Lucas Dragovich sat behind the long matte-black desk in his private office, the entire forty-second floor sealed off as usual. Multiple screens spread before him, each displaying a different division under the Caden Corporation umbrella.
Real estate.Pharmaceuticals.Port logistics.Tech infrastructure.Defense bidding.Energy contracts.And the darker, unregistered operations that never made it to paper.
Lucas didn't believe in linear business. He believed in dominance through diversification. The more rooted he was in multiple sectors, the harder it was for anyone to cut him down. His fingers moved steadily, tapping through data, reports, financial projections, shipment logs—everything with mechanical precision.
His jaw tensed slightly.
"Section-B quarterly return should have been higher," he muttered under his breath.
He made a note, flipped to the next projection, and continued. The room was silent, except for the soft hum of the machines and the calculated rhythm of his breathing. Hours passed, yet Lucas didn't move from his seat.
He didn't need to look at the clock to know it was past midday. Productivity had its own internal timer in his mind.
Then—Three knocks.Sharp. Quick.Irritatingly familiar.
Lucas didn't look up. "Enter."
Adrian walked in with a boxed lunch and two coffee cups in his hand.
"You're late," Lucas said without shifting his tone.
Adrian blinked. "Lucas… it's lunch. You didn't step out to eat."
Lucas finally glanced at the time on the corner of the screen. 1:48 PM.
He had indeed forgotten.
His expression didn't reveal anything.
He leaned back slightly as Adrian placed the box on the side table.
"You need to eat something before you pass out on that desk," Adrian said with a half-joking tone that always braced itself for a cold response.
Lucas didn't bother with pleasantries. He stood, opened the box, and took a bite with the same precision he used to run his empire. Adrian watched him, confused as always by Lucas' ability to look completely unaffected.
But Lucas' mind was elsewhere.
He pulled out his phone and dialed.
Adrian raised a brow. "Work call?"
Lucas ignored him. The call connected, and Marco's voice came through.
"Yes, sir?"
"Status update."
Marco instantly understood the code.Status update = Is she eating?
"She hasn't left her room, sir," Marco responded. "Breakfast was taken to her door. She accepted it. Lunch was delivered an hour ago. She hasn't touched it yet."
Lucas's jaw tightened by a fraction—barely noticeable unless someone knew him extremely well.
Adrian leaned slightly forward, trying to pick up pieces of the conversation but unable to grasp the context.
Lucas ended the call without another word.
Adrian frowned. "Everything okay?"
Lucas's eyes lifted slowly.
The look he gave Adrian could have frozen fire.
"It's business," Lucas said sharply. "Don't ask."
Adrian swallowed and backed up a step.
Before he could respond, Lucas closed the lunch container and wiped his fingers, returning to his desk.
"Report."
Adrian straightened immediately. "There's a problem at the South Dockyard."
Lucas's head snapped up.
"What problem."
"We found leaked internal schematics—blueprints for the next shipment route. It was too detailed to be guessed. Someone from inside gave it away."
Lucas didn't blink.
"Who had access?"
"Only the VP and his team."
Lucas's expression turned cold—deadly cold.
"Where is he now?"
"At the port headquarters. He claims he was 'reviewing paperwork.'"
Lucas leaned back in his chair, calm in a way that made Adrian's lungs tighten.
"Schedule a meeting with him," Lucas said. "Tonight."
Adrian nodded quickly. "Yes. Of course."
Lucas continued reading files as though nothing had happened.
But Adrian knew that look.
Someone was going to die today.
As he moved toward the door, Adrian asked—hesitantly—
"Is everything fine back at home? You seem… tense."
Lucas's hand paused over the keyboard.
Very slowly, he lifted his gaze.
The stare was silent, murderous.
"Adrian."
"Yes?"
"Don't ask about my house again."
The warning was enough to turn Adrian's blood cold. He nodded stiffly and left the room, closing the door behind him.
Lucas exhaled once—controlled, contained, razor-sharp.
Nothing about today was fine.Not the leak.Not the staff issue.Not Amara shutting herself in her room.Not the way she flinched away from him last night.Not the bruise on her arm.
But none of that showed on his face.
The door clicked shut, sealing him inside the silent, chilled space of Caden Tower.
Lucas returned his attention to the monitors.
The VP who dared betray him would be dealt with tonight.
Ruthlessly.Efficiently.Permanently.
But Amara…She was a different kind of problem.
And he hated unsolved variables.
**************************************************
The south dockyard was stripped of noise by the time Lucas arrived. Massive steel containers towered on either side like silent witnesses. The wind carried the briny smell of the sea mixed with diesel and rust. Tower lights bathed the area in a harsh, yellow glow, cutting through the darkness.
A convoy of four black SUVs rolled in first, forming a protective perimeter. Lucas stepped out of the fifth car, his polished black shoes hitting the concrete with crisp finality. He wore a dark overcoat over his suit, every line of his posture composed, controlled, lethal.
Marco walked behind him, eyes scanning the area.Adrian stood near the entrance, shoulders tight with tension.
"Everything is cleared?" Lucas asked without turning his head.
"Yes, sir," Marco replied. "Only the VP and his selected staff are inside the warehouse."
Lucas nodded once. "Inside. Now."
They approached the warehouse. Its metal shutters were half-down, leaving a gaping entrance that spilled cold light onto the ground. Two guards opened the door as Lucas entered.
Inside, the VP—Richard Vale—stood stiffly with a nervous smile plastered on his face. He was a man in his late forties, tall but soft around the middle, with thinning hair and a perpetual sheen of sweat on his forehead.
"Lucas," Richard attempted, "I wasn't expecting—"
"Silence."
Lucas's voice was calm. Too calm.It made Richard's mouth snap shut instantly.
Lucas walked forward slowly, gloved hands clasped behind his back as he observed the room. Stacks of crates, sealed metal containers, rows of machinery, and a large table displaying maps and blueprints of shipping routes.
Lucas stopped in front of it.
He tapped one schematic lightly.
"This," Lucas said quietly, "was leaked."
Richard swallowed. "Lucas, I swear, I didn't—"
Lucas turned to him. His expression was unreadable. His eyes, however, were sharp as glass shards.
"You were the only person with access."
Richard's throat bobbed with fear. "I would never betray the company. I've been with you since the early days—"
"Yes," Lucas interrupted. "Since the days when you used my name to climb the ranks. Since the days when you called me your brother. Since the days when you begged me to save your bankrupt father."
Richard's face went pale.
"And I did," Lucas continued, voice smooth. "I erased your father's debts. I gave you a position. I trusted you."
Richard's lips trembled. "Lucas, I didn't leak—"
Lucas stepped forward, voice low and deadly.
"Then explain how a private schematic ended up in the hands of my enemies."
Richard opened his mouth but no sound came. His hands shook.
Lucas watched him coldly and spoke to Marco instead.
"Bring him here."
Two men grabbed Richard by the arms. He struggled, panic rising.
"Lucas! Lucas, listen to me! I swear on my life—"
Lucas raised a hand, and the shouting stopped immediately.
"Check his phone," Lucas said.
Marco quickly searched Richard's pockets and found two phones—one personal, one unregistered. Lucas arched an eyebrow.
Richard stammered, "That—That isn't mine—someone must have put it—"
Lucas took the unregistered phone and opened the message folder.
A sent message displayed a photographed schematic.Timestamped.Location data matching the dockyard.
Richard's knees buckled.
"No—no no—Lucas—listen—please—"
Lucas stared at the phone screen for a silent moment. Then he tossed it on the table as if it were worthless.
"Who paid you?"
Richard shook his head desperately. "I-I didn't leak it! Lucas, you know me! You know I'm loyal!"
Lucas stepped closer, his face inches from Richard's.
"You leaked Caden Corporation's internal blueprint," he said softly. "That is not betrayal. That is treason."
Richard trembled, sweating through his collar.His voice cracked.
"I have a family, Lucas… please."
Lucas's eyes narrowed slightly. "So do the men who would have died because of your leak."
Richard froze.His breath hitched.He finally realized there would be no mercy.
Lucas stepped back and removed his gloves with deliberate calmness.
"Marco."
"Yes, sir?"
"Make sure we receive the names of every contact he communicated with."
Richard shrieked, "PLEASE! LUCAS—DON'T DO THIS! I DIDN'T—"
Lucas's voice cut through him like a blade."Richard. You disappoint me."
Marco signalled to the guards.Richard was dragged toward the far end of the warehouse, screaming and pleading.
Lucas turned away, uninterested in the noise. He walked to the open side-door of the warehouse, looking out toward the ocean.
A gunshot cracked through the air.Then silence.
Marco returned after a minute.
"It's done, sir."
Lucas didn't turn around.He simply said:
"Burn everything connected to him. Audit every system he touched. Lock down the logistics division."
"Yes, sir."
Lucas finally faced Marco.
"And get rid of the body in the container ship leaving at dawn."
Marco nodded.
Lucas walked forward, exiting the warehouse with the same composed stride he had entered with—cold, unreadable, absolute.
The dockyard was silent again.
But the message was loud.
Anyone who betrayed Lucas Dragovich ended the same way.
No exceptions.