NovelStartChapter 38
Camille's point of view
| sat in my private office at Kane Industries, watching; six screens track different aspects of my plan to destroy
Rodriguez Shipping. Each monitor told part of the story, stock prices, trading volumes, news alerts, media
sentiment, competitor reactions, and internal communications we'd managed to intercept. One year of
meticulous preparation leading to this pivotal moment. The leather of my executive chair creaked so "Ready?"
Victoria asked from the doorway, her tailored charcoal suit as impeccable as always. Her eyes gleamed with the
predatory anticipation I'd cto recognize over our months working together. "Everything's in position." |
pulled up the final numbers, watching as our algorithms predicted the coming cascade. "Our traders are standing
by in London, New York and Singapore. The evidence of Rodriguez three seconds."
She moved to stand behind my chair, studying the screens with the careful attention of a general reviewing
battle plans. Her subtle perfume, always jasmine with notes of sandalwood, filled the air between us. "Three
different whistleblowers will contact financial reporters about questionable accounting practices at precisely
staggered intervals. The evidence has already been planted in their internal systems, backdate written exposés.
"If they somehow weather the safety scandal, the financial improprieties will finish them."
My hands stayed steady as | typed final commands into the trading system, muscle memory from countless
simulations we'd run. Inside, emotions warred, satisfaction, pain, a strange kind of grief for the compa hand had
been gone for months now, but sometimes | still felt its phantom weight.
"First article just dropped," Victoria noted as alerts started flashing across the primary monitor. "Wall Street
Journal. 'Major Safety Concerns Plague Rodriguez Shipping Fleet: Internal Documents Reveal Years | allowed
myself a small, controlled smile as other notifications followed in rapid succession. Reuters. Bloomberg. Financial
Times. CNBC breaking news. Each one sharing damaging details we'd carefully leake "Trading volspiking,"
my head trader
reported through the speaker, his voice betraying the excitement he was trying to contain. "Up four hundred
percent above normal. Major institutional investors starting to sell. BlackRock just dumped twelve per On my
main screen, Rodriguez Shipping's stock chart turned bright red, the downward trajectory steepening with each
passing second. Down five percent. Then twelve. Then wenty. A freefall gaining speed with frequency trading
programs reacting to the negative press.
My phone buzzed a message from our source inside the company: Total chaos here. Stefan locked in emergency
board meeting. Conference room screens showing stock collapse. His father just arrived looking “Tfor phase
two,” Victoria said quietly, a manicured all tapping the edge
of my desk in perfect rhythm with the declining stock ticker.
I nodded, sending the encrypted signal to our trading team positioned around the globe. Kane Industries would
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtstart quietly buying shares through a complex network of shell companies, but only after driving th More alerts
filled my screens in a
cascade of digital destruction. Industry analysts questioning the company's future viability. Suppliers nervously
reviewing contracts. Customers making backup plans with Credit agencies placing Rodriguez Ship "Thirty percent
drop," Victoria noted with undisguised satisfaction, her reflection in my monitor showing the slight smile she
reserved for victories. "The margin calls will start soon. Their creditors won't wait." She was right. Rodriguez
Shipping had leveraged their asses heavily for the
Asian expansion Stefan had championed against his father's wishes. As the stock price fell, their loan covenants
would trigger, forcing immediate repayment. A cascade of financial disaster we'd carefully engine My phone
buzzed again: *Stefan's father just walked out
of the board meeting. Never seen him so angry. Screaming about family legacy destroyed. Three generations of
work ruined. Stefan looks shell-
shocked. CFO in tears.*
I should have felt only triumph. This was what I'd planned, systematic destruction of everything Stefan valued.
But memories kept intruding unbidden. His father's pride when givinga tour of their flagship ves replaceable.
A notification from our banking contacts appeared: *Rodriguez seeking emergency credit line. Multiple rejections
already.
"Ms. Kane?" My assistant's voice through the intercom, professional
as always despite the financial bloodbath playing out on our screens. "Mr. Rodriguez Senior is attempting to
contact you directly. He's called three times in the last five minutes." Victoria's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Desperation sets in quickly."
"Block the calls," | replied, voice cool despite the turmoil inside. "And inform security that no Rodriguez family
member is to be admitted to the building under any circumstances,"
The financial carnage continued as more investors abandoned what was clearly becoming a sinking ship. News
channels began running special segments on the "Rodriguez Collapse,” featuring experts we'd qu Fresh alerts
flooded my screens. Rodriguez Shipping's board had called an emergency session Rumors of Stefan's possible
removal as CEO spread through financial circles. Trading halts triggered then lifted, "Forty percent drop," Victoria
announced with clear satisfaction, pouring two glasses of the eighteen-
year-
old Macallan she kept in my office for special occasions. "Well done, Camille. Absolutely masterful execution."
Laccepted the glass but didn't drink, watching instead as our source continued to provide real-
tupdates from Inside the Rodriguez headquarters.
More messages appeared: Stefan's office being
cleared out Personal items in boxes. Security escorting him from building, Executive team in complete meltdown.
Legal team preparing for shareholder lawsuits.*
| stared at the words until they blurred together. Remembered Stefan's boyish pride in his family's
company during our first dates. His passionate late-
night talks about modernizing the fleet. The dreams he'd shared late at night about expanding their legacy
across new shipping lanes, new countries, new possibilities. The way his eyes lit up when discussing th All ash
now. All destroyed by my hand, methodically, deliberately, without mercy, just as he'd destroyed me. "Incoming
call from Margaret Lewis," my assistant announced through the intercom, interrupting my th "Decline," | said
sharply, watching Rodriguez stock hit another circuit breaker.
Victoria sipped her whiskey, watchingover the rim of her glass with the calculating gaze that had first drawn
closed the moment Stefan and Rose decided to betray me," | replied, finally tasting the aged whiskey, letting it
burn down my throat. "I'm simply making it official."
"The market closes in ten minutes," Victoria said, glancing at her watch. "Tomorrow we start on their Asia
division. By week's end..."
"By week's end they'll have nothing left," | cut in, watching each percentage
point drop with a hollow satisfaction. "Isn't that the point? Compléte annihilation?
On screen, Rodriguez Shipping's stock hit bottom again. Trading halted for the fourth time. Stefan's legacy ended
not with a bang but with a whimper and a lot of red numbers. The five- year chart showed a perfect cliff
edge, everything before today rendered meaningless.
My phone buzzed one final time. A photo from our source, Stefan being escorted out, box of personal items in his
arms, face pale with shock and disbelief. The golden boy
finally facing consequences. The heir apparent dethroned. The man who had promisedforever now facing his
own sudden ending.
I'd done this. Me. The woman he'd discarded like yesterday's news. The wife he'd betrayed with her own sister.
The inconvenient obstacle
to his true desires.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm
So why didn't victory taste sweeter? Why did the whiskey turn bitter on my tongue? Why did the emptiness
inside seem to grow rather than diminish?
Victoria studiedcarefully, her years of experience reading people picking up on my unexpected hesitation."
You're not having second thoughts, are you? After everything we've done to get here?" "Not second thoughts," |
said, setting down my glass. "Just wondering what comes after."
"After?" Victoria raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "After this, we continue with the plan. Rose's fashion empire.
Your mother's social standing. One by one, we dismantle everything they value, everything, they Victoria's sigh
held years of experience, both professional and personal. "Just remember why we started this. What they
did to you. What they deserve, How they would have continued using you if you hadn't discovered the Truth"
"I remember everything," | said softly, touching the screen where Stefan's broken expression was captured
forever. "That's the problem."
The final trading bell rang, the sound echoing through my office like a death knell. Rodriguez Shipping's stock
closed down sixty-
two percent, the worst single-day performance in the company's century-
long history. Headlines already proclaimed the death of a shipping dynasty that had survived wars, depressions,
and global crises, but couldn't survive my vengeance.
I'd won. Thoroughly. Completely. Just as planned.
My phone began buzzing incessantly, financial reporters
seeking comment, business associates offering congratulations, vultures seeking, to pick at the Rodriguez
carcass, | silenced it without looking at the names
Tomorrow would bring new targets, new strategies, new victories. But tonight... tonight | would sit alone with my
thoughts, the taste
of ash in my mouth despite the expensive whiskey, and consider what exactly cafter revenge. When all the
destruction was complete, when everyone who had hurtwas brought low, what would | build f
It was a question | hadn't allowed myself to consider until now, focused solely on tearing down rather than
building up. Perhaps it was tto start thinking beyond vengeance, beyond the all- consuming fire that had
driventhese past months.
Perhaps there was something waiting foron the other side of revenge.
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