Dominic's POV
My phone won't stop buzzing.
Twenty-three missed calls from the board. Fifteen from my mother. The company stock dropped another twelve percent this morning.
Kane Enterprises is dying, and I'm the one who killed it.
"Mr. Kane, we're here." My driver pulls up to a sleek building in downtown San Francisco. The sign reads: NEXUS INNOVATIONS.
M. Shadow's company. The ghost I've been chasing for a year.
"Sir, are you sure about this?" Richard, my CFO, looks nervous. "We're paying five million dollars to someone we've never met. What if it's a scam?"
"Then we're finished anyway." I straighten my tie. My hands are shaking. I haven't slept in three days.
Ever since that security breach exposed everything—the stolen patents, the offshore accounts, the lies I told investors. Someone hacked us so completely that the FBI is investigating. Our clients fled. Our partners abandoned us.
Only M. Shadow can fix this. Only she knows how.
The receptionist barely looks up. "Conference room three. Second floor."
We take the elevator in silence. Richard keeps checking his phone. My lawyer, Patricia, reviews contracts on her tablet. They don't understand why I'm so anxious.
But something feels wrong. All year, M. Shadow refused to meet me. She turned down twice what I'm paying her now. Then suddenly, three days ago, she called.
"I'll take your case, Mr. Kane. But we meet on my terms. My building. My rules."
Her voice on the phone made my chest tight. It reminded me of someone, but that's impossible.
The elevator doors open. We walk down a hallway lined with awards. "Fastest Growing Tech Startup." "Cybersecurity Innovation of the Year." "CEO Under 30 to Watch."
M. Shadow built an empire in three years. Just like I did. Except she did it from nothing, while I inherited my father's company.
Conference room three has glass walls. Empty chairs circle a long table. I sit at the head, then realize my mistake—this isn't my building. This isn't my meeting.
"Should we wait outside?" Patricia asks.
"No. She said to be here at ten. It's ten."
Ten-fifteen. Ten-thirty. My phone keeps buzzing. The board wants answers. My mother wants me to stop this meeting and "handle things properly."
But I can't handle anything anymore. I'm out of options.
At ten-forty-five, the door opens.
A woman walks in.
My brain stops working.
She's tall—heels clicking on the floor like a countdown. Her black hair falls past her shoulders in waves that catch the light. She wears a white blouse and black pants that fit like power. Her face is beautiful in a way that makes you forget to breathe.
But that's not why I can't move.
It's her eyes. Dark brown, sharp as knives, and looking at me like I'm a stranger.
I've seen those eyes before. I've looked into them across a breakfast table while barely noticing them. I've watched them fill with tears while thinking about work.
No. That's impossible.
She sets down a tablet and sits across from me. Not at the head of the table—she doesn't need that power play. She already owns this room.
"Mr. Kane." Her voice is smooth, controlled. Nothing like the soft, hesitant voice I remember. "Thank you for waiting. I had another client."
Richard starts to speak, but I hold up my hand.
I can't stop staring at her face. The shape of her jaw. The curve of her lips. The way she sits perfectly straight, like she's never doubted herself for even a second.
"Do I know you?" My voice comes out rough.
She smiles. It doesn't reach her eyes. "Everyone asks me that. I suppose I have one of those faces."
"No." I lean forward. "I've met you. I know I have."
"Perhaps at a tech conference? I speak at several each year." She opens her tablet. "But we're not here to discuss where we might have crossed paths. Your company is failing. I'm here to decide if it's worth saving."
Patricia clears her throat. "Ms. Shadow, we're prepared to meet your price—"
"Five million is pocket change for what I'm worth." M. Shadow's eyes never leave mine. "The question is whether Kane Enterprises deserves my help. Tell me, Mr. Kane—do you know why your company is collapsing?"
"Someone hacked our systems—"
"Wrong. Your company is collapsing because you're a bad leader."
The room goes silent.
"Excuse me?" My voice turns cold. Nobody talks to me like this.
"You inherited an empire and ran it like a kingdom." She leans back, studying me like I'm a bug under glass. "You ignored your employees. You stole ideas and called them innovation. You built everything on lies and arrogance. Someone didn't destroy Kane Enterprises, Mr. Kane. You did."
My face burns. "You don't know anything about me—"
"I know everything about you." She taps her tablet. "Dominic James Kane. Age thirty-four. Married once. Divorced three years ago. Your wife was named Mira Chen. You have a daughter, Lily, age seven. You gave custody to your mother because your wife was 'unstable.'"
My blood turns to ice. "How do you know about Mira?"
"I know about all my clients." She tilts her head. "Tell me, do you ever think about your ex-wife? Do you wonder where she went? What happened to that quiet, boring woman who couldn't do anything right?"
I can't breathe. Something in her voice—
She stands up slowly. Walks around the table. Stops right in front of me.
This close, I can smell her perfume. Something expensive and unfamiliar. Nothing like the cheap soap Mira used to wear.
But her eyes. Those eyes.
"Let me make this simple," she says softly, dangerously. "I can save your company. I can restore everything you've lost. But first, you need to understand something very important."
She leans down until our faces are inches apart.
"The useless wife you threw away?" Her smile is sharp as broken glass. "She became the woman who holds your entire future in her hands."
My world tilts.
No. No, it can't be—
"Hello, Dominic." Her voice drops to a whisper. "I'm M. Shadow. Though you knew me as your useless wife. The one who wasn't smart enough. Wasn't pretty enough. Wasn't worth keeping."
The room spins. I grip the table.
It's her. It's Mira.
But she looks nothing like the woman I remember. The woman who wore oversized sweaters and avoided eye contact. The woman I barely noticed.
This woman is a stranger. Powerful. Terrifying. Beautiful in a way that makes my chest ache.
"Mira?" I whisper.
She straightens up, steps back. Her face shows nothing. "You have twenty-four hours to decide if you want my help. After that, I'll watch Kane Enterprises burn."
She walks toward the door.
"Wait—" I stumble to my feet. "Mira, please—"
She turns at the door. Behind her, someone else walks into the conference room.
A man. Tall, handsome, confident. He puts his hand on Mira's back, familiar and possessive.
"Ready?" he asks her gently.
"Almost, Marcus." She looks back at me one last time. "Oh, one more thing, Dominic. Your daughter Lily? She's been asking about her mother lately. Wondering why I never visit. Victoria told her I didn't want her."
My heart stops. "That's not true—"
"Isn't it? You let them take her. You believed I was unstable. You signed every paper they put in front of you." Her eyes turn cold. "But here's the twist—I have evidence. Emails, recordings, financial records. Everything that proves you and your mother lied to the court. I could get full custody of Lily tomorrow."
Terror floods through me. "You wouldn't—"
"Twenty-four hours, Dominic. Decide if you want to save your company." She smiles. "Because if you refuse my help, I'll destroy everything—Kane Enterprises, your reputation, and your relationship with our daughter. I'll take it all, just like you took everything from me."
She walks out. Marcus follows, leaving the door open.
Through the doorway, I see them. Marcus whispers something that makes her laugh—actually laugh, bright and free.
She never laughed like that with me.
My phone buzzes. A text from an unknown number: "Look at what you lost. Look at what you could never deserve. -M.S."
A photo appears. Mira at some gala, wearing a black dress that costs more than our wedding, smiling at the camera like she owns the world.
Another photo. Mira at a tech conference, accepting an award.
Another. Mira with Lily—my daughter—taken from security footage I don't control. They're in a park. Lily is showing Mira something on a tablet. Both of them are smiling.
Mira's been watching Lily. All this time.
The final text arrives: "She knows you better than you know yourself. She always did. You were just too blind to see it. Good luck, Mr. Kane. You're going to need it."
I sink back into my chair.
Richard stares at me. "Sir? What just happened? Who was that woman?"
I can't answer. Can't think.
The wife I forgot became the weapon that will destroy me.
And the worst part?
I deserved every second of it.