CHAPTER 1 — The Silence Before Collapse
No one in the ballroom dared to breathe.
The moment the Chairman lifted the prosthetic leg, the air itself seemed to fracture.
The woman in the crimson dress—his daughter—stood trembling, one hand gripping the edge of the marble table to steady herself. Her humiliation still hung in the room like smoke after a fire.
Across from her, the mother-in-law’s confident smirk began to fade.
“What… what is this supposed to mean?” she asked, her voice no longer sharp—just uncertain.
The Chairman didn’t answer immediately.
Instead, he walked—slow, deliberate—until he stood beside his daughter. With a gentleness that contradicted the storm in his eyes, he knelt and placed the prosthetic leg back where it belonged.
That small act shattered the illusion of power.
“You took her dignity,” he said quietly.
“And now… I take everything.”
A flick of his fingers.
That was all it took.
Behind him, security moved.
Phones buzzed across the ballroom. One by one, guests checked their screens—faces draining of color.
Accounts frozen. Properties seized. Partnerships terminated.
May you like
The empire was falling.
And it had only just begun.
