Chapter 4

By the next afternoon, word had spread across the entire elite circle: Silas Vance of Phoenix Capital had dropped a fortune on a jewel just to back a rival firm.

Everyone knew Silas Vance was targeting Summit Advisory.

He was back for revenge.

That evening, my phone rang. It was Amanda.

Her voice sounded hollow and exhausted. "Silas, can we meet?"

"Is there business, Ms. Cross? We can talk over the phone. I'm busy." I kept my tone coldly professional.

Silence stretched over the line, followed by a choked, suppressed sob.

"Please, Silas... I'm begging you. Just meet me."

I agreed.

We met in a secluded teahouse.

She looked far worse than the night before, dark circles bruising the skin under her eyes.

"Do you really have to do this?" she asked, her voice raspy. "Does it have to end in mutual destruction?"

"Do we even have a relationship left to destroy?" I blew gently on my steaming tea. "I thought the moment you locked that safe three years ago, all that remained between us was hatred."

Under the table, her knuckles turned white as she clutched her dress.

"That project is life or death for Summit. We spent months preparing."

"And so what?" I looked up at her. "Was my father's life's work not important to him? Didn't he prepare? With a single refusal, you wiped out decades of his blood, sweat, and tears. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, you feel wronged?"

"No!" she protested emotionally. "That's not what I meant! Silas, there was more to what happened back then..."

"More to it?" I scoffed. "Was Luke's whispering not loud enough, or was your hand locking the vault not fast enough?"

My words hit a raw nerve. Her face went deathly pale.

"I will handle Luke. Silas, please, withdraw your support for Horizon. I'll compensate you—whatever you want, name your price."

She stripped away every shred of her pride, practically groveling before me.

Looking at her, I felt no thrill of victory. Only a cold, hollow void.

When my dad begged her on his knees, did she show him even an ounce of mercy?

"Compensation?" I set the teacup down with a soft click. "Fine. What I want is simple."

"Tell me," she said, a spark of desperate hope igniting in her eyes.

"Go to my father's grave. Get on your knees, placed a bouquet of white camellias and stood in silence, and tell him you were wrong."

The spark died instantly.

Amanda recoiled as if struck, staring at me in sheer disbelief.

"You... want me to..."

"Can't do it?" A cold smirk crossed my face. "Then don't ever mention compensation to me again."

I stood up to leave.

"Silas!" she cried out. "The books really were dirty back then! It wasn't as simple as you think!"

I stopped, not turning around.

"So that gave you an excuse to watch him die?"

"No! The people behind those fake numbers... they're people we couldn't afford to cross!" she pleaded frantically. "I refused to sign to protect you!"

Protect me?

That was the most sickening joke I'd heard in three years.

Using my father's life to protect me?

I spun around, closing the distance between us, towering over her.

"Amanda, cut the bullshit. It makes me sick."

"My father was an honest man his entire life. He would never cook the books! Are you so desperate to clear your conscience that you'd fabricate lies about a dead man?"

"I'm not lying!" She jumped to her feet, pulling a file from her purse and shoving it toward me. "Look! This is what I dug up later! What happened back then was tied to—"

Before she could finish, the door crashed open.

Luke barged in, fury contorting his face, flanked by two burly bodyguards.

He snatched the file from Amanda's hands and ripped it to shreds.

"Amanda! Have you lost your damn mind?! You can't show this to anyone!"

Scraps of paper fluttered like snow, landing in Amanda's despairing eyes.

After tearing up the file, Luke glared at me with pure venom.

"Silas, I'm warning you—stay the hell away from Amanda! You'd better drop this, or I swear you'll end up just like your dead father!"

He actually dared to use my father's death to threaten me.

A tidal wave of rage shattered my restraint.

My fists clenched, knuckles popping loudly.

For three years, I had held back, calculated every move, all for this day.

And now, this spineless puppet dared bark in my face.

Looking at Luke's twisted face, and then at Amanda, pale and swaying, the dark resolve I had harbored for three years crystallized.

Some truths could only be uncovered through absolute destruction.