Chapter 1 –
POV:Dominic
The conference room was all glass and steel—sharp angles, no warmth. Just like him.
Dominic Vierra leaned back in the leather chair at the head of the table, his fingers steepled under his chin as he scanned the numbers on the screen. The quarterly report glowed cold blue across the glass wall behind him, but it wasn't the numbers that concerned him. It was what wasn't in them.
"Revenue's up ten point six percent," said Marissa Hale, his CFO, flipping through the spreadsheet on her tablet. "But the South American pipeline is delayed. Again. Political instability in Colombia is—"
"I don't give a damn about instability," Dominic cut in, his voice low, smooth, lethal. "We knew the risks going in. What I want to know is who the hell signed off on the Bogota subcontractor."
No one spoke.
Dominic's gaze swept the table—his executive team, all hand-picked. Marissa looked sharp, unshaken. Bryce, his COO, adjusted his cufflinks like he always did when nervous. Peter from legal opened his mouth to speak—then thought better of it.
"I did," Bryce said finally. "They offered us a faster turnaround and underbid our usual guys by thirty percent."
"And now we're losing three million a day in stalled equipment and unshipped product," Dominic said, each word a dagger. "Was the thirty percent worth it?"
Silence.
Then: "No," Bryce admitted.
Dominic nodded slowly. "So. Fix it."
He stood and buttoned his charcoal-gray suit jacket with one smooth motion. Six-foot-three, steel-cut jaw, eyes that held no light. Dominic wasn't just a billionaire. He was a machine. Built from nothing. Ruthless, strategic, precise.
"This isn't a game," he said, voice cool. "It's war. Our competitors want blood. You think they care if we're polite? Efficient? No. They want our market share. Our silence is their opening. So we don't give it to them."
Marissa straightened. "We're already looking into alternative routes through Ecuador and emergency shipping lanes."
"Good," Dominic said. "I want numbers by tomorrow morning. Not ideas. Results."
As the team packed up, Peter from legal lingered. "You still want me to proceed with the NDA for the incoming consultant?"
Dominic nodded once. "She's under review. I'll decide after the first meeting."
"She has a… reputation," Peter said carefully.
Dominic's lip curled in a faint smirk. "So do I."
He stepped out of the boardroom, pulling out his phone. Three missed calls from a number he didn't recognize. One from his mother. He ignored all of them.
He didn't have time for distractions.
Not yet.
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End of Chapter 1