---- Chapter 19 Emily POV: Dallas became a media darling overnight. Her "brave survivor" story landed her on talk shows and magazine covers. She leveraged her newfound victim status into a lucrative career, becoming the face of domestic abuse charities while simultaneously signing endorsement deals for everything from makeup to diet teas. She was profiting from her own lies. Killian, meanwhile, was in freefall. His company's stock plummeted as sponsors pulled out and the public boycotted his products. He was trapped in a PR nightmare of his own making, a crisis | had been meticulously studying how to exploit. It was time to go home. Josiah and | flew back to the U.S. The moment we landed, | called a meeting with the core team of his American venture capital firm. They looked at me with skepticism-this unknown woman their boss had brought back from Paris. | didn't waste time with pleasantries. | stood at the head of the conference table and laid out the plan | had spent months perfecting. "Emerson Tech is bleeding," | began, my voice clear and ---- confident. "The Dallas Lucas scandal has shattered their public image, and my sources tell me there is significant internal conflict on the board. He's vulnerable. The empire is cracked. Now is the time to strike." Josiah looked at me, a flicker of concern in his eyes. "Emily, this is aggressive. It's risky." "It's not a risk," | countered, my gaze sweeping across the boardroom. "It's an opportunity. Killian built his empire on fear and intimidation. He bullied and blackmailed smaller companies, stole their patents, and drove them out of business. He made a lot of enemies." And | knew every single one of their names. Over the next few weeks, | worked relentlessly. | became a ghost, a whisper in the corporate world. Using encrypted communications, | anonymously contacted every company Killian had ever screwed over. | provided them with a treasure trove of evidence | had copied from his servers before | left- proof of corporate espionage, illegal patent infringement, and recordings of him threatening his rivals. The floodgates opened. A massive class-action lawsuit was filed against Emerson Tech, a coordinated attack from a dozen different companies, all armed with the ammunition | had provided. Killian's company was drowning in legal fees and scandal. As his ship was sinking, | moved on to the next phase of my plan. | quietly approached his smaller shareholders, the ones ---- panicking about their plummeting stock values, and bought up their shares for pennies on the dollar through a shell corporation Josiah helped me set up. Once | had amassed a significant stake, | did the unthinkable. | dumped it all on the market at once. The move triggered a catastrophic panic. The stock price, already fragile, collapsed completely. It was a hostile takeover in reverse-not an acquisition, but an annihilation. Three months after my return to the U.S., Emerson Tech, once the titan of the industry, filed for bankruptcy. The news showed Killian leaving the courthouse, his face unshaven, his eyes hollow. The vultures who had once flocked to his side were nowhere to be seen. He was alone, a king dethroned, his kingdom in ashes. | watched the broadcast from my new office, a sleek, minimalist space with a panoramic view of the city-a view that had once been his. Josiah stood beside me, his hand resting gently on my shoulder. "You did it," he said softly. | knew | couldn't have done it without him. His resources, his guidance, his unwavering belief in me had been the weapons | needed. | should have felt triumphant. Victorious. But | just felt... empty. ---- As if on cue, my assistant's voice came through the intercom. "Ms. Ramos? There's a Mr. Emerson here to see you. He doesn't have an appointment." | almost smiled. Of course, he did. Even at the end, his arrogance was boundless. "Send him in," | said.