Ruby woke to the sound of her phone vibrating nonstop. Not the gentle buzz of a message. Not a reminder. This was frantic. She squinted at the screen, still half-asleep, 27 missed calls. Unknown numbers. Private lines. Media tags exploding faster than her mind could catch up.
Then she saw the headline. BYRON CORPORATION IN CHAOS: NEW CEO "UNQUALIFIED," "EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISED"
Her breath hitched. Another notification slid down. INSIDER SOURCES QUESTION THE LEGITIMACY OF RUBY EMERALD'S APPOINTMENT. Her fingers trembled as she opened her tablet.
Her face filled the screen. Photos, cropped, timed, weaponized. Her walking into the lobby. Her confrontation with Acacia. A still frame of her pouring water down Acacia's blouse, stripped of context and labeled "Public Meltdown."
The words burned. Former housewife. Married the chairman weeks after divorcing his son. No corporate leadership experience. Emotional decisions, reckless firings
Ruby sat up slowly, heart pounding, as if last night was not enough, still trying to recover from the kiss, now this. "Bastards…" she whispered.
Across the room, Max leaned against the doorway, coffee in hand, utterly relaxed. He wasn't surprised. He was amused. He took one look at the screen and laughed, deep, satisfied.
"Mia," he said fondly. "Predictable as ever." Ruby turned sharply. "You knew."
"I hoped," he corrected. "But yes. This was inevitable."
"They're calling me unstable," Ruby said, voice tight. "They're questioning my authority. This is bad, the comments. It's…"
"Stop reading all that," Max cut in smoothly. "And that's the mistake they just made." He walked in, unbothered, setting his mug down. "They moved too fast. No financial data leaked. No legal challenge. Just gossip dressed as concern." He smiled. "That tells me they're panicking."
Ruby stared at him. "They're trying to destroy me."
"No," Max said calmly. "They're trying to provoke you, break you." He lifted her chin gently. "And you're not going to give them what they want."
Her phone buzzed again. Seron. Call after call.
Texts are stacking up.
Ruby, please talk to me. This is getting out of hand. I can fix this. They're using you. Answer me
Ruby's jaw tightened.
"He's calling like he suddenly remembers my name," she said bitterly. Max smirked. "That's because he's losing control. Of the company. Of the narrative. Of you."
Another call. Seron again. Ruby stared at the screen, pulse steadying. "They want me emotional," she said quietly. "Yes," Max replied. "They want you reactive."
She declined the call. Then blocked the number. Max's smile widened, slow, dangerous.
"Good," he said. "Because now we respond."
"How?" Ruby asked. Max leaned closer, voice low. "By letting the story grow."
Ruby frowned. "What?"
"We don't deny. We don't explain. We don't rush to the press like scared executives." His eyes gleamed. "We let them hang themselves."
He reached for his phone, already typing. "I'm scheduling a shareholders' briefing. Live-streamed. Forty-eight hours from now." Ruby's heart skipped. "That's risky."
Max chuckled. "So is underestimating you." He looked at her, really looked. "By the time you speak," he continued, "Mia's 'sources' will look like liars, Seron will look desperate, and you…"
His hand brushed her waist, grounding. "…you will look untouchable." Ruby exhaled slowly.
Her phone buzzed again. Blocked number attempting contact. Seron. Ruby turned the screen face-down. "Let him sweat," she said.
Max laughed softly. "That's my wife."
And somewhere across the city, Mia Byron watched the headlines climb, convinced she was winning. She had no idea she'd just stepped exactly where Max wanted her.
Across town, in a penthouse that felt like a glass cage, the television was on, Seron leaned back against a leather armchair, a glass of amber liquid forgotten in his hand. On the screen, the news cycle was doing exactly what he had paid for, tearing Ruby's reputation to shreds.
Acacia draped herself over the back of his chair, her fingers tracing the tense line of his jaw. She looked at the screen with a purr of satisfaction. "Look at her, Seron. By noon, she won't have a friend left in this city. We finally broke her."
Seron didn't answer. His eyes were fixed on the ticker at the bottom of the screen. He pulled out his phone, his thumb hovering over Ruby's name. He wanted to hear her voice. He wanted to hear her break, to hear her beg him to help her out of the fire he'd started. He tapped the call button.
The person you are trying to reach has restricted incoming calls. He tried again. Then he tried a message. It didn't even deliver. "She blocked me," he hissed, the realization hitting him like a physical blow. The control he thought he had was slipping. Ruby wasn't cowering; she was shutting him out entirely.
"Seron, we should celebrate," Acacia whispered, her voice sliding into his ear like silk. "She's a ghost now."
With a roar of sudden, uncontained fury, Seron stood and hurled his phone across the room. It shattered against the floor-to-ceiling window, a web of cracks blooming in the glass. He didn't care about the news anymore. He didn't care about the plot. He was losing his grip on the only woman he couldn't own.
Acacia didn't flinch. She knew exactly how to handle his rage. She stepped back toward the master suite, her eyes dark and challenging. "Let me, Seron. You have me." She paused at the doorway, the sound of the steam-shower starting up behind her. "Come here. Now."
The invitation was a command. Seron's chest heaved, his eyes still fixed on the shards of his phone. But as the steam began to billow out into the hallway, he turned away from the ruins of his digital connection to Ruby.
The steam rose in thick, opaque clouds, turning the marble-clad bathroom into a blurred sanctuary of heat. Seron stepped into the spray without waiting for the temperature to even out, the stinging needles of water hitting his skin like a much-needed distraction from the ringing in his ears.
Acacia followed him, her movements fluid and predatory. She didn't mind his silence; she thrived in the tension. She pressed her wet body against his back, her hands sliding over his ribs, feeling the frantic rhythm of his heart.
"Stop thinking about her," she hissed against his skin, her teeth grazing his shoulder blade. "She's losing everything, Seron. You won."
With a sudden, violent turn, Seron grabbed her waist and spun her around, pinning her against the frosted glass door. The impact made the heavy pane rattle in its tracks. He didn't kiss her, not at first.
He just stared at her, his eyes dark with a toxic mix of desire and pure, unadulterated spite. He was looking at Acacia, but he was seeing the ghost of the woman who had dared to cut him off.
He took her then, his hands rough as they hiked her legs up around his waist. The roar of the overhead rainfall shower drowned out everything but the sound of their ragged breathing.
Every movement was a strike, a desperate attempt to reclaim the dominance he felt slipping away in the real world.
Acacia arched her back, her fingers digging into his wet shoulders, her nails leaving red crescents in his skin. She let out a sharp, breathless moan that echoed off the tiles, her head falling back as the steam filled her lungs. She was winning, she told herself. She had him here, in the heat, while Ruby was out in the cold.
But as Seron buried his face in the crook of Acacia's neck, his grip tightening until it almost hurt, the pleasure felt hollow. The water slicking down their bodies felt like a fever he couldn't break. Even as he lost himself in the moment, the image of Ruby, smiling that new, sharp smile at Max, burned behind his eyelids.
He moved faster, harder, trying to drown out the thought of Max's hands on what used to be his. He wanted to break something.
He wanted to feel like a king again. But as he reached a crashing, silent peak, he realized that no matter how hard he held Acacia, he was still the one left standing in the dark, wondering exactly how much Ruby had learned to enjoy her new life.
"Hey," Acacia mumbled, her hand trailing down his ribs. Seron removed her hands and looked at her with indifference before stepping out of the shower. Acacia stood there, confused.