The week blurred.
Steel was bleeding from every corner. Some losses were quiet—unnoticed until the end-of-day reports. Others were loud: public crashes, pulled investors, meetings that ended in silence and slammed doors. The once-proud name of her family’s company now sat on headlines with words like crisis, fraud, and collapse.
Alex didn’t remember the last time she slept eight full hours.
She and Luca worked side by side every day, sometimes without exchanging more than a few words, both too focused on the numbers drowning their empire. Luca looked older—lines carving deeper into his face, his shoulders tense even when he sat. But he never wavered. Never complained.
Neither did Alex.
They were drowning together. But at least they weren’t drowning alone.
Every night, the office lights stayed on long after everyone else left. Alex would sit at her desk, the glow of her computer casting shadows across her face, reviewing figures that never stopped bleeding red. Her back ached, her fingers cramped from typing, but she didn’t stop.
She couldn’t.
Because if she stopped, Steel would fall. And if Steel fell, everything else would go with it.
***
Arthur called on a Wednesday evening.
The sun had long since set, and Alex was still in the executive suite, surrounded by files and untouched coffee. She pressed her phone to her ear, voice raw with fatigue.
“Tell me you have good news,” she said.
Arthur’s voice was steady, but grim. “Not quite. But maybe... an opportunity.”
She didn’t say anything.
He continued. “David and I talked. We’ve been revisiting the evidence. The patterns. We think the proof we need is still in the Hale estate. Possibly in the lower wing. It’s always been locked tight.”
Alex leaned back in her chair, heart thudding quietly. “You tried once already.”
“We almost made it,” Arthur admitted. “But we also almost got caught. And it'll be harder to get in second time for us. So...”
Alex already knew where this was going.
“You want me to go in.”
“You’re Zade’s fiancée,” Arthur said. “No one would stop you. No one would question it. And with all the focus on Steel right now, it’s the last thing the Hales would expect.”
A long silence stretched between them.
Alex’s fingers tapped lightly against the desk.
She could still feel the weight of the forged contract Arthur had shown her. The way her stomach turned when she realized how close Zade was to owning her family’s legacy.
“I’ll think about it,” she said finally, her voice quiet.
Arthur didn’t push. “Call me if you decide.”
***
It was past eleven when Alex finally left the building.
The air outside was sharp, the city hushed in that eerie stillness just before midnight. She wrapped her coat tighter around herself, her heels echoing on the pavement.
Then she stopped.
Zade was standing across the street.
Hands in his pockets, coat unbuttoned, head slightly tilted like he’d been waiting a while. The shadows didn’t hide him. They never did.
Alex didn’t move.
Neither did he.
Eventually, he crossed the street.
“We need to talk,” he said quietly.
“I don’t have the energy for another fight.”
“It’s not that kind of talk.”
She hesitated, then nodded once.
They walked. Side by side. Not touching. Not looking at each other. The street was empty. Just streetlights and silence. Zade didn’t speak for a full minute. Then, his voice broke through the quiet.
“I want to help you.”
Alex turned her head sharply.
“What?”
“I’ve been watching,” he said. “I know how badly the company’s bleeding. You and your father can’t patch that on your own.”
She narrowed her eyes. “And suddenly you care?”
“I’ve always cared,” he replied. “You just never believed it.”
“No,” she said, her voice low. “Because every time I did, I regretted it.”
Zade stopped walking.
Alex did too.
He looked at her—really looked at her. Not with his usual smirk, not with the arrogance or the cold calculation. Just... tired eyes. And something else beneath the surface.
“I can get you a bridge loan,” he said. “A discreet investor. The kind that won’t draw attention or require press statements. Just enough to stabilize the drop.”
Alex folded her arms. “And what do you want in return?”
“Nothing,” he said. “Not yet.”
“That’s not comforting.”
“I’m not trying to be comforting.”
She stared at him, every nerve on high alert.
“This isn’t you,” she whispered. “You don’t just offer help without a game behind it.”
“Maybe I’m changing,” Zade said. “Or maybe I’m still a monster. Pick whichever lets you sleep.”
The corner of her mouth twitched. Not quite a smile. Not quite hate.
He extended his hand.
Alex stared at it.
Then slowly, she shook it.
His hand was warm. Solid. And for one breathless second, it didn’t feel like an enemy’s hand at all. It felt like someone who’d been walking next to her all along—never truly beside her, never truly gone.
Zade released her hand and took a step back.
“Don’t ask too much,” he said, his voice quieter now. “Before I change my mind.”
Then he turned and walked into the night.
***
Alex stood in the middle of the street, watching his silhouette fade beneath the streetlights.
Her heart was still hammering.
It wasn’t love. God, no.
But it wasn’t hate either.
Maybe that was the problem.
She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out her phone. It rang for a while before Arthur answered.
His voice was gruff. “Alex?”
She stared ahead, her breath misting in the cold.
“I’ll do it tomorrow,” she said.