Aiden Knight's POV
The silence that follows Zachary's threat stretches like a taut wire ready to snap. Victor's face has gone ashen, the full weight of what just happened hitting him like a physical blow. Ten years of business relationships, decades of built trust, destroyed with a single phone call.
"You son of a bitch," Victor whispers, his voice barely audible.
Zachary adjusts his cufflinks with casual indifference. "Business is business, Victor. You made your choice when you aligned with this pretender."
The journalists are eating this up, their cameras capturing every moment of what they believe is my public destruction. I can already see tomorrow's headlines writing themselves in their eager expressions.
"Zachary, you don't understand what you're doing," Victor says, desperation creeping into his voice.
