The office was silent, the usual hum of the city outside muffled by the thick walls. Malia sat at her desk, her fingers poised above the keyboard, but she couldn't bring herself to type. Her mind was racing, her thoughts spiraling in directions she couldn't control. The meeting with her board had gone from bad to worse. The competitor had grown stronger, the investors more cautious, and every decision she made felt like it was slipping through her fingers.
And then Lucas had dropped the bombshell.
Malia had trusted him, relied on him, and now she was reeling from the revelation that Selene—her ex-husband's manipulative, scheming ex-wife—had been pulling strings behind the scenes. Selene had used her influence to manipulate key investors, threatening to sabotage Malia's business and destroy everything she had worked for. The weight of the secret was crushing, and Malia felt as if the ground beneath her was shifting, unstable.
