The Blake Corporation's boardroom was a place where empires were built and destroyed over the course of a single signature.
This morning, it was suffocatingly silent.
The air was thick with tension as shareholders whispered among themselves, eyes darting nervously toward the towering glass doors.
At the head of the long obsidian conference table sat Ethan Blake.
Impeccably dressed, his cold fingers tapped rhythmically against the table surface, each beat a countdown to his inevitable dominance.
But behind his calm facade, unease churned in his chest.
Ever since that chance encounter days ago, Amelia's cold eyes haunted his every waking moment.
The woman he left broken in the rain had returned…
And she wasn't the same fragile bride anymore.
Without warning, the grand doors swung open.
The sharp clack of heels echoed like gunshots across the marble floor.
Every head turned.
Gasps rippled through the room.
Amelia White entered with the poise of a queen walking into her coronation.
Her figure was elegantly draped in a tailored black power suit that hugged her every curve, her crimson lips curled in a faint, dangerous smile.
But it was her eyes that held the room captive—frosted steel, unwavering and merciless.
She walked straight to the opposite end of the table, her heels clicking a final, authoritative stop directly across from Ethan.
Without hesitation, she placed a thick folder onto the table, sliding it toward the stunned shareholders.
"Effective immediately," she announced, her voice smooth and commanding, "I am the new majority shareholder of the Blake Corporation."
The room erupted in chaos.
Ethan shot to his feet, his face pale for the first time in years.
His voice thundered across the room.
"This is impossible! That stock was locked under my personal trust—"
Amelia's red lips curved into a slow, devastating smile.
"Correction, Mr. Blake," she interrupted coolly. "It was under your trust. But as of yesterday, every debt your company leveraged for survival? I bought them all."
She leaned in slightly, her voice dropping low, every word a sharp, deliberate blade.
"You don't own this empire anymore, Ethan. I do."
Ethan's chest heaved, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned white.
Across the table, Amelia remained a picture of perfect, icy elegance.
For the first time, he realized…
He hadn't just lost her.
He'd lost everything.