say we’re on routine maintenance.”He ended the call.Elena came beside him, her fingers grazing the back of his hand. “You’re setting a trap.”“We’re giving them a stage,” he corrected. “Let them feel safe. Let them perform.”She tilted her head, her voice soft. “And then?”He turned to her, eyes gleaming in the low light. “Then the curtain falls.”He moved to the liquor cabinet and poured two glasses—one for him, one for her. He handed hers with a subtle grin, the tension between them meltin
Elena was already rising, hurrying toward his seat with her tablet. “Look. Look at this! There’s been an unauthorized transaction—massive funds have just been moved out of one of the company’s sub-accounts.”Adrain snatched the device and scanned the screen. His breath caught. “Twenty-five million dollars... gone?”“It’s real. It just happened,” she said. “Our system just flagged it as an anomaly because of the destination account—it’s masked.”“Get the tech team on the line. Now!” Adrain ordered, already heading toward his office with Elena right behind him.Within minutes, the company’s head of cybersecurity, appeared on the large screen in the home office, his face pale.“Sir, we just noticed it as well. The system flagged it seconds after the funds moved.”“Who the hell did this?” Adrain’s voice was laced with ice.“We’re still tracing it. The hacker covered their tracks with precision. This wasn’t amateur work—this was planned. The account used was buried deep under layers of hid