How a Dying Woman Rewrote Her Epilogue

This was emotional strangulation-slow, relentless, and merciless.

What's more, even when Jarrod was frantic with worry over Elodie's

disappearance, the first thing he did when he finally got through to Watts was hit "record." That tape became irrefutable evidence.

He hadn't needed to use a single act of violence against Watts.

He simply cut off every route of escape.

If Watts wanted to save himself, he couldn't return home. Setting foot on home soil would mean instant conviction-his own father wouldn't be able to shield him. But if he stayed away, he'd be forced to relinquish control of Eldrion Global. Everything he'd schemed and fought for would slip through his fingers. He'd be forced out, disgraced.

All the ambitious business empires he'd built back home-snuffed out in one blow.

He'd always been ruthless, the kind of man who'd stop at nothing. Emotions were a luxury he'd never allowed himself, except when it came to his career. That was where he'd poured every ounce of his passion. He'd always intended to seize Eldrion Global, to cement his foothold, to climb higher and higher.

He was supposed to use the Eldrion Global situation and even Jarrod's own missteps-as stepping stones onto the political stage, just like his father.

But fate had other plans.

Now, everything was destroyed in an instant.

How could Watts not be furious?

His face was deathly pale, but he understood there are winners and losers in every power struggle. It's just that his loss came at an unprecedented price.

Fleming watched Watts quietly.

of Mr. Aldridge. Watts had always been the prodigy, the golden boy who left everyone else in the dust. No one would have guessed he'd end up

that pedigree,

He'd been utterly routed.

Watts hadn't crossed paths with Jarrod, hadn't set his sights on the same grand ambitions, he

hands full cleaning

Elodie, gently taking her hand. His voice dropped to a comforting murmur. "It's over.

didn't understand all the details or how things had spiraled to this point. But she knew

legs felt weak, barely able to

his arms, carrying her protectively

pierced through Watts like a blade straight to his

shattered everything he'd ever

watching Elodie wrap her arms around Jarrod's neck, resting against

surge through the deepest

sharp and insistent, needling a heart that was supposed

one for honesty

were great enough, he could play any role,

Until today.

lost not

lost to

for power, his unspoken feelings he

all.

he truly see the bitterness and fear inside

he cared more than he'd

genuine emotion, buried deep in his pretense, had become the very weapon that destroyed