Chapter 3

The next morning, Ava stood in front of the mirror in her walk-in closet. She bypassed her usual muted, professional attire and chose a striking crimson dress. It was a power color, a statement. She put on her makeup with a steady hand, a mask of composure she did not feel. Today, she was not just Ava Reed, the wounded CEO. She was the head of Zenith Designs, and she would project nothing but strength.

The lobby of her office building was a war zone. A mob of reporters and cameramen swarmed the entrance, shouting questions like a barrage of gunfire.

"Ms. Reed, is it true Zenith stole the Odyssey Spire design?"

"What's your comment on the unsafe materials allegations?"

"Is your company going bankrupt?"

Her security team formed a tight wedge around her, but the noise was deafening, the flashing lights blinding. She kept her head high, her expression unreadable, and walked through the chaos without breaking her stride.

She had called a press conference. Her PR team had advised against it, urging a written statement instead. But Ava knew she had to face this head-on. Hiding would look like guilt.

The company auditorium was packed. Every major news outlet was there, their cameras pointed at the empty podium on the stage. When Ava walked out, a hush fell over the room, followed by a fresh explosion of camera flashes. She stood at the podium, took a moment, and looked out at the sea of faces.

"Good morning," she began, her voice clear and steady, amplified by the microphone. "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions. Let me start by making a few things clear."

"First: Zenith Designs did not steal any intellectual property from the Sterling Group. The opposite is true. The Nexus Tower is the product of thousands of hours of work by my brilliant team, and we have the evidence to prove it. The lawsuit against us is a malicious and fraudulent attempt to sabotage a competitor."

"Second: The allegations about unsafe practices at our construction sites are completely baseless. They are part of a coordinated smear campaign, designed to create panic and damage our reputation. We have always adhered to the highest safety standards, and all our materials are certified and tested."

"Third," she said, leaning slightly forward, her eyes scanning the room, "Zenith Designs is not going bankrupt. We are not weak. We will not be intimidated. This attack on our company is an attack on innovation and fair competition. We will fight it, and we will win."

A reporter from a well-known financial channel stood up. "Ms. Reed, your former assistant, Liam Stone, has been identified as the source of the leak. Can you comment on your relationship with him and how this catastrophic security breach happened under your watch?"

It was the question she had been dreading, the one that mixed the professional with the personal.

"Mr. Stone's betrayal was a profound one, on many levels," Ava said, meeting the reporter's gaze without flinching. "He abused a position of trust. We have since terminated his employment and are pursuing all legal options. As for our security, we have already identified and rectified the vulnerability he exploited. This will not happen again."

She handled the next barrage of questions with the same direct, unwavering confidence. She was in control, steering the narrative back from the brink. A sense of hope began to flicker within her team, who were watching from the side of the stage.

Just as she was about to conclude, her new assistant, a sharp young woman named Chloe, rushed to the side of the stage, her face pale. She held up a phone, her eyes wide with alarm.

Ava wrapped up the conference quickly and met Chloe backstage. "What is it?"

"It's the Nexus site," Chloe said, her voice trembling slightly. "There's been an incident. A crane... it malfunctioned. A steel beam fell. No one was seriously hurt, thank God, but the construction union is calling an immediate work stoppage, citing safety concerns."

The carefully constructed calm Ava had built shattered. A crane malfunction. It was too much of a coincidence. This was sabotage. Real, physical sabotage. It was no longer just a war of words and lawsuits. The Sterling Group was escalating, and people could have been killed.

She pulled out her phone, her fingers flying across the screen. "Get the site manager on the line. I want a full report. And get our head of security. I want him to go over that crane with a fine-toothed comb. Check the maintenance logs, the operator's record, everything."

"The police are already on site," Chloe added.

"Good," Ava said, her jaw tight. "Tell our legal team to cooperate fully."

She walked back towards her office, the adrenaline from the press conference replaced by a cold dread. The weight of it all pressed down on her-the lawsuit, the media, the board's panic, the sabotage, and underneath it all, the aching throb of Liam's betrayal.

She reached her office and closed the door, finally letting her shoulders slump. Her head throbbed. The confident mask she wore for the world was gone, leaving only a tired, stressed woman fighting a war on too many fronts.

The company was bleeding. Investors were on the verge of pulling out, her employees were terrified, and her enemy was proving to be even more ruthless than she had imagined. The news about the crane was spreading like wildfire, validating the very smear campaign she had just tried to debunk. It was a masterful, devastating blow.

She sank into her chair, the crimson dress now feeling less like armor and more like a target. For the first time since this ordeal began, a sliver of despair pierced through her anger. How could she fight an enemy who played by no rules? How much more could she, and her company, take?