Chapter 215
Lucien’s tone was velvet smooth when he finally spoke. “Wrong name, Zhao.”
A sharp pause. “Lucien?”
“Good morning,” Lucien drawled. “Though it seems some people never learn when to stay silent.”
There was a tremor of disbelief on the other end. “Why do you have her phone?” Ethan demanded. “Put her on...”
Lucien’s patience thinned to a blade. “You’ve taken enough from her,” he said quietly. “Her time. Her peace. Her trust. And yet you still think you can talk your way into her life again?”
Ethan’s voice cracked. “You don’t know what happened, Feng. You don’t know what I...”
“Oh, I know,” Lucien cut in, his tone silken but edged with steel. “I know that the Zhao empire is crumbling under its own weight. I know your father is too busy blaming you to see the rot he caused. And I know,” ...he glanced down at Serena’s sleeping form, his voice dipping lower, darker... “that the only reason your name still echoes anywhere is because I haven’t finished burying it yet.”
Silence. Then a shaky breath on the other line.
“You’re threatening me?” Ethan muttered.
Lucien’s smirk deepened. “No. I’m promising you. The Zhao name will be nothing but a footnote by the time I’m done, and I’ll make sure the world knows exactly who brought it down.”
Ethan’s breath caught. “You... you can’t...”
But Lucien was already done. “Have a good one, Zhao,” he said, voice cold enough to cut. “You’ll need the strength for what’s coming.”
He ended the call with a calm swipe of his thumb and placed the phone back where it had been.
For a moment, the only sound was the steady rhythm of Serena’s breathing.
Lucien sat there, eyes lingering on her peaceful face, his anger cooling into something quieter, something protective.
He exhaled slowly, leaned forward, and pressed a kiss to her temple. “No one disturbs you,” he murmured. “Not anymore.”
Then he rose, finally pulling himself from the bed, every movement composed and deliberate, a man ready to keep his word.
Ethan sat there in the half dark of his penthouse, his phone still pressed uselessly to his ear long after the call had ended.
The line was dead.
But the voice, Lucien’s voice, still rang in his head like the echo of a gunshot.
“The Zhao name will be nothing but a footnote by the time I’m done.”
His throat felt dry. He tried to swallow, but even that felt heavy, like something was lodged deep inside.
His hand, the one holding the phone, trembled faintly. He hadn’t even realized it until he saw the reflection of his own shaking fingers in the dark glass of the window.
Outside, the city pulsed, cars moved, lights blinked, people lived. But inside, Ethan Zhao felt the walls closing in.
He lowered the phone slowly onto the table, the sound of it clicking against the marble unnaturally loud. His chest tightened. For a few long seconds, he didn’t breathe.
Lucien Feng wasn’t bluffing.
He never bluffed.
Ethan knew that better than most.
He’d seen men crumble after crossing him, business titans, politicians, investors who thought they could play in the same league as the Fengs. But they all ended the same way, stripped, ruined, erased.
And now, that threat had a target.
Him.
Ethan ran a hand through his hair, pacing the length of the living room. His mind was a storm, memories colliding with regrets. Serena’s face haunted him in every reflection, every shadow.
Her voice.
Her eyes that used to light up when she looked at him.
The way she had believed in him once.
“Damn it…” he whispered, gripping the edge of the couch until his knuckles turned white.
He’d ruined everything.
Serena. Lila. The company. His name.
And now, Lucien was coming for what was left.
He stopped by the window, staring down at the city. The skyline used to give him power, now it just mocked him.
The Zhao empire, the family legacy his father had bled to build, was slipping through his hands.
His father’s words from the night before echoed cruelly.
“If you don’t fix this, Ethan, you’ll destroy us all.”
Fix it.
How?
He’d already lost Serena, the only person who might have cared enough to listen. He’d already been exposed, the truth about Lila’s fake pregnancy spreading like wildfire.
And now, with Lucien’s threat, the ground beneath him felt like it was cracking open.
He pressed his palms to the cold glass and closed his eyes, trying to steady himself.
But behind his eyelids, all he could see was Serena, the way she’d walked away with that quiet, unflinching dignity.
And Lucien beside her now, the man who had everything Ethan had ever wanted to be.
Power.
Control.
Her.
His breath came shallow.
“Serena…” he whispered. “If I could just go back...”
But it was too late.
The media, the investors, the board, everyone was already watching the Zhao name sink like a ship too heavy with lies.
A vibration against the table jolted him, another message, another notification. Probably more bad press. He didn’t even check.
Instead, Ethan sank onto the couch, burying his face in his hands.
He’d destroyed the one woman who could’ve saved him. And now, the man she loved was about to destroy him in return.
The empire his father built was slipping away. And this time, there was no one left to blame.
Only himself.