Morning came slow and gray, the kind of light that didn't warm just revealed.
Ashford Tower was quieter than usual. But it wasn't calm. It was that heavy silence before something breaks.
Liam stood in the executive suite, his tie hanging loose around his neck, coffee gone cold on the desk. Across from him, Charlotte adjusted the blazer on her sharp-cut pantsuit, eyes locked on the screen in front of her.
"The journalist agreed. Recorded segment, not live. They'll air it tonight prime hour," she said.
Liam gave a tight nod. "Good. Let the public see what Evelyn never will a family that won't break."
A soft knock at the door.
Vivian stepped in, coat still damp from the drizzle outside, her heels tapping softly on the marble floor.
"Daniel's safe," she said without needing to be asked. "He's with my aunt for the day. Somewhere Evelyn doesn't know."
"Good," Liam said again. But his voice softened slightly.
Charlotte slid a folder toward them. "Now, the board."
The folder was slim, but the contents weren't. Names, messages, internal memos that Charlotte's team had pieced together like forensic puzzlework.
"These are the ones closest to flipping. I say we move fast. Personal meetings. Show them the truth and what's coming if Evelyn wins."
Vivian glanced over the pages, her brow knitting. "We're really doing this."
"We have to," Liam replied. "We don't win by playing her game. We win by ending it."
Vivian looked at him. Really looked.
Not the CEO.
Not the scandal.
Just the man she once loved. Maybe still did.
"You're sure about this?" she asked.
Liam hesitated, then gave a small, steady nod. "I've never been more sure."
The day passed in a blur of hushed meetings, cautious nods, and shifting loyalties.
Some board members listened. Some stalled. A few just a few were ready to jump.
It was enough.
At least to start.
Later that afternoon, the interview aired.
Liam and Vivian, seated side by side in a sunlit studio. No theatrics. No dramatic piano music. Just them honest, raw, and prepared.
The questions were fair, but pointed.
Why the secret marriage?
Why hide Daniel?
What now?
Liam answered first, his voice low but firm. "I didn't hide my son. I protected him. From this the cameras, the headlines, the speculation. I've made mistakes, but being his father isn't one of them."
Vivian followed, gaze steady. "I didn't marry into power. I walked into a storm I didn't ask for, and stayed for the only thing that mattered: my child. And the man who, despite everything, chose to stand beside us."
It wasn't flawless. But it was real.
And the real was enough.
Public sentiment began to shift not all the way, but enough to slow the bleeding Evelyn had started.
Evelyn watched from her office, fingers drumming lightly on the edge of her chair. Her expression unreadable. Cold, composed.
She reached for her phone. Dialed.
"They're pushing back," she said.
The voice on the other end a man answered coolly. "And it's only the beginning."
Her eyes narrowed. "Then it's time we show them how far we're willing to go."
Back at Ashford Tower, Liam stood by the window again. The city buzzed, unaware of the knives drawn behind its boardroom doors.
Vivian joined him without a word.
"They're going to come harder now," she said.
"I know."
"You ready?"
Liam turned to her, a flicker of the old spark in his eyes.
"Let them come."
But even as he said it, his phone buzzed.
He picked it up. Read the message.
Paused.
"What is it?" Vivian asked.
He handed her the phone.
One name.
One word.
A new player.
Graham.
Vivian went pale.
"You said he disappeared."
"He did."
"Then why is he back now?"
Liam's jaw tightened. "Because Evelyn's losing. And she's calling in her final card."
Vivian stared at the name on the screen again Graham. It felt like a ghost clawing its way out of a grave neither of them had dared to visit.
"He shouldn't be here," she whispered. "Not after what he did."
"He's Evelyn's last leverage," Liam said, eyes distant. "If she's pulling him in, she's more desperate than we thought."
Charlotte entered at that moment, sharp-eyed, sensing the tension. "What's wrong?"
Liam passed her the phone.
She read the name, and her brow arched. "Graham. That's... unexpected."
Vivian looked between them. "Does he still have access? To Ashford systems, anything?"
Charlotte shook her head. "He was wiped from the official channels years ago. But unofficially? If Evelyn's shielding him, he could be a ghost in the system."
Liam moved toward the center of the room, voice measured but grim. "We need to find out what Evelyn's promised him. Graham doesn't come back for nothing not after the way he vanished."
"And when we find out?" Vivian asked.
Liam didn't hesitate. "We make sure he regrets ever coming back."
The hours that followed moved like a siege.
Charlotte's team dug into old data caches and buried communications. There were whispers of offshore meetings, encrypted calls, ghost shell companies.
By midnight, they had a lead.
"Graham's been operating through a shadow firm," Charlotte reported. "Corporate espionage, asset siphoning. It looks like he's targeting Ashford subsidiaries now using shell contracts to drain capital, redirect funds..."
"Bleeding us from the bottom up," Liam said. "Classic Graham."
Vivian crossed her arms. "We expose him."
"We will," Charlotte said. "But carefully. If we move too fast, we tip our hand. Evelyn will cover his tracks before we can make anything stick."
"So we trap him," Vivian said. Her voice was steady now sharper than earlier. "Let him think he's winning."
Liam turned toward her, a flicker of admiration in his eyes. "You've changed."
Vivian looked at him without flinching. "You think betrayal doesn't teach you how to fight?"
The next morning, Liam and Vivian walked into Ashford's boardroom like generals.
Several key members were already seated. Charlotte was at the far end, her laptop open, every screen tuned to pulse points around the company.
Vivian passed out folders each one filled with evidence: Cara's betrayal, Evelyn's manipulation, and now the early signs of Graham's infiltration.
Liam didn't give a speech. He didn't need to.
He just laid it bare.
"This is what Evelyn's been doing. And this" he flipped the last page "is who she's brought in to finish the job."
Silence rippled through the room like a shockwave.
One director leaned forward, brow furrowed. "You're saying Graham… is active again?"
Charlotte nodded. "And with your help, we'll corner him before he finishes the job."
"What do you want from us?" another asked.
Vivian stepped in. "Your voices. Your votes. And a little backbone."
That earned a few sharp looks, but none of them spoke up to deny her.
The tide was turning.
Finally.
Later, as the city sank into dusk, Liam stood with Charlotte in the operations hub, overlooking the glowing skyline.
"He won't go down easy," she said. "Graham never does."
"I know," Liam replied. "But this time, he won't disappear. This time, we finish it."
Vivian's voice crackled over the comms from Daniel's secured location. "You'd better, Ashford. Because if anything touches our son again I don't care who it is I won't wait for the board to act."
Liam smiled faintly. "Noted."
Charlotte shut the laptop with a sharp click. "Then let's draw him out."
And far away, in a darkened office bathed in quiet blue light, Graham tilted back in his chair as a new file loaded on his screen.
Liam's voice. Vivian's. Ashford's fragile recovery.
He smiled slow and razor-thin.
"Let's begin."