Chapter 9: Redemption Fire

The elevator ride to Marcus's penthouse felt eternal, each floor a step deeper into the unknown. I'd faced Sophia at Apex Tower that noon, her smug face twisted in triumph as she waved the doctored video like a weapon. But I'd come prepared—not with Marcus's files, but with my own resolve. I'd recorded her gloating, her admissions slipping out in venomous bursts: the fake coercion claim, the HR leak, the blackmail scheme to cripple him for good. 'He ruined me,' ...