Chapter 3

The next morning, Liam sat by a quiet lake, a fishing line still in the water. He took a picture of the simple, peaceful scene on his old phone and posted it to a private group chat with his friends.

`The fish aren't biting.`

Richard was the first to reply. `That's because they know you're a shark, Liam. They're terrified!`

Olivia sent a single emoji: a thumbs-up. For her, that was a paragraph of encouragement.

David's message was more direct. `Checked the public records on Mark Patterson's company, 'Apex Innovations.' They're leveraged to the hilt. Lots of debt. One bad quarter and they're done. Whatever deal they're planning, it's a Hail Mary.`

Liam smiled. His friends were the most powerful support system a man could ask for. David, the "Legal Luminary," was a partner at the most feared law firm in the country. He had argued cases before the Supreme Court and whispered advice in the ears of senators. General Olivia commanded a global intelligence network, a woman whose quiet orders could shift international dynamics. And Richard, the "Financial Wizard," was a self-made billionaire who treated the stock market like his personal playground, famous for his eccentric personality and his ruthless ability to spot a bad investment.

They had all met years ago at a charity event they'd been dragged to, all of them feeling out of place and bored. They bonded over a shared bottle of cheap whiskey and a mutual dislike for pretentious small talk. They saw past the titles and found a common ground in their principles and loyalty.

Liam's mind drifted back, further than the divorce, to the beginning. He had met Sarah in college. She was beautiful, ambitious, and seemed to adore him. He had been a young engineer with a promising startup. Mark was his partner, his friend. Or so he thought. Mark was always there, always a little too friendly with Sarah, always making suggestions for the business that seemed to benefit him more than the company.

He' d been naive, blinded by love and friendship. He didn't see the long game they were playing.

The divorce was a blur of betrayal. Sarah had hired the most aggressive lawyers, painting him as a neglectful husband and incompetent fool. Mark had sided with her, providing a "witness" to Liam's supposed failures. They had systematically drained their joint accounts and, using a legal loophole David would later call "disgracefully brilliant," had taken control of the company he built.

At the wedding, Sarah had given a speech, her voice full of fake emotion. "I had to make a difficult choice for my daughter's future," she'd said, dabbing a dry eye. "To provide her with the stability and security she deserved, which meant finding a partner who shared those values."

The implication was clear: Liam was unstable and insecure. The lie was so blatant, so perfectly delivered, that half the room probably believed it.

What Sarah didn't mention was her family's pressure. Her parents had always looked down on Liam, seeing him as a stepping stone, not a destination. They wanted her married into old money, into real power. Mark's family, while currently struggling, had a name, a legacy. The union was a calculated merger. Sarah and Mark were trying to combine her ambition with his family name to secure a future they couldn't build on their own. They saw Liam not as a person, but as a resource to be plundered.

Thinking about Sarah's speech, the way she twisted their history into a self-serving narrative, made a familiar, cold disgust rise in Liam's throat. She had built her new life on a foundation of lies, and she had used their daughter as the primary building material. And now, she wanted more. She wanted the final piece of his past that she hadn't managed to steal.

He felt a tug on his fishing line. He reeled it in slowly. It was a big one.