Lucien Blackwood's POV
Rain tapped softly against the floor-to-ceiling windows.
The room remained almost completely dark.
Only a single lamp burned quietly beside the leather armchair where I sat, its golden glow barely reaching the corners of the office.
A cup of black coffee rested comfortably in my hand.
Still warm.
Still untouched.
Across the room, several monitors glowed with silent surveillance footage.
Different cities.
Different people.
Different lives.
All connected.
All pieces on the same board.
A slow smile found its way onto my face.
Everything...
Was proceeding exactly as planned.
I picked up the tablet resting beside me.
One finger swiped across the screen.
A paused video filled the display.
Diamant Reed.
Noah.
A carefully edited lie.
Perfectly crafted.
Every frame had been built with patience.
Every movement examined.
Every imperfection erased.
Not even the most suspicious person would question it.
Technology was a wonderful thing.
People no longer believed what they heard.
They believed what they saw.
And that...
Made deception beautifully easy.
I took another slow sip of coffee.
Noah should have received it by now.
Poor boy.
He probably hadn't slept.
His heart was breaking while Diamant remained completely unaware on the other side of the world.
Exactly as intended.
A relationship rarely collapsed because of one massive betrayal.
No.
It crumbled beneath tiny fractures.
One doubt.
One unanswered question.
One convincing lie after another.
Trust was never destroyed all at once.
It eroded.
Patiently.
Silently.
Until one day...
There was nothing left.
I leaned back comfortably.
Diamant Reed.
The strongest alpha alive.
A man who could destroy corporations before breakfast and negotiate billion-dollar deals before lunch.
People feared his intelligence.
His influence.
His wealth.
His ruthlessness.
Yet...
None of those things could protect the place where he was weakest.
Noah.
His greatest strength.
His greatest vulnerability.
Attack the fortress...
And the king still stands.
Attack the heart...
And eventually...
The fortress follows.
A quiet knock interrupted my thoughts.
"Enter."
Three men stepped into the room.
Each dressed in black.
Each silent.
Each waiting.
None of them spoke until I did.
Good.
Disciplined people were useful.
I set my coffee down.
"The first stage is complete."
No one questioned me.
No one needed an explanation.
"The second stage begins now."
One of the men stepped forward.
"What are your orders, sir?"
I smiled.
A calm smile.
The kind that frightened people far more than shouting ever could.
"Get ready."
Three simple words.
Yet every person inside the room understood what they meant.
Preparations that had taken months were finally approaching their conclusion.
Resources.
Money.
People.
Information.
Everything had been positioned long before anyone realized a game had begun.
The men nodded once.
"Understood."
They disappeared as quietly as they had arrived.
The room became silent again.
Outside...
Lightning briefly illuminated the city skyline before darkness reclaimed it.
I rose from my chair and walked toward the windows.
Far below, thousands of lights glittered like stars trapped beneath glass.
Somewhere beyond that horizon...
Diamant Reed was searching for whoever sabotaged his hotel.
He believed the collapse was the attack.
How amusing.
The hotel...
Was merely the distraction.
The real collapse had already begun.
I rested one hand against the cold glass.
"I've got you exactly where I want you, Diamant."
A quiet chuckle escaped me.
"And once one of you falls..."
"The other won't stay standing for long."
Noah would break.
Diamant would lose focus.
Confusion would become hesitation.
Hesitation would become mistakes.
Mistakes...
Were fatal.
Then there was Evan.
Brilliant.
Calculating.
Annoyingly difficult to deceive.
But even the sharpest mind eventually slipped when protecting someone it loved.
I looked toward another monitor.
A photograph of Evan Leigh appeared.
The corner of my mouth lifted.
"Your turn is coming too."
Very soon.
Very, very soon.
The room fell silent once more.
I lifted my coffee.
Took one final sip.
Then smiled into the darkness.
"So..."
"What are you going to do now that both of you are standing exactly where I placed you?"
A pause.
A soft laugh.
Almost affectionate.
"My son."