Kane's POV
The glass of whiskey shattered against my office wall.
"An ARDEN?" I screamed at the empty room. "She was an ARDEN this whole time?"
My hands shook as I scrolled through my phone. Every news site. Every social media app. All showing the same thing. My wife—ex-wife—standing outside some massive mansion I'd never seen before.
Valeria Arden. Heiress. Billionaire. The woman I called useless.
My stomach twisted violently. I ran to the trash can and threw up.
Two years. I spent two years treating her like garbage. Telling her she was nothing. Cheating on her. Throwing her away.
And she could have bought my entire company with her pocket change.
"No, no, no." I paced back and forth, pulling at my hair. "This can't be real. She would have told me. She would have—"
My office door slammed open.
My mother stormed in, her face purple with rage. "KANE ALEXANDER ROWE!"
I'd heard that tone exactly three times in my life. Once when I crashed her car at sixteen. Once when I got expelled from college. This was worse than both combined.
"Mom, I can explain—"
Her hand connected with my face. Hard.
The slap echoed through the office. My cheek burned.
"You IDIOT!" she shrieked. "You absolute MORON! Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"I didn't know!" I backed away from her. "How was I supposed to know she was—"
"I TOLD YOU!" She advanced on me like a predator. "I told you two years ago there was something different about that girl! I told you to investigate her background! But no, you were too busy acting like some big shot to listen!"
Wait. "You knew?"
Mom's face went red. "I suspected! Her manners. Her speech. The way she carried herself. But you said she came from nothing, so I believed you!"
"She told me she was an orphan! She said she had no family!"
"And you never thought to verify that?" Mom grabbed my shoulders and shook me. "You married a woman you knew NOTHING about! And now look what happened! You threw away our ticket to real power!"
"Our ticket?" Anger flared through my panic. "You mean my wife?"
"Your wife who could have made us untouchable!" She let go and started pacing. "The Ardens, Kane. THE ARDENS! We could have had connections to every powerful family in the country. And you threw it all away for what? Some trollop named Sarah?"
"Don't call her that."
Mom whirled around. "Oh, I'll call her whatever I want. That woman has destroyed our family's future! Where is she, anyway? Why isn't she here supporting you?"
I hadn't heard from Sarah since yesterday. She wasn't answering calls. Wasn't responding to texts.
"She's probably busy," I muttered.
"Busy?" Mom laughed bitterly. "She's probably running for the hills now that she knows she stole a broke man from a billionaire!"
My phone rang. Finally. "It's Elias. I need to take this."
"You need to fix this!" Mom jabbed a finger at me. "Grovel. Beg. Get Valeria back before—"
I answered the phone. "Elias, thank God. The investors are pulling out and the news is everywhere and I need—"
"Kane." His voice was strange. Too calm. Almost cheerful. "We need to talk. In person."
"Can't it wait? I'm dealing with—"
"No. It can't." Something in his tone made my blood run cold. "Meet me at the warehouse in an hour. Come alone."
"The warehouse? Why—"
He hung up.
I stared at the phone.
"What did he say?" Mom demanded.
"He wants to meet. At the warehouse."
Her face paled. "Kane, no. Don't go. Something's wrong."
"What are you talking about?"
"A mother's intuition." She grabbed my arm. "Elias has been acting strange lately. Ever since you started seeing Sarah. Promise me you won't—"
"I have to go, Mom. He's my partner. Maybe he has a plan to save the company."
"Or maybe he has a plan to save himself." Her grip tightened. "Kane, please. Just this once, listen to me."
I pulled away. "I'll be fine. I'll call you after."
I left her standing in my office, fear clear on her face.
The drive to the warehouse district took thirty minutes. Old buildings. Abandoned factories. Not the kind of place for a business meeting.
Warning bells rang in my head, but I ignored them.
Elias's car was already there. I parked next to it and got out.
The warehouse door stood slightly open.
"Elias?" I called out, stepping inside.
Dim light filtered through dirty windows. Shadows stretched across the concrete floor.
"Elias? Are you here?"
"Right behind you."
I spun around.
Elias stood there, hands in his pockets, smiling. But it wasn't his usual friendly smile. This one was cold. Calculated.
"What's going on?" I asked. "Why are we meeting here?"
"Because we need privacy for this conversation." He walked past me, deeper into the warehouse. "You've made quite a mess, Kane."
"I know. But we can fix it. We can—"
"We?" He laughed. "There is no 'we' anymore. There's me. And then there's you, the fool who destroyed everything."
My chest tightened. "What are you talking about?"
He turned to face me. "Did you really think Sarah just happened to walk into your life? That she fell for your charm and business acumen?"
"I... what?"
"I sent her, Kane." His smile widened. "I introduced you two. I pushed you together. I encouraged the affair."
The world tilted. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I needed you distracted. Compromised. Weak." He pulled out his phone and showed me a document. "While you were busy playing house with Sarah, I was quietly buying up your shares in the company. Small amounts. Different names. Nothing you'd notice."
I grabbed the phone. Stared at the numbers.
He owned fifty-one percent of my company.
"No," I whispered. "That's not possible."
"Very possible. And legal. You signed off on every transaction. You were just too drunk on love to read the fine print." He took the phone back. "The company is mine now, Kane. All of it."
"You can't—"
"I already did. And here's the beautiful part." He leaned against a crate. "When the news broke about Valeria being an Arden, I realized something. You're not just a fool. You're a liability. A man stupid enough to divorce a billionaire can't be trusted with real power."
Rage exploded through me. I lunged at him.
He didn't move. Didn't flinch.
Two men stepped out of the shadows behind him. Large. Muscular. Definitely not office workers.
I froze.
"Meet my associates," Elias said casually. "They work for people you really don't want to meet. The same people Sarah borrowed money from. The same people who now own your debts."
"My debts? I never borrowed from—"
"Sarah did. In your name. With your signature." He pulled out more papers. "She forged quite well, actually. Very convincing."
My legs nearly gave out. "How much?"
"Two million dollars. With interest compounding daily." He checked his watch. "You have about a week before they start taking payment in more... creative ways."
"I don't have two million dollars!"
"I know. But Valeria does." His eyes gleamed. "Or rather, her family does. So here's what's going to happen. You're going to go to the Ardens. You're going to beg. And you're going to convince them to pay your debt."
"They'll never agree to that!"
"Then you'll die, Kane. Simple as that." He straightened his jacket. "The people I work with don't accept excuses. They don't care about your feelings. They want their money."
"You work with them?" Horror dawned. "You've been working with criminals this whole time?"
"I've been working with anyone who could help me get what I wanted. And what I wanted was your company. Your reputation. Your life." He walked toward the door. "Consider this a lesson. Never trust someone who smiles too much. And never, ever throw away an Arden."
He left. The two large men stayed, watching me.
"We'll be in touch," one of them said, his voice like gravel. "You have seven days. If we don't get our money, we start with your fingers. Then your teeth. Then we move on to people you care about."
They left too.
I collapsed onto the cold concrete, my mind racing.
Elias betrayed me. Sarah set me up. I owed criminals two million dollars.
And the only person who could save me was the woman I destroyed.
I pulled out my phone with shaking hands. Scrolled to Valeria's number. The one that probably didn't work anymore.
It rang.
Someone answered.
"Val?" I said desperately. "Valeria, please. I know I don't deserve to talk to you, but I need—"
"This isn't Valeria." A man's voice. Cold and dangerous. "This is Lucien Arden. Her brother."
I swallowed hard. "Mr. Arden, I need to speak with—"
"No. You need to listen." His voice could have frozen fire. "You have forty-eight hours to leave this city. If I see you anywhere near my sister, anywhere near my family, I will destroy you in ways you can't imagine."
"Please, you don't understand. I'm in trouble. Real trouble. Bad people are after me and—"
"Not my problem."
"But they'll kill me!"
"Still not my problem." A pause. "Actually, that might solve several issues."
"I'm begging you!" Tears burned my eyes. "I made a mistake. I know that now. But I don't deserve to die!"
"My sister didn't deserve what you did to her. But here we are."
"Please! I'll do anything! I'll sign over whatever's left of the company! I'll leave the country! Just help me!"
Silence on the line. Long and heavy.
Finally: "There might be one way."
Hope flared. "Anything. I'll do anything."
"Tomorrow night. The Grand Gala. Come and confess. Publicly. Tell everyone what you did. How you treated her. Every cruel word. Every lie. Every moment of cheating. All of it."
"I... in front of everyone?"
"In front of the entire city. On camera. Ruin yourself completely. Destroy any chance of ever rebuilding your reputation." His voice turned to ice. "Do that, and maybe—MAYBE—I'll consider keeping you alive."
The line went dead.
I sat in that empty warehouse, holding a silent phone.
Confess publicly. Humiliate myself in front of everyone.
Or die.
My phone buzzed with a text. Unknown number.
I opened it.
A photo. Sarah. Tied to a chair. Blood on her face. Terror in her eyes.
Below it: You're next.
I screamed.