The Game Behind the Throne
The Game Behind the Throne
While Ethan and Amber were living their brief breath of peace far from the world, in Vancouver the poison was beginning to seep into the walls of Venus Corporated.
Liam was reviewing the documents on the boardroom table. It was 8:00 a.m., and the main conference hall, where the board of directors usually met, was full. At the center, the representatives of Al-Qadir Holdings, the investors from Dubai, were glancing at the clock with impatience.
"Where is Mr. Rhodes?" one of them asked in an Arabic accent, looking around.
Liam forced a smile.
"Mr. Rhodes is no longer in charge of the company," he said with confidence. "As of today, the executive control falls under my direct responsibility."
Silence was immediate. One of the representatives, dressed in a gray suit with a sharp gaze, leaned back in his chair.
"That does not coincide with the agreements we signed. The contract stipulates that all negotiations would be supervised by Ethan Rhodes."
Liam nodded, with a deliberately calm expression.
"I understand, but Mr. Rhodes is going through a delicate personal situation. He cannot attend to company matters for now."
"Delicate?" the partner replied with a mocking tone. "He made us travel twelve hours for a meeting that is now invalid."
Another of the businessmen spoke up.
"Without his signature, any modification to the deal constitutes a breach. Our company does not work with substitutes."
Liam interlaced his fingers, keeping his gaze fixed on them.
"I can guarantee you that the projects will continue."
The man in the gray suit slammed his fist on the table.
"No, sir… what you guarantee carries no legal weight. If Mr. Rhodes does not respond, we consider all commercial relations with Venus Corporated terminated."
The air grew tense. Liam didn't move a muscle.
He didn’t try to stop them.
He didn’t try to negotiate.
He simply watched them stand, gather their briefcases, and walk firmly toward the hallway.
When the door closed, the silence was replaced by a slow, sarcastic applause.
"Bravo, Liam," said Ainara Rhodes, crossing her legs elegantly from the head of the table. "You just signed Venus’s death sentence."
He turned his face toward her, wearing a barely noticeable smile.
"It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?"
Ainara stood up slowly, her musky perfume barely filling the room.
"Exactly. Ethan is busy playing the perfect husband while his empire collapses." She laughed bitterly. "Sometimes life has an exquisite sense of humor."
Liam closed the folder with a dry snap.
"And what’s next?" he asked coldly. "We just lost the biggest contract of the last three years. That’s no small damage."
Ainara approached him. Her tone shifted.
"Don’t be naive, darling. This isn’t about losing… it’s about moving the pieces." She placed her hands on the table, leaning toward him. "Ethan will be left as the direct culprit of this disaster, and when the investors start demanding explanations, the board will ask for his head."
Liam watched her without flinching.
"You’re brilliant when you hate."
She smiled.
"I don’t hate him. I just learned to be like him."
He crossed his arms.
"Very well, princess. But I want to know what I gain from all this." His words came out dry, almost a challenge.
Ainara tilted her head and walked toward him with slow, deliberate steps.
"What do you want to gain?"
"What I’m owed. If I’m risking sinking the company, I want more than your gratitude."
Ainara stopped inches from him.
Her lips curved into a sideways smile.
"You know perfectly well what you can gain, Liam."
"Don’t start with insinuations," he replied, hardening his voice. "You’re pregnant, remember? I’m not interested in a woman in that condition."
She let out a short, almost amused laugh.
"Pregnant, me?" she said with feigned innocence. "Oh, darling… that was just a little story so my mother wouldn’t cut me out of the inheritance, you know how that woman is. Elena only cares about the perfect family, her stupid old-lady nonsense."
Liam raised a brow.
"So it was all a lie?"
"Of course." She stepped even closer, so close her breath brushed against his. "I’m completely available."
Liam stared at her intently, refusing to give in.
"And you’re completely insane."
Ainara smiled with malice.
"Maybe… but I’m an insane woman with access to all of Venus’s bank accounts, and Mr. Rhodes’s electronic signature."
The comment made his jaw tighten.
She noticed—and exploited the opening.
"If you help me divert the funds before Ethan returns, we can both walk away from this game with our hands full."
"And if I betray you?" he asked.
"You won’t." Her fingers grazed his cheek, sliding down to the collar of his shirt. "Because you know that with me, you can have more than money."
Liam exhaled slowly, holding back the impulse.
"You talk as if you didn’t care about destroying your brother."
"I don’t care," she answered without hesitation. "He’s always been the perfect son, the one who inherited the company, the one everyone adored. I simply learned to survive in his shadow."
Liam grabbed her arm and pulled her closer, firmly.
"And when this blows up? Because it will. Ethan isn’t stupid."
"When that happens," she whispered, touching her lips to his ear, "we’ll already be far away. With the money, with the power… and perhaps, with something more."
He released her, but didn’t step back.
"And what do you want me to do?"
"Nothing complicated. You just have to approve the fund transfer for the Venus Future Energy project. It’s over forty million dollars. You’ll divert it to a Swiss account." She pulled out an envelope and slid it across the table. "Here are the details."
Liam looked at the envelope without touching it.
"And if I refuse?"
Ainara smiled sideways, amused.
"Then, darling, let me remind you that you’re the one who signed the cancellation of the Dubai contract. If this gets out, the blame will fall entirely on you."
Silence filled the room again.
Liam pressed the envelope between his fingers without opening it.
He knew he was in up to his neck.
"You’re poisonous," he murmured at last.
"And you’re addicted to the poison," she replied, lips curling into a half-smile.
He watched her for a few seconds more. Then, without a word, he slipped the envelope into the inner pocket of his jacket.
"If this goes wrong, Ainara, I’ll drag you down with me."
"Oh, darling," she said, placing her fingers on his chest and brushing his lips with hers. "It won’t go wrong. Nothing goes wrong when I’m the one who plans it."
Liam grabbed her waist, stopping her from pulling away.
"Don’t lie to me again."
"I only lie when necessary." She looked him in the eyes. "And with you, sometimes lying is part of the game."
She stepped away slowly, leaving him there, tense, the scent of her perfume still floating between them.
Ainara turned toward the door and, before leaving, glanced back for an instant.
"Prepare the document. I want the transfer done before Friday, when my idiot brother arrives. And clean the records. I want no traces."
"And after that?" he asked, still in the shadows.
"After that," she said, opening the door without looking back, "Venus will no longer belong to Ethan Rhodes."
Liam dropped into the chair, staring at the closed envelope in his hands.
He knew they had just sealed more than an alliance.
They had signed the beginning of the end.