The headline hit Ava like a slap to the face.
WOLFE HEIR IN BED WITH INTERNAL INVESTIGATOR:
Exclusive Photos Suggest Compromised Audit and Scandalous Affair
Her face. Damian's arms. The unmistakable intimacy of a stolen rooftop kiss.
Splashed across every major financial blog and gossip site.
By the time she reached Wolfe Tower, it was chaos.
The elevator to the executive floor was already locked for security. Shareholders were demanding statements. Staff gossiped in hallways. Someone actually whistled as she passed.
The moment her heels clicked into Damian's office, he was on his feet, tie loose, eyes furious.
"I should've seen this coming."
"They were watching," Ava said, breathless. "Last night. Someone followed us."
"They didn't just follow us," he muttered, tossing a printed blog onto the table. "They hacked internal emails. Look at this."
She skimmed it. Phrases jumped out:
—'Unprofessional relationship with key executive'
—'Audit bias'
—'Sleeping her way through the company'
Her stomach turned.
"They're discrediting me," she whispered.
"They're trying to destroy you," Damian corrected. "They know you're the one digging. You're the threat now."
A knock came.
Ava turned just as Eleanor, Damian's VP of Legal, stepped in, her expression tight. "We have a board emergency session in twenty minutes. They're pushing for your suspension, Ava."
Ava froze. "They can't—"
"They can," Eleanor said quietly. "If they cite compromised impartiality and reputational risk, it's within their rights."
She left, and the silence that followed was deafening.
Damian crossed to her, hands curling at her waist. "I'll shut it down. I'll go to the board. Tell them everything."
Ava shook her head. "No. If you defend me now, it proves the narrative. That I'm here because of you."
"Then what?" he asked, voice strained.
She looked up at him, pain flickering in her eyes.
"Let them suspend me," she said. "I'll be out of their sight. But not out of the game."
Damian swore under his breath. "You'll be on your own."
"I won't," she said. "Because they just told me exactly how scared they are."
And she was done playing nice.
Because if they thought she'd back down, they had no idea who Ava Sinclair really was.
Ava didn't cry.
Not when she handed her temporary badge to security.
Not when she walked past the whispering assistants.
Not even when the elevator doors closed behind her for what might've been the last time.
She smiled.
Because the storm they unleashed?
She was the lightning.
Her exit was official—"Indefinite Leave Pending Review"—but the terms didn't include a gag order. No NDA. No blocked access to public files.
That was their first mistake.
The second?
Underestimating what she'd planted before leaving.
At 2:43 a.m., she'd uploaded a duplicate of all her audit notes to an encrypted backup server—accessible only by fingerprint and voice. The Wolfe Board could scrub her from the tower, but they couldn't erase the data she now held hostage.
Let them panic.
She was already five steps ahead.
Outside, her car waited, sleek and black. As she slid in, her driver—a clean-cut man she didn't recognize—glanced at her through the rearview mirror.
"Miss Sinclair, there's someone who'd like to speak with you. Privately."
Ava's spine stiffened. "Excuse me?"
He handed her a sealed envelope.
Inside: a single line on ivory cardstock.
You want justice?
Meet me at 212 Broome Street. One hour. Come alone.
—L.
Ava's fingers tightened around the note.
She didn't know anyone with that initial.
Except…
She pulled out her phone and opened the archived Wolfe personnel records. There it was:
Lucian Monroe.
Founder, Monroe Capital.
Investor. Former Wolfe Board member. Resigned in 2019—under "health reasons." And Isabelle's fiercest internal opponent during the Meridian debacle.
Her pulse quickened.
Lucian should be an enemy.
So why was he reaching out?
Thirty minutes later, she stood in front of a low-rise penthouse that overlooked the East River. The door opened before she could knock.
Lucian Monroe was older than she expected. Elegant. Impeccable. And calm in a way that made her skin crawl.
"I've been watching," he said, motioning her in.
"I'm not here to be flattered."
"Good," he replied. "Because I'm not here to flatter. I'm here to offer you a deal."
"What kind of deal?"
"One that will destroy the Wolfe legacy."
He poured her a drink.
And smiled like the devil.
Lucian's penthouse felt more like a chessboard than a home.
Everything—every angle, every word—was calculated.
"I have information," he said, folding his hands atop a mahogany desk. "Enough to fracture Wolfe International from the inside out."
Ava didn't touch her drink.
"What kind of information?"
Lucian leaned back. "Board memos. Hidden transfers. The original contracts linking Wolfe International to Meridian's offshore accounts. All of them signed… by Gerald Wolfe."
Her breath hitched.
"You've had this all along?" she asked.
"I kept it as leverage," he said. "Insurance for a rainy day. And it appears the downpour has arrived."
"You want to take Gerald down."
Lucian's smile was razor-sharp. "I want to bury him."
Ava folded her arms. "Then why do you need me?"
"Because," he said, "my name alone no longer opens doors. I've been cast as the disgraced relic. But you? You're the rising star. The wronged one. And more importantly—you have Damian."
The words hung like a noose.
Ava's voice was ice. "I'm not going to use him."
"Not even to save him?" Lucian countered. "Because make no mistake—if Gerald feels cornered, your lover will be his first sacrificial lamb. You think that board won't turn on Damian the moment it's convenient?"
Ava's stomach twisted.
She'd seen how fast loyalty evaporated in this world.
"You help me expose Gerald," Lucian continued, "and I'll ensure the board has no reason to touch Damian. The scandal will end with his father. The company survives. Damian survives. And you? You'll have burned the king without singeing the prince."
Ava stood.
"Why now?" she asked. "Why give a damn about justice when you've sat on this for years?"
Lucian's eyes darkened. "Because Gerald had a daughter. And I had a son. Both of them are gone now, thanks to a man who plays god with people's lives. So yes, Ava. This is revenge. Beautiful, overdue revenge."
She hesitated at the door.
"If I do this," she said, "I need everything. And you stay out of my way."
He nodded once. "Checkmate is yours, Miss Sinclair. All I ask… is that you finish the game."
As she stepped into the night, wind biting her skin, Ava felt the full weight of what she'd just agreed to.
She could save Damian. Or damn him.
Maybe both.
Damian opened the door the second Ava knocked. His expression was tight, controlled—but his eyes betrayed him.
He hadn't slept.
"Where have you been?" he asked quietly.
Ava stepped in, her coat still clinging to her shoulders like armor.
"I met with Lucian Monroe."
Silence.
Not anger. Not confusion.
Just… stillness.
"You what?" Damian said, voice low.
"He reached out. He has documents, Damian. Real proof. Memos, wire transfers, signatures. Your father's fingerprints are all over the Meridian cover-up."
Damian closed the door slowly. "And you believe him?"
"I don't have to believe him. I saw it." She handed him a folder—copies Lucian had provided. "Your father let Isabelle take the fall. And if we don't stop him now, he'll come for you next."
He flipped through the documents. His jaw clenched.
"Let me guess," he said, dropping the pages on the counter. "Lucian wants you to help him bury my father and save me. A neat little fairy tale."
"This isn't a game."
"Isn't it?" he snapped. "Because from where I'm standing, you just struck a deal with the devil."
Ava stepped closer. "I did it for you, Damian. To protect you. To make sure what happened to Isabelle never happens again."
"You should've come to me first."
"I couldn't," she said. "You would've stopped me."
"Damn right I would've."
His voice cracked.
"Because you're the one person I trust, Ava. And you went behind my back."
The space between them felt unbearable. Like glass stretched thin, seconds from breaking.
"I'm still on your side," she whispered.
"Then why does it feel like you just chose his?"
Ava swallowed hard. "Because sometimes doing the right thing… means choosing the harder side."
He turned away, running a hand through his hair. "What happens now?"
"I take this to the press. I blow it wide open. Gerald falls. You're safe."
"I won't be," Damian said. "If you expose this, the fallout will still reach me. The board will never trust a Wolfe again."
She stepped forward, her voice trembling. "Then come with me. Walk away from it. We start something new. Our legacy."
He looked at her like she'd offered the world.
And then he said, "I can't."
She nodded once.
Then turned… and left.