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Chapter Sixteen – Enemies in Heels: A Powerful Rival Enters the Game

The skyline blinked in steel and ambition, but down below, in a glossy conference room atop a rival tower, someone else was plotting to tear it all down.

Her name was Victoria Vance.

And she didn’t like losing.

---

The Queen of Vortex

Victoria wasn’t just a competitor — she was the other billionaire tech queen in town. CEO of Vortex Capital, media darling of the finance world, and a frequent cover star of Forbes and The New Yorker.

Where Tina Rowe was bold, Victoria was venomous.

Where Tina built things, Victoria acquired and absorbed them.

And right now, Victoria had Tina in her crosshairs.

“She’s weakened,” Victoria told her executive team, heels clicking as she circled the table. “The fake relationship was cute. Good for headlines. But now she’s distracted, emotional, sloppy.”

One executive, a nervous man in thick glasses, spoke up. “Actually, ma’am, her last earnings call—”

Victoria turned slowly.

He shut up.

She smiled. “We move forward with the plan.”

She pointed to the folder labeled: RoweTech Acquisition Targets.

“If she bleeds,” Victoria said, “we buy everything she can’t protect.”

---

Meanwhile – Tina’s Office

Tina wasn’t bleeding.

Not yet.

But she was watching her back.

Ever since Jonathan’s betrayal, she’d been working 16-hour days, fortifying every department, locking down her partnerships, and quietly whispering to Dani, “If anyone so much as breathes in the direction of Vortex, I want to know before they inhale.”

But what she didn’t know was this:

Victoria already had a man inside.

---

Malik’s World – Peace Interrupted

Malik had been doing better.

A new job at a mid-size creative firm downtown. Writing taglines, helping with copywriting, even making enough to stop eating ramen every other day.

He liked it.

He liked not depending on Tina for everything.

She didn’t ask him for much. But still, the headlines made him feel like luggage — some accessory in her meteoric life.

Until the job got weird.

One afternoon, he was pulled into a sleek corner office by a woman in a scarlet dress.

“Malik Carter, right?” she said, holding a tablet.

“Depends who’s asking,” he joked.

She smiled.

“I’m Petra Lane. I run strategy here. And I hear you’ve been... quite close with Tina Rowe.”

Malik tensed. “You hear wrong.”

“No need to be shy. We all read the tabloids.”

She handed him a file. “We’re considering a pitch for RoweTech’s upcoming campaign. Since you’ve got... insight into her brand, we thought you could lead the draft.”

He opened the folder. It was filled with RoweTech’s data — ads, branding, and sensitive details.

Too sensitive.

“This seems... deep,” he said.

Petra’s smile widened. “Play your cards right, and you’ll move fast here.”

Malik didn’t like it.

Something felt off.

But the paycheck had commas.

And he was tired of being “the broke guy who dated a billionaire.”

---

Dani’s Discovery

Back at RoweTech, Dani was neck-deep in server logs and employee movement charts.

She was running surveillance like a low-key CIA agent, and it paid off.

She flagged a flurry of background data requests — all leading back to an ad agency called Farrow & Lane.

“Who the hell are these guys?” Dani muttered.

Then she saw it: Petra Lane. Co-founder. Former Vortex strategist.

And now, she was working with... Malik.

---

The Confrontation – Tina and Malik

That night, Tina met Malik at her apartment.

He brought tacos.

She brought smoke.

“You working with Petra Lane?” she asked, mid-bite.

Malik blinked. “Uh, yeah. She’s one of the execs at my firm. Why?”

Tina sat forward. “Because she’s Vortex. Victoria’s girl.”

He froze. “What?”

“You’re feeding my rival without knowing it,” Tina said, voice sharp. “They’re using you.”

Malik’s face tightened. “I didn’t know. I swear—”

“You should’ve,” she snapped. “You’re smarter than this.”

There was a pause.

The first real silence between them that wasn’t romantic or teasing — it was thick, bruising.

Malik set the tacos down. “So what now?”

“I need you to quit,” she said, standing. “Tonight.”

He stared at her.

“No.”

Tina’s eyes widened.

Malik said, slower this time, “You don’t get to control my life just because I kissed you in front of the internet. I worked hard for this job.”

“And I’ve worked hard for my entire company!” she fired back. “And you just handed intel to the one woman trying to destroy it!”

“I didn’t know!”

“But you should’ve asked!”

He stood, breathing hard.

She looked like she wanted to cry. Or scream. Or both.

Malik shook his head. “I thought we were partners in this fake thing.”

“We were never fake,” she said softly. “That’s the problem.”

He walked out.

The tacos sat untouched on the counter.

---

Back at Vortex

Victoria smiled as she watched Petra’s report roll in.

Tina and Malik — fractured.

RoweTech — vulnerable.

She sipped her wine and whispered to no one in particular:

“Checkmate, darling.”

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End of Chapter Sixteen.