(Isobel's Point Of View)
Etienne took a breath, and I watched him transform. Not into someone fake or media-trained, but into something raw and honest that made my chest ache.
"I was suffocating," he said. "My father had just died, and suddenly I was responsible for an empire I never wanted. My stepmother—Vivienne—she had other plans. Plans that didn't include me actually running anything."
The words fell like weight; the room contracted around them. Margaret leaned forward, fingers folding over the tablet as if to steady herself against what she was about to hear. "What kind of plans?"
"The kind that involved undermining every decision I made, turning the board against me, and slowly draining the company's assets into accounts I couldn't track." His voice was steady, but I could feel the tension in his hand. "I had evidence. I was going to expose her. And then..."
"And then?"
"And then I realized she'd kill me if I stayed."
