Chapter 1: The Midnight Shift
The city lights shimmered against the glass façade of the hotel as Isabella stood motionless on the sidewalk, her phone still warm in her hand. Inside, everything looked the same—guests laughing, champagne flowing, chandeliers glowing.
But beneath that polished surface, the ground was already shifting.
Within minutes of her call, a chain reaction began.
Emails marked URGENT: EXECUTIVE AUTHORITY REVIEW flooded inboxes across time zones. Senior board members, many of whom had not been contacted in years, were suddenly pulled into an emergency vote. Legal teams reopened dormant clauses buried deep within the company’s founding documents.
Clauses Marcus had never bothered to read.
Inside the presidential suite, Marcus poured himself a drink, unaware that the security system had just been remotely overridden.
At exactly 11:47 PM, the first sign appeared.
His access card stopped working.
He frowned, tried again, then laughed it off. “Technical glitch,” he muttered.
But it wasn’t.
Downstairs, the general manager received a call that changed everything.
“Effective immediately,” the voice said calmly, “all operational authority held by Marcus Hale is revoked.”
The manager went pale.
“Under whose authority?”
There was a pause.
May you like
Then one name.
“Isabella Laurent.”
