Chapter 445

Chapter 445:

Nothing illegal. Nothing that couldn’t be explained as normal market fluctuations. But enough to create doubt, to make investors nervous, to start the slow erosion of confidence that would eventually bring Victoria’s empire crashing down.

By the closing bell, Kane Industries had dropped eight points—a minor dip that would barely register in the financial press but was significant enough to make Victoria nervous. The first crack in the foundation she had built on Richard Pierce’s grave.

Alexander closed his laptop and leaned back in his chair, exhaustion washing over him. This was only the beginning. The campaign to destroy Victoria Kane would take months, perhaps years. Each step would have to be perfectly calculated, precisely timed, and completely untraceable back to him.

And each step would bring him closer to the moment when Camille discovered that her husband had married her not for love, but for revenge against the woman who had become her mother.

Alexander looked at his wedding ring, the gold band catching the afternoon light streaming through his office windows. Soon, he would go home to his wife, kiss her hello, listen to her excited plans for their future. He would make love to her while his mind planned Victoria’s destruction. He would whisper words of devotion while orchestrating the downfall of everything she held dear. The weight of his double life pressed down like a burial shroud.

But Alexander had made his choice the day he opened that envelope. Justice for Richard Pierce. The truth about the Whitmore Factory workers. An end to Victoria Kane’s reign of manipulation and murder.

Even if it cost him everything else he loved.

Outside his window, the rain had stopped, leaving the city gleaming under weak sunlight. But the storm was just beginning. And when it was over, only one of them would be left standing.

The morning sun cast sharp shadows across the Kane Industries boardroom as Camille paced behind her chair, her phone pressed to her ear. Alexander watched from the doorway, studying the tension in her shoulders and the way her free hand clenched and unclenched at her side.

“Three percent,” she snapped into the phone. “No, that’s not acceptable. We need a press release out within the hour, not by the end of the day.”

Ⱡ𝗮𝗍𝙚𝕤𝖙 ς𝗁𝖺𝗉𝗍𝗲𝖗𝗌 ɢ𝗮𝗅𝗇𝗈ν𝖊𝗅𝘀․𝚌𝗈𝗆

Victoria sat at the head of the massive conference table, her face pale but composed. Charts and graphs covered the polished surface before her, all showing the same ugly truth: Kane Industries stock had plummeted overnight, wiping out millions in market value.

Alexander stepped into the room, his expression carefully crafted to show concern and support. Inside, satisfaction burned like a flame he couldn’t extinguish.

“How bad is it?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

“Bad.” Camille ended her call and turned to face him, dark circles under her eyes the telltale marks of a sleepless night. “Three percent drop in twelve hours. The trading floor is calling it a bloodbath.”

Victoria’s voice cut through the morning air like ice. “Someone is spreading lies about our acquisition history, targeting our credibility at the worst possible time.”

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