Chapter 24 Web of Deceit
Gregor's POV~
I paced with the crushed note in my fist”Your moves are observed”.
When I had found it an hour ago and read it, its jagged script had taunted every step of mine.
The black sedan that had followed me through Seryne’s rain-slicked streets last night was gone, but its shadow hung in my memory. Somebody was getting close—Valenticia, Stefan, or a player I had yet to identify.
My pulse thrummed.
I’d made my way to the brink of seizing control of Clawford Corporation, but the higher I climbed, the more the ground moved from under me.
Victor Galden’s call had been a tightening noose this morning. "Get rid of the heiress," he had snarled. “She’s a liability.” Galden had been not just a partner, but a predator, and I had attached myself to him. The money I had been shipping to Nexus Ventures his cover for the Clawfords' takedown was supposed to guarantee that I stayed on top. But then his silence afterward scared the hell out of me, an absence where promises had been.
The door creaked and Natasha slithered in. Her lips twisted into a brilliant red bow, but her eyes were cold. “Done,” she said, throwing a tablet on the table. “Doctored emails are already flying around. Valenticia's name dropped in connection with embezzlement. The board’s whispering already.”
I took a peek at the screen, a fake chain of emails that portrayed Valenticia as a criminal stealing millions. “You’re sure this is going to work?” I asked, my voice low.
She smiled and propped herself against the wall. “The board wants a scapegoat. They’ll eat her alive.”
I agreed, but worry stirred in me. Natasha’s reasons were a mess — vengeance on Valenticia, yes, but her relationship with Dmitri might destroy our bargain. “Keep your focus,” I warned. “No distractions.”
Her laughter was sharp. “Don’t lecture me, Gregor. We both want her gone.”
I looked away, thinking about some months ago. Rosanna’s voice still echoed her favoritism a wound that never closed. “Your sister’s the future of Clawford,” she’d said, her gaze never wavering. As if I were invisible. I was the oldest… the strategist, but Rosanna had invested her faith in Valenticia. That fuelled my ambition and drew me to an alliance with Galden.
It made me prepared to steal the Clawford heritage to take control of it. I’d been a ghost in my own family, but not anymore.
The memory melted away when I folded the note and stuffed it in my pocket and reached for my coat. “I’m going to arrange an interview for Clawford Corporation,” I said. “Vance has updates.”Natasha’s eyes narrowed. “Be careful, Gregor. Stefan’s still alive.”
My jaw tightened.
It should’ve been that attack in Stefan’s penthouse that brought him down, but Vance’s report had verified he’d survived. Even worse, he had been sniffing around Nexus Ventures. Stefan was a mad dog, crazy for me.
The ride to Clawford Corporation was a blur.
Vance sat in my office, his wiry body coiled, his eyes sliding to the door. “Stefan’s digging,” he whispered. “New Dream’s got people asking questions about Nexus's bank transfers, shell companies.”
I sat back in my chair, my fingers tapping the desk. “Then we divert him. Plant misleading information. Have New Dream track down in a dead end, some offshore account with a rival. Keep Stefan chasing ghosts.”
Vance nodded and scribbled in a notebook. “I’ll handle it. But there’s some gossip ongoing. Valenticia’s allies are mobilizing. Elaine’s been snooping around our records.”
Elaine.
Valenticia’s faithful follower.
A pain in the ass I should have seen coming.
Natasha’s voice interrupted my thoughts as she walked in unannounced. “Target her friends,” she spat. “Start with Elaine. A scandal — leaked documents, an affair, anything to bring her down.”
I looked her in the eyes measuring the risk. “Do it,” I said. “But make it clean. No traces back to us.”
Natasha grinned like a predator. “Consider it done.”
I waved off Vance, going over the thoughts in my head. A staged audit could be the end of Valenticia—“expose” her embezzlement and pressure the board to vote her out. It would be me stepping in as the hero, the only Clawford left capable of leading. But Galden’s silence chewed at me; a reminder that in all of this, I was no more than a pawn. Had I underestimated him? The thought alone was scary.
I walked to the window.
There was my reflection, a man made of meanness, carrying an ambition Rosanna had never comprehended. Valenticia was all that stood in the way, and I’ll bring her down to take what’s mine.
Natasha's voice shattered my reverie. “You’re brooding again. It doesn’t suit you.”
I brushed her off, my mind still on the audit. “We’re asking for the board’s trust,” I replied. “Push the embezzlement narrative more. You know, leak it to the press if you have to.”
She tilted back her head and studied me. “And if Galden demands more? He’s not patient, Gregor.”
“Then we give him what he wants,” I snapped. “Valenticia’s head in a platter,” it says.
Natasha laughed. “Careful. You’re beginning to talk like him.”
I looked away.The safehouse note, the tailing car, Galden’s price. I wanted something I could control, something to outplay all of them. The rooftop was clear, its emptiness scary. I took the elevator up, the city’s wind cutting sharp against my face as I stepped outside. Seryne lay beyond me, a place I had lived in, since childhood. The audit would be my ploy, a public eroding of Valenticia’s credibility. I’d call it a revelation, make Rosanna sit and watch her darling heir tumble.
The moment shattered when my phone buzzed. An anonymous text, Vance Is Compromised. My blood turned cold immediately. Vance compromised? The one man who’d done my bidding without question? I held onto the railing, my thoughts spinning. Had Stefan turned him? Valenticia?
I stared at the streets beneath and the sight of the city felt like a mockery to me. And that's when it happened, suddenly I caught sight of him. In an alleyway near the building. He was passing a file off to a hooded figure. My most trusted pawn, Vance, had betrayed me. I’d believed he would never. Could have even an empire on the belief — in his loyalty, and he’d betrayed me.
I ran towards the staircase and climbed with anger.
I needed an answer and for this, Vance would answer.
His double cross, his deceit. I’ll squeeze the truth out of him, and learn who he was working for. The elevator was slow; I went down the fire escape, the metal hollering beneath my boots. The alley was close, and Vance’s betrayal was even closer.
As I approached him, a drone buzzed overhead. It’s camera glinting, capturing what I did on video.