Adira's POV
The first sign something was wrong came in an email flagged "URGENT."
I skimmed the words twice, heart stuttering. Auditors report missing funds. Anonymous allegations of misappropriation. Requesting immediate investigation.
Within an hour, three more emails followed. By noon, the whispers weren't whispers anymore. Investors wanted explanations. The press scented blood. And all I could see was Ashley's hand twisting the knife.
I slammed the laptop shut, breath ragged. "She's gone after my company's books. If this spreads, everything collapses."
"Then we don't let it spread."
Jayden's voice was calm, but his posture wasn't. He was leaning forward, jaw set, eyes blazing. Kendrick sat beside him, sleeves rolled, already sifting through spreadsheets. The two of them in the same room was a strange alliance, fire and ice, but I needed them both.
Kendrick pushed a file across the desk. "I've tracked the leak. Whoever fed this to the auditors did it using internal codes Ashley's camp had help."
My stomach twisted. "You mean... someone inside betrayed me?"
"That, or Ashley paid them enough to pretend." His voice was flat. "Either way, the numbers themselves are clean. She's not exposing truth, she's fabricating suspicion."
"Suspicion can still ruin me," I whispered.
Jayden's hand found mine under the desk. His thumb traced a slow line across my skin, steadying me. "Then we show them the truth before Ashley spins it. A full audit, published publicly. Transparency is your weapon now."
I looked at him, torn between fear and something else I didn't dare name. "You make it sound so simple."
His lips curved faintly. "Because you're not alone anymore."
For a moment, the chaos receded. His hand was warm, his eyes impossibly steady, and I felt my chest unclench in a way I hadn't allowed in years.
That night, after hours of number checking and strategy calls, I found myself standing on my balcony, London stretched out in glittering silence. My thoughts should have been full of figures, deadlines, board meetings.
Instead, they were full of him.
I didn't hear the door open until Jayden's voice came softly behind me. "You shouldn't be alone with this storm."
I turned, surprised. "You're still here."
"Of course."
I swallowed hard, every wall I'd built trembling. "Jayden, if Ashley tears this company down... if everything I've built disappears"
He closed the distance in three strides, his hand cupping my face, firm and grounding. "Adira, listen to me. You are not your company. You are not your bloodline. You are the woman who built something from nothing, who stood when the world tried to break her. And nothing not Ashley, not a scandal, not a thousand headlines can erase that."
My breath caught. For once, I didn't argue. I didn't push him away.
Instead, I whispered the truth I'd buried for too long: "I don't know what I'd do without you."
His eyes darkened, his thumb brushing my cheek. "You'll never have to find out."
And then his lips were on mine again fiercer this time, urgent, like he'd been holding back for years. My hands fisted in his shirt, pulling him closer, and for the first time in forever, I let myself feel everything.
When we broke apart, breathless, he rested his forehead against mine. "Whatever comes next, we fight it together."
And for the first time since this war began, I believed him.
Kendrick's POV
Back at his office, Kendrick studied the numbers long after Adira and Jayden left. He knew Ashley's game. He recognized the tricks, the dirty manipulation.
Once, he'd been the boy who laughed when Adira fell. Now, he was the man determined to make sure she never hit the ground again.
He pulled out his phone, dialing a contact in the City. "It's time," he said grimly. "Find me every trail Ashley's left. I don't care how buried. Bring it all."
If Ashley thought she could bankrupt Adira with lies, she was about to learn how dangerous redemption could be.