Nova sat there motionless in the boardroom, all the voices around her blended into a dull buzz, all the Faces she once trusted now watched her with veined suspicion, The tension in the air was suffocating, and each polite smile seemed as though it were hiding sharpened knives.
"The shareholders are concerned," one board member was saying, "The negative press is destabilizing the company's value."
Nova kept her expression calm, though her heart was pounding heavily, She had heard it all before, The careful words and the manufactured concern, They weren't offering any help, they were just circling her like vultures, waiting for her to fall eventually.
She said with a steady voice, "This is temporary, The truth will come out."
There was a few exchanged glances, but no one said a word,
By the time the meeting ended, her hands were tram king but side her, She barely made it back to her office before the weight of it hit her.
Her phone lit up on the desk,
"Let me help, I can still fix this."
Dominic
Nova stared at the message for quite a long moment, She felt like throwing the phone across the room, all She wanted to do was scream, But most of all, she really wanted to believe him.
.
Victor arrived to the office an hour later, his face was lined with exhaustion, "It's coming," he said softly as he sank into the chair across from her, "Alicia's not finished, Whatever she's planning, it will be big."
Nova ran her hand through her hair, her fingers were trembling, "I don't know how much more I can hold together."
Victor's expression softened up, "Then let me carry some of it."
His words caught her off guard, it came as a shock to her, For a moment, the weight of everything felt unbearable,
But she just nodded,
"Thank you," she whispered under her breath,
Victor smiled faintly, but the sadness never left his eyes, He knew that they were on the edge of a collapse.
.
Later that night, alone in her penthouse, Nova stood by the window staring at the city, Her reflection stared back at her, tired and hollow, but unbroken.
She slowly exhaled, her fingers tightened,
Whatever came next, she would have to face it,
She wasn't done yet.
.
The news broke before dawn,
Nova's phone buzzed incessantly, each new alert worse than the last, the headlines flashed in bold letters across every major news outlet, there were False financial documents, and various Leaked conversations, all the Allegations of fraud were not just tied to her name, but to Dominic's as well.
She sat still on the edge of her bed, her breath could not escape her throat, Her heart was beating so loudly it that drowned out the continuous buzzing of her phone.
Alicia had struck,
This wasn't just about her business anymore, This was a plot designed to ruin them both,
Her hands trembled as she scrolled through the articles, each one more heinous than the last, it had Her photo and Dominic's Side by side underneath slanderous headlines.
The board called for an emergency meeting within the hour,
All Her investors were gone, The last slivers of trust they had disappeared overnight,
The knot in her chest tightened even more until it felt somewhat impossible to breathe.
.
Across the city, Dominic slammed his fist hard against his table, His phone also vibrated continuously, but he ignored it, his mind was already spiraling.
He knew this wasn't Nova, The evidence was fabricated, none of it was real, The timelines didn't match at all, He could see Alicia's fingerprints all over it now,
And yet the world believed it,
He couldn't let this happen, Not to her, Not again,
Without thinking, he grabbed his coat and walked out.
.
The knock at her office door snapped Nova out of her trance, She didn't need to check to know who it was,
Dominic stepped inside the office, his expression was hard, and his eyes were filled with something close to desperation.
"I didn't do this," he said quietly, "And I know you didn't either."
For a moment, neither of them moved an inch, The air between them was heavy, thick and suffocating.
Nova's voice cracked hoarsely when she spoke, "She's going to destroy both of us."
Dominic nodded once, "Not if I can help it."
For the first time, she didn't push him away,
Not fully,
They sat there side by side, the city glowed beyond the glass, and the two enemies were bound by the same betrayal,
And somewhere deep inside the cracks, something fragile began to stir.
.
Victor's heart thudded hard as he stood in front of the cameras, the press conference lights were blinding, The decision came suddenly, but somewhere deep down, he knew it had been building up for weeks,
"I stand with Nova Lin," he said firmly, "The allegations are false, And those spreading them will be held accountable."
The reporters shouted questions, Flashlights exploded, But Victor remained calm. He already knew what this would cost him, His contracts, or His image, and maybe even Luthor.
But some of the battles were worth the fallout.
.
Nova watched the broadcast from her office, her chest was filled with emotions, She did not ask him to do this, She would have told him not to, but still, he did,
For the first time in many days, something unfamiliar filled her chest, she felt gratitude.
The board's decision came about some hours later,
Suspension,
It was the Immediate removal from her position pending further investigation.
The words barely registered to her as she sat in her now-empty office, The weight of it settled slowly, she was Stripped of everything she had built.
.
Somewhere above the city, Alicia sipped some champagne, she let off a serene smile, The news played softly in the background, confirming her inevitable victory.
Nova was finished, Dominic's reputation was already tarnished and The empire was hers to shape or burn as she willed,
She had already won.
.
But elsewhere, in the stillness of her penthouse, Nova stood at the window with her arms folded across her chest, The city stretched before her, bright and cold.
She felt empty and hollow, But she not defeated,
The fight wasn't over, not yet,
Her phone lit up on the table
I'm still here, Whatever you need.
Victor
She smiled faintly despite the pain in her eyes, Her hand hovered over her phone before she put it back down.
Tomorrow, she would pick herself up again, she did it before, she can do it again.
Tomorrow, she would take the war to Alicia's doorstep, and one way or another, she would take back everything she lost,
Even if it meant breaking what is left of her heart.