The warehouse was silent.
The contract lay open inside the briefcase—proof that Ceil's father wasn't the victim, but the mastermind of something far darker.
Velena's breath hitched, her pulse quickening. The truth bore down on her like a physical weight, suffocating and undeniable.
Ceil stood frozen, his gaze locked on the signature at the bottom of the page. His father's name stared back at him, mocking everything he thought he knew.
Lucian shifted uneasily, breaking the tense silence. "So what now?"
Andrew leaned casually against a rusted column, arms crossed, his smirk laced with quiet menace. "That's up to him."
Velena glanced at Ceil. He hadn't moved, hadn't spoken—and that terrified her.
Because the man she thought she knew—the one who always had control—was fracturing before her eyes.
A CHOICE THAT DEFINES A MAN....
Ceil finally stirred, the movement slow and deliberate.
He picked up the contract, his grip firm despite the storm brewing behind his expression. His voice, when it finally came, was soft but razor-sharp. "This changes nothing."
Velena's heart sank. "Ceil—"
He cut her off, turning his piercing gaze to Andrew. "You think exposing this makes you the winner?"
Andrew's smirk deepened, but his tone sharpened. "No. It makes you the fool."
Lucian's hand hovered near his gun, tension crackling in the air. Velena edged closer. "Ceil, please—"
Ceil's laugh was dry and humorless, slicing through her words. "I've spent twenty years chasing ghosts. Twenty years building an empire on lies I didn't even know I was telling myself."
Andrew tilted his head, eyes gleaming with predatory satisfaction. "And now that you know the truth… what will you do about it?"
For a moment, the warehouse fell deathly silent.
Then—
Ceil tore the contract in half.
Velena gasped, the sound echoing in the vast, empty space.
Andrew's smug expression faltered. "You're making a mistake."
Ceil's eyes burned with a new intensity—not rage, not despair, but something far colder. Unyielding.
He dropped the shredded contract at Andrew's feet, his voice calm and steady. "I don't need to erase my father's sins. I'll do what he couldn't."
Velena's chest tightened. "Ceil, no—"
Ceil turned to her, and for the first time, she saw the shift. He wasn't a man searching for justice anymore. He was a man determined to seize control.
THE SHIFT IN THE GAME....
Andrew exhaled sharply, his smirk replaced by a calculating stare. "So that's your choice? To keep his legacy alive?"
Ceil's smile was slow and chilling. "No. I'm not keeping it. I'm rewriting it."
The air in the warehouse grew heavier, the tension suffocating.
Lucian's fingers curled around the handle of his gun. "Ceil…"
Ceil didn't spare him a glance. His attention was on Andrew, his voice smooth and unwavering. "My father built an empire that stood for decades."
He stepped closer to Andrew, each word deliberate. "But his greatest mistake… was dying."
Velena froze, her heart pounding in her ears.
Ceil's gaze didn't waver. "Power belongs to those strong enough to claim it."
He stopped just short of Andrew, the corner of his mouth curving into a dangerous smile.
"So let's talk business."