Chapter 28
After that, I walked out. Didn’t even wait for a response.
The ripple hit fast. By sundown, three other investors had pulled their funds. A week later, seven more followed. Then the media got wind, and that’s when the bleeding began.
Massaro Pharmaceuticals stock tanked like a plane with no wings. Sixty–five percent and falling like gravity owed me a favor. Their PR team scrambled, but it was like trying to mop up blood in a hurricane.
And me? I started buying. Quiet. Clean. I used shell corps, offshore fronts, even borrowed a few names from ghosts I buried years ago. I bought out every minor shareholder they had until I had enough votes in my back pocket to start pushing boardroom changes.
One of my guys asked if I was trying to sink their ship.
I said, “I’m not just sinking her ship. I’m buying the goddamn ocean.‘
Then the phone rang.
Torren.
I let it ring twice before picking up.
“You fucking bastard,” he growled. “Are you doing all this because of Therese? You think I don’t see through this? You’re ruining everything. The company. My family’s legacy-”
I cut him off. “Why don’t you ask your mother why she tried to kill my bride.”
He went quiet for a second.
Then the shouting started.
“You son of a bitch! You’re bluffing. My mother wouldn’t! She wouldn’t. You’re just using Therese as an excuse to tear us down.”
leaned back in my chair, calm as ever. “You sure about that, Torren? Because I’ve got a dead driver, a wrecked car, a witness, and a name. Want me to send you the file? Or are you too much of a coward to look at what your mother’s capable of?”
“She’s not-”
“She is,” I snapped. “And you know it. Deep down, you always knew your family was rotten. You just didn’t have the balls to say it out loud.”
Torren started cursing again. Furious, manic, threatening lawsuits and board interference
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and restraining orders like any of that could touch me.
I let him scream until he ran out of breath.
Then I said, “She tried to end the woman I love. I’m ending her instead. And if you get in my way again, I’ll bury you right next to her.”
I hung up before he could say another word.
Fuck lawsuits. I don’t play by courtroom rules.
I play by blood.
**
TORREN’S POV
I stormed into the Langford estate with my fists clenched and my blood boiling. My phone hadn’t stopped ringing for hours… lawyers, board members, press. Everyone was screaming. Everyone’s panicking. The stock was still in free fall. Forty percent. Thirty–two. Twenty–eight. My empire was bleeding out in real time.
The fucking doors weren’t even locked. I shoved them open so hard they cracked against the wall and echoed down the halls. Servants scattered like rats. No one dared speak. Just wide eyes and silence and the heavy thud of my shoes slamming against marble.
I followed the trail of lavender and sunlight and found her.
My mother.
Eloise fucking Massaro. Sitting in the sunroom like we weren’t drowning. Sipping tea like we weren’t hours from collapse. Orchids bloomed all around her, pale and perfect. Next to her, Ruby stood up when she saw me and smiled like she thought I came for her.
“You came-”
I grabbed the nearest vase worth of billion and hurled it at the floor. It shattered right in front of her feet. Sharp white pieces flying across the tiles.
Ruby screamed and flinched, stumbling back. The smile vanished.
I pointed straight at my mother and roared, “You fucking tried to kill her.”
Eloise didn’t even blink. She just sipped her tea and looked out the window.
“You had her car rammed off a fucking cliff?! She’s in a coma, and now Ephraim Lambert is tearing everything apart!”
She set her cup down, calm as ever.
“Damn that woman. She’s still alive? I should’ve hired someone more competent.”
My vision went black for a second. I slammed my fists on the table and it rattled under my hands. I wanted to flip it over. I wanted to burn the whole fucking house down.
“Because of what you did, we lost ninety–five percent of our investors. We are two days,
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two fucking days, from bankruptcy!”
Her hand froze in the air. The teacup tilted, just slightly.
“What?”
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I looked her dead in the face.
“Ephraim is gutting us. Every deal, every ally, every backdoor pipeline we ever had. He’s using our own shares against us. And you!” I dragged a hand through my hair. “You gave him the reason. You handed him the damn match and begged him to burn us.”
She hesitated. Then her eyes shifted.
“It wasn’t me,” she said too fast. “It was her. It was Ruby’s idea.”
She turned her icy stare to Ruby, who looked like a deer about to be shot.
“She said silence was the only option. She said Therese had to be dealt with.”
Ruby stepped forward, wide–eyed and trembling. “What? No! No–I said we should watch her, not kill her!”
I turned toward her, jaw clenching.
“You told me she would ruin everything if she woke up. You said she’d drag us all down.”
Ruby shook her head, her voice pitching high. “Torren, baby, please! Listen to me, I didn’t mean it like that, I meant…”
I didn’t let her finish.
I grabbed her by the throat and shoved her hard against the glass wall. Her feet barely touched the ground and her hands clawed at mine.
“You killed her,” I said through gritted teeth. “You killed everything.”
Her eyes filled with tears. Her face turned red as she choked.
Behind me, Eloise finally spoke.
“Control yourself, Torren. Ruby is pregnant with your child.”
I didn’t even turn around. I kept my hand on Ruby’s throat and stared into her panicked
eyes.
“If Therese dies,” I said slowly, “you’ll wish I
left you dead beside her. I don’t give a shit if you’re carrying my child or not. I will end you.”
I let go.
Ruby dropped to the floor coughing and gasping for air. Her makeup was smeared and tears ran down her face.
“It’s not me,” she sobbed. “It’s your mother. She planned it. Please, I never wanted this!” I turned away from her and faced Eloise again. She still hadn’t moved.
“You fix this,” I said. “Or I will walk into Ephraim’s office myself and hand him your fucking
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RUBY’S POV
