“Luther!” Brielle’s voice cracked like glass, echoing through the boardroom. She stumbled in, her eyes wild, her phone clutched in her trembling hands. “Luther—he’s gone! Jaxon’s missing!”
Luther turned to her slowly, his face blank. His lips parted but no sound came out. The words just bounced around in his skull—gone, missing, gone—but his mind couldn’t hold them. Couldn’t accept them.
Brielle grabbed his arms, shaking him. “Say something! Do something! He’s GONE!”
Luther’s jaw clenched, but his eyes drifted to the laptop on the table. The one that should’ve held the investor presentation that would have secured everything. Instead, the frozen video thumbnail showed his worst secret on full display: his tangled body with Brielle’s, their moans echoing back at him from the laptop’s tiny speakers.
Brielle followed his gaze, her breath catching. She leaned over, hit the spacebar—and there it was. Their scandal in high definition.
“What the hell is this?!” she shrieked, backing away from the table like it was on fire. “Did she—did Claire send this?!”
“How the hell should I know?!” Luther roared back, finally finding his voice. “Did YOU give it to her?!”
“Of course not!” Brielle shot back, eyes flashing. She lied as she used to provoke her, but she would never admit that now everything’s in chaos. “Why would I—”
“Because you’re reckless! You’re the one who made us record it! You think this is my fault?”
Brielle’s face crumpled. She shoved him. “Your fault?! You’re the one who married her in the first place! You said she was harmless—useless and you would dispose of her for me!”
“But you were supposed to handle her! Make her stay in line! She is your best friend!” Luther shoved her back, his voice rising. “All you had to do was keep her quiet, comfort her and tell her things when we’re fighting so she would shut up, and you couldn’t even do that! Now look at this mess—she’s gone, my company’s ruined, the investors walked, our scandal is everywhere—”
“And our SON is missing!” Brielle screamed, voice raw. “What about Jaxon?! She took him—she took everything! Where is she?! She needs to be punished—she needs to pay for this!”
Their screams clashed against the boardroom’s glass walls, bouncing back at them like an accusation neither could escape.
But before they could rip into each other again, the heavy double doors swung open.
An older man stepped inside, supported by a cane but moving with the force of a hurricane. His suit was immaculate, but his eyes were like knives.
“Luther Velencia,” the old man growled—his grandfather. “You think you can hide this from me? A divorce, and a scandal?”
Luther’s back stiffened. “Grandfather—”
The old man didn’t let him finish. His cane swung, cracking across Luther’s jaw with a force that snapped his head sideways.
Brielle gasped. Then the grandfather’s hand shot out, slapping Brielle so hard she stumbled into the table.
“You,” he hissed at her. “You dared to do this? To this family? To Claire—who stood by us when you wouldn’t? She was good to us. To ME. And you? You call yourself her best friend?”
Brielle’s lip trembled. “I—I didn’t mean to—”
“I don’t care! I know the truth now, Luther! You were the reason why their company got scammed!”
Luther’s eyes widened, “No—let me explain.”
“There is no explanation now! I had given you the company thinking you will continue my legacy but you dare harm one to get on top!” He punched him again and Luther’s mind was blank from everything he had learned.
“Stop. That’s not the case now!” Brielle shrieked suddenly, voice breaking. “Please—our son, your grandson is missing! We need your help—!”
“I don’t care.” His tone sliced the air clean. “You’ve both disgraced this family. You’ve lost the company millions. You let your filth get recorded—broadcast to the world. And you hurt the only decent person in this house. Both of you—out.”
Luther’s eyes widened, his voice shaking. “No. You can’t. I’m your heir. You can’t fire me—”
“Of course I can,” his grandfather snapped. He gestured to the security guards standing just outside the door. “Drag them out. I don’t want to see either of you in this office again.”
Two guards stepped forward. Brielle broke first, shrieking curses that dissolved into choked sobs. “This wasn’t supposed to happen! Claire was nothing—she was NOTHING!”
Luther’s face twisted. He wrenched himself free from one guard’s grip and rounded on her. “Shut up! This is your fault too! If you’d kept your legs shut, we wouldn’t—”
“Oh, so it’s my fault you couldn’t keep your zipper up?!” Brielle snapped back, her mascara smearing as tears streamed down her cheeks. “You said you loved me! You said once Claire was gone—”
“Shut up!” Luther bellowed. “Why don’t you do something useful and call the police instead of running your damn mouth?!”
They were dragged through the lobby, their screams and insults trailing behind like a funeral procession for everything they’d built on lies.
Outside, Brielle’s hysteria reached a fever pitch. She paced in circles on the sidewalk, calling Jaxon’s name like he might appear out of thin air.
Luther’s phone was glued to his ear, his other hand fisting his hair. He called Claire once. Twice. Ten times. Straight to voicemail every time.
He cursed, red-faced, and punched in another number—his divorce lawyer.
“Find her! Find that BITCH and my son!” he barked into the phone. “She’s taken him—she’s kidnapping—”
The lawyer cut him off sharply. “You’re no longer her husband, Mr. Velencia.”
