Shadows in the Boardroom

The air in Julian’s private study tasted of ozone and expensive, cold ambition. Elara stood by the mahogany desk, the encrypted drive in her pocket feeling like a live wire against her hip. Outside the heavy oak doors, the Thorne manor was a tomb of silence—a thin veneer stretched over the fracture points the board had spent the last twenty-four hours widening.

Julian didn’t look up from his monitor. His face was a mask of razor-sharp indifference, the kind that had once made her think he was merely a colder version of his father. Now, she knew better. The sacrifice of the multimillion-dollar merger wasn't just a business pivot; it was a scorched-earth tactical retreat to keep her from being exposed as the board’s designa

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