---- Chapter 8 Marcus, standing beside Gloria, couldn' t help it. He let out a snort of laughter. A few of the guests, emboldened, echoed him with nervous titters. The sound rippled through the tense cavern. Kiley, who had been posing tragically by the dog cages, froze. Her face flushed with humiliation. "| have a better idea," Gloria announced, turning her attention back to Isiah. "I'm a businesswoman, after all. Let' s make a deal." She paused for effect. "| won' t hurt you. And | won't hurt her." A flicker of hope ignited in Isiah' s eyes. He looked up from the floor, his face a mess of blood and tears. Gloria snapped her fingers. The holographic projectors shut off. Kiley' s amplified voice was silenced. Isiah scrambled to his feet. "Gloria, | knew you still loved me," he said, his voice thick with relief. He took a step toward her, his expression shifting to one of earnest sincerity. "This was all a mistake. A terrible ---- mistake. It was her... she seduced me. But my heart has always, always been with you." He was trying to sell her a fantasy, the same way he sold a stock. "We can start over," he pleaded. "Kiley' s child... we can raise it together. Or she can get rid of it. Whatever you want. I' Il do whatever you want." Gloria felt a wave of nausea The man was truly soulless. He would sell his own unborn child to save his skin. The last embers of any feeling she had for him, even hatred, died in that moment. All that was left was a cold, clinical need to finish the job. She smiled at him, a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "You' re right. We will start over." The holographic projectors flickered back to life. But this time, they didn' t show Kiley' s video. They showed spreadsheets. Bank statements. Encrypted transaction logs. "Your portfolio has always been a little too successful, Isiah," Gloria said conversationally. "Even for a prodigy | trained myself. An 80% return, year after year? Impossible. Unless, of course, you' re trading on inside information." ---- The screen displayed a list of trades, perfectly timed to corporate announcements that had not yet been public. Isiah's face went from hopeful to ashen. "And then there' s the matter of your seed money," Gloria continued, her voice hardening. "The extra capital you used to leverage those trades. It wasn't from your investors, was it? It was from the Villalobos cartel." The name dropped like a stone in the silent cavern. Flow charts appeared on the screen, meticulously detailing the web of shell corporations and offshore accounts he had used to wash the cartel' s drug money. "You know how | feel about drugs, Isiah," she said, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl. She took a step toward him and, with a sudden, vicious movement, backhanded him across the face. "My father was an addict. He destroyed our family. You brought that filth into my house. Into my life." Isiah stumbled back, clutching his cheek, his eyes wide with terror. He was finished. Not just financially, but legally. He was looking at life in prison. The guests, his co-conspirators, were frozen in horror. Their names and companies were implicated in the data on the screen. One of them, a tech billionaire named Reynolds, spoke up. "I had no idea about the cartel connection, Gloria. | swear it. ---- Isiah duped all of us!" Another man grabbed Reynolds, pulling him back. "Shut up, you fool! We' re all in this together." The guests began to turn on Isiah, their faces contorted with fear and rage. He had not only ruined himself; he had dragged them all down with him. Isiah collapsed completely. He crawled on his hands and knees to Gloria, grabbing the hem of her dress. "Save me," he sobbed, pressing his face against her shoes. "Gloria, please, save me. | was wrong. | was a fool. It was just a mistake." Gloria looked down at him, her face a mask of disgust. She reached down, grabbing him by the hair, and forced his head up so he was looking at her. "You have one last choice to make, Isiah," she said, her voice like steel. On one screen, she projected the complete, unredacted file of evidence against him-enough to guarantee he would die in prison. On another screen, she showed Kiley, who was now crying in the corner of the arena. "You can only save one. The evidence, or her." ---- Kiley held her breath, her tear-filled eyes fixed on Isiah. Isiah didn' t even look at her. "The evidence!" he screamed, his voice hoarse with desperation. "Give me the evidence! Destroy it!" In "A Relationship Kept in The Dark" by CrushReel, the storyline unfolds as renowned photographer Jane finds herself drawn to the charismatic rookie model, Hector. Little does she know that Hector harbors a secret—he is actually the heir to a powerful business empire. As their romance blossoms, Hector grapples with concealing his true identity to capture Jane's heart. 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