Ares's POV
The city was a blur of silver light and sleepless noise when I stepped into the KnightCorp tower. The glass doors closed behind me with a soft hiss, sealing out the world… or trying to.
For once, the building didn't feel like mine. It felt… watched.
Like someone was pulling the strings from the shadows.
And I knew exactly who had started the fire. Jasmine Duvall.
The woman had turned the market upside down in two days, and the press was eating it up. "KnightCorp's Iron Queen: How Duvall Outsmarted the King."
Every headline felt like a slap.
But the thing that bothered me more than her was Zara.
Her texts.
The ones she thought I hadn't seen.
"If she keeps digging, we're finished."
"Handle it before she finds out."
I ignored them yesterday. Pretended to be too focused to care. But last night, when I couldn't sleep, I reread them… over and over… until the words started sounding like guilt.
So this morning, I decided I wasn't pretending anymore.
