The sharp ring of her phone broke the silence, Nova went for it without looking, exhaustion dragging at her every move, She barely had any sleep, Her thoughts were spiraling.
The headline that flashed across her screen made her gasp for air,
Nova Lin Accused of Corporate Espionage: Leaked Emails Suggest Sabotage Tactics.
Her grip tightened around the phone, it was as though blood drained from her face,
"What the hell is this?" she whispered under her breath, her heart started beating painfully in her chest,
She read the article in shocking Silence, the sources were Anonymous and there were Screenshots she had never seen before, the conversations were fabricated.
It was a calculated attack, not only designed to hurt her, but also to tear her reputation apart bit by bit,
Victor burst through the office door just a few moments later, his expression was filled with worry, "I saw it," he said before she could say a word, "It's everywhere."
Nova stood still, she was frozen, the words were still ringing in her ears, "I didn't do this, none of this is real."
"I know," Victor said gently, he stepped closer to her, "We'll figure it out, We can contain this."
But she could hardly heard him, Her mind was already trying to think ahead, all the clients, all the investors, what the public would think about it all, The damage had already begun, and she could feel it all slipping away.
Her chest tightened, This is not Dominic's style, Even if he is at his worst, he had never played this way before,
She looked up at Victor, with a soft and hoarse voice, "This isn't him."
Victor nodded, "I don't think it's him either."
And For a flicker of a second, their eyes met, and something unspoken occurred between them, A shared fear neither of them could say anything about,
But then Victor's phone buzzed, He took it out, and his expression dulled even further, His eyes drifted away, and his lips pressed together.
Nova frowned, "What is it?"
He shook his head, "It's nothing, it's Just Luthor."
Nova swallowed hard, She didn't missed the shift in him, The distance kept on growing, The silent cracks that had been expanding between them for weeks,
Her voice softened, "Victor... you don't have to stay in this."
He met her gaze, "I'm exactly where I need to be."
But the words felt hollow,
As he left the office few moments later, Nova sat back in her chair, her hands were shaking, The image on the screen still burned through her eyes,
Someone else was pulling the strings.
And for the first time since this war began, she felt helplessness.
.
The atmosphere in Dominic's office was very tense, the air between him and Alicia stretched very thin with barely hidden hostility.
For weeks he had ignored the nagging feeling that something was wrong, but now he couldn't ignore it any longer.
"Alicia," he said quietly, with his voice unusually calm, "We need to talk."
She looked up at him from her phone, her lips curling in a smile that didn't reach her eyes, "Of course, darling, About what?"
He watched her carefully, "About what's been happening lately, about The recent leaks, about The false stories, The recent pressure on Nova's company."
Her expression remained the same, but her fingers tensed up around her glass, "Why would I know anything about that?"
Dominic exhaled, shaking his head, "Don't play me, You forget I know you, I know the way you act when you want something."
Alicia's smile faltered for a second before she regained her composure, "And if I did have something to do with it?" she asked sweetly, "Would you stop me? Would you defend her over me?"
The question landed them like a weight.
He could not answer immediately.
For the first time ever, Dominic realized how far Alicia had spiraled, This couldn't be just jealousy, It wasn't even about business anymore, It was obsession and Control.
He forced his voice to be steady, "This isn't how I work, If you're crossing any lines, it has to stop."
Her eyes narrowed, "Funny," she whispered, "You never seemed so noble before she came back."
The words hit harder than he had would have expected, But before he could say any more, Alicia set down her glass with care and left the room without saying another word.
.
Meanwhile, Nova sat there in her office, her nerves had frayed, and her patience was thin, The damage control was failing, Investors started pulling away from her company, Her name was slipping into scandal.
Victor entered the room silently, his face was pale, he clutched phone in his hand.
"We need to talk," he said calmly,
Nova's lifted her eyes to him, "What now?"
Victor hesitated, then finally admitted, "It's Luthor, he was offered a deal by Alicia's agency, A huge one, and he's considering taking it."
Her breath seized, Not only because of the betrayal, but because she finally understood that it was Alicia, she understood that she just wasn't targeting her business, she was also tearing apart per life, She was breaking apart everything around her, Piece by piece.
Her voice dropped several tones, "She's behind all of this."
Victor nodded with sadness, "I think so."
Nova's clenched her hands beside her, The anger that rose in her chest was sharp, but beneath the anger was something even colder, The terrifying realization that she was losing all the control she built, not just of the war, but of the people she cared about, and for the first time, she wasn't sure how to stop it.
.
This headline hit the newsstands before morning,
Nova Lin Accused of Market Manipulation: Exclusive Evidence Uncovered.
By the time Nova stepped into her office, her phone was already ringing nonstop, Every major news outlet had already picked it up. There were screenshot, Lots of Fabricated financial reports, Anonymous Expert opinions, The damage was swift, ruthless, and it was all public.
Her stomach went into knots as she scrolled through the nonstop stream of coverage, She could barely heard the knock at her door,
Victor walked in, his face was pale, and his eyes looked weary, He set his phone on the desk without a word,
She looked down,
It was an email, a message from Alicia's family's PR firm, The tone of the message was professional, but the implication was clear, Alicia had planned this, The entire campaign to smear my image, all The sabotage and The manipulation,
"She's behind all of it," Victor said softly, confirming what Nova already knew.
Her throat tightened, "How did you.. "
Victor hesitated, while holding the back of his neck, "Luthor told me, He said he found out, He... he's not taking the deal, He just wanted me to know."
His words landed like a silent blow, Relief and betrayal were twisted together, Luthor's loyalty might have survived, but the cracks were still there, it was visible.
Nova sank into her chair, her hands were still trembling, "How did I not see this sooner?" she whispered,
Victor sat across from her, his voice barely heard, "Because you were too focused on Dominic."
Her eyes lifted to him, she heard no judgment in his tone, there was only exhaustion,
And he was right,
She was so consumed by her war with Dominic that she hadn't noticed the real enemy, Alicia had never come at her directly, She had attacked from the shadows.
Nova pressed her fingertips against her head, the weight of it all pressing down on her chest, "I'm losing everything," she murmured under her breath,
Victor's voice softened, "Not everything."
But it felt that way, it felt like she was loosing her business, Her reputation, even her friendships.
.
Elsewhere, Alicia stood at the highest floor of her father's office tower, she was watching the sun cast gold rays across the city, she let out a smile as she scrolled through the news,
Everything was unfolding exactly as she had planned,
Nova Lin was already unraveling, And soon, she would have nothing left to fight with,
Alicia raised her glass to the empty room and she was filled with satisfaction,
"Checkmate," she whispered.
And across the city, Dominic sat alone, he had a single file opened on his desk, it was a private investigation, it had Names, it had Emails and Transactions.
For the first time, finally, the pieces were starting to come together.
Then he came to the realization,
He had been fighting the wrong enemy all along.