The first tremor hit at 10:04 a.m.
By noon, Victor's overseas manufacturing deals were in shambles. Three of his top partners in Germany had frozen contracts. A distributor in Tokyo had pulled out entirely. And the whispers on the street? Blaze Enterprises wasn't backing down.
Victor Sterling stood in his penthouse office overlooking the river, jaw clenched, voice like iron over the phone.
"Find out exactly what Blaze is doing to scare our partners. I want names. I want leverage. And I want it yesterday."
He ended the call and turned to the man waiting quietly by the window—Specter.
"They're cutting off my oxygen," Victor said, pacing. "Arnold's gotten bolder. Smarter."
Specter said nothing. He rarely did. But Victor could tell he was watching more than listening.
"You've been too quiet lately," Victor said. "What is she doing?"
"She's not hiding," Specter replied. "She's digging."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"Digging what?"
"Your past. Interviews. Associates. Family history. She's looking for your soft spots."
Victor's gaze darkened. "Then you'd better make sure she doesn't find them."
Specter gave a slight nod. "Understood."
—
Meanwhile, at Blaze Enterprises, the war room was calm—but lethal.
Arnold stood in front of a digital wall, tracking data feeds like a general surveying a battlefield.
Lucas pointed to a live update. "Hong Kong firm just backed out of Sterling's tech licensing. That's the third one this week."
"Good," Arnold said, eyes cold. "Keep hitting the weak joints. We need to break his legs before he can form that Asian alliance."
"About that," Isabella cut in. "We've had feelers from QianTech. They're interested in partnering with us if we can prove Sterling's volatile."
Arnold folded his arms. "Then let's prove it."
He turned to the screen showing Sterling Industries' stock. The trendline was beginning to buckle.
—
Elsewhere, Lilith sat cross-legged on her living room floor, newspapers and articles spread around her like a ritual circle. Athena flipped through a dusty, digitized company registry from over a decade ago.
"This," Athena muttered, pointing to a name.
Lilith leaned in. The registry listed Marjorie Sterling, Victor's mother, as a silent shareholder in a now-defunct Sterling affiliate—one whose assets were quietly absorbed shortly before Victor's takeover bid failed, five years ago.
"Arnold mentioned something about a controlling interest back then," Lilith murmured. "What if Victor tried to claw it back through her stake, but failed?"
Athena's brows lifted. "And that's what pushed him to start sabotaging Blaze. Personal loss. Humiliation."
Lilith grabbed her phone. "There might be proof in the company transition filings. I still have an old contact at the legal bureau. If he owes me anything, it's this."
Athena tilted her head. "This still isn't enough to go public."
"It doesn't have to be," Lilith said. "But if I get it into Arnold's hands, maybe he can."
—
That evening, Arnold received a message on his private line.
It was from Lilith.
A scanned folder. Three pages. Quietly labeled:
"Re: Sterling Industrial Holdings – Hidden Beneficiary Transfer Dispute, 5 years ago."
Arnold opened the documents.
His eyes narrowed.
Victor had fought to illegally reinstate his mother's share in a holding company that had long been liquidated. He'd lost in arbitration—badly. It was the start of his downfall, one that directly preceded his war against Blaze.
Arnold read the final summary line twice.
"…a failure to re-establish personal equity under the Sterling family name, amid growing suspicion of improper influence…"
It wasn't about business.
It never had been.
Victor had been trying to rewrite his family legacy—and Arnold had been in the way.
—
Arnold called Isabella.
"Get me QianTech's board lead. I have a story to tell them. One about a man willing to burn a billion-dollar empire to avenge a childhood wound."