CHAPTER 94: CHAPTER 94- PRIVATE WAR

"Ah! Put me down! Someone might see!"

Janet gasped, arms tightening instinctively around Charles’s neck. They were in the middle of the company—this wasn’t exactly the place for public displays of affection, especially not from someone like Charles, who was usually all logic and control.

"No one’s watching," he murmured, turning her face toward him and pressing his lips against her earlobe. "Tell me, Miss Louis—are you jealous?"

"Who’s jealous?" she huffed, shooting him a playful glare. "Don’t flatter yourself."

Still, she hadn’t expected Elvira to show up at Black Rock Co. looking for him. Charles was her husband now—both legally and in name—and also, ironically, her brother-in-law.

"You little brat," Charles teased, wrapping his arms tightly around her slender waist. With just a bit more effort, he could easily lift her off the ground again.

The elevator dinged open—and standing right outside was Giles.

He looked like he’d been waiting a while.

The moment his eyes fell on the passionate scene inside the elevator, Giles turned away awkwardly. Janet’s cheeks flushed bright red, and she immediately pushed Charles away. He let her go, unfazed, his expression calm as ever.

Still holding her close, he walked her out of the elevator, brushing her hair gently behind her ear. "Wait outside my office," he said softly. "I’ll call you in when I’m done."

Janet nodded. She knew if Giles was here, it had to be serious.

Inside the office, Charles’s warmth vanished. He turned cold again, his voice sharp.

"So? The prosecutors and the legal team—have they all sent the notices?"

"Yes. Everything’s been drafted. Attorney Han will be here shortly as well," Giles replied, confidence gleaming in his eyes.

"Corporate espionage isn’t a light charge," Charles said, a dangerous smile playing on his lips. "Let’s see how far he thinks he can run."

The next morning, headlines exploded across every major financial paper in the country.

BREAKING: Corporate Spy Scandal Rocks ZT Group

The scandal revealed that August—formerly of Black Rock Co., now newly hired by ZT Group—had stolen confidential business documents, causing massive internal disruption. The crime had already been filed as corporate espionage, a felony. And sources claimed August wasn’t acting alone—ZT Group’s own legal agent was the mastermind behind the whole operation.

The public was stunned.

ZT Group, once the rising star of the financial world, was instantly under fire. Manfred and August were at the center of it all, and panic swept through the stock market. Shares plummeted. Investigators dove deep into ZT’s black-market trades, uncovering secret stock acquisitions orchestrated by Manfred.

The scandal ignited a financial storm.

What had once been whispered as rumor now turned into undeniable fact—ZT Group had cheated the system. And now, the company was paying the price.

Within days, the mighty ZT Group had fallen from grace, becoming a national disgrace. August was formally charged with corporate espionage, and multiple partner companies publicly sided with Black Rock Co., confirming August had tried to poach them during critical negotiations.

August had sensed it coming.

But this time... it wasn’t just his empire on the line—it was Manfred’s legacy too.

Charles stared at the newspaper in his hand, eyes sharp as blades.

Manfred? Clever, yes. But compared to him? Just a boy trying to play king in a game he didn’t understand. Charles had spent ten years in the business world. He didn’t just survive—he dominated.

Taking them down wasn’t enough. Charles wanted August ruined.

After all, that man still owed Philip... a pair of legs.

Since the scandal broke, neither August nor Manfred had been seen. Their homes were surrounded by reporters and police. Some media outlets even released blurry photos of the two men allegedly living together.

Whispers turned into headlines: Scandalous relationship exposed?

Clubbing footage of the two being "intimate" in a bar quickly went viral, turning a business disaster into a tabloid frenzy.

When Derrick read the news, his laughter echoed through the entire villa.

He laughed long into the night.

That day had finally come—Norman’s son was finished. Broke. Disgraced. Facing jail time.

But prison?

That would be far too easy.

"Charles, tomorrow is your mother’s death anniversary. Make sure you come back."

Derrick ended the call, still laughing like a madman in the study. His laughter echoed through the smoke-filled room, thick and suffocating.

The haze clung to the ceiling like a ghost.

Janet stepped into the room and immediately froze. The silhouette ahead—so familiar, so haunting—reminded her of that night. That same broad back, shrouded in shadows, made her hesitate at the door.

She knew August had been taken down. And she knew Charles had everything to do with it.

But she never asked him.

For several nights in a row, Charles had stayed late at the office. She didn’t question it. She knew what he was doing—tying up the loose ends of the storm he had unleashed.

ZT Group was finished. Their assets frozen, their reputation in shambles. The once-glorious empire had become a hollow shell overnight.

And August?

Now branded as a corporate spy, he was waiting for a prison sentence.

Janet wasn’t sure whether Charles had won this battle—but if this was the ending, if this was what it took to finally close that Chapter—then she was content.

At least they were both still alive.

That was all she could ask for.

She didn’t want Charles getting hurt. She didn’t want August to fall, either. The grudges of the previous generation shouldn’t be passed down to them. And what August owed Philip... he should pay, fair and square.

"What are you thinking about?"

Janet hugged him from behind. She hated the sight of him smoking—how the smoke always made him seem so distant, as if he were behind a wall she couldn’t reach.

"Janet," Charles said, turning to face her, his arms encircling her waist. "Tomorrow is my mother’s death anniversary. Will you come with me?"

He looked at her not just as a lover—but as the woman he wanted by his side forever.

"Mm." Janet nodded.

But a strange thought lingered in her mind.

When Charles said "mother," did he mean Allison—his birth mother—or Sienna, his stepmother?

She didn’t dare ask. She didn’t want to reopen any wounds.

To Charles, Sienna had always been his real mother. Allison had died during childbirth, and he had no memories of her—only of Sienna, who had raised him. Those memories remained vivid even now.

Every year on this day, Charles would return to Snowpeak Villa to visit Sienna’s memorial.

Coincidentally, it was also the death anniversary of his uncle—Norman.

Their ancestral tablets were kept in a secret shrine within the Elwin mansion, guarded by Derrick himself. And this year... for the first time in six years...

August had returned.

When Janet and Charles arrived at Snowpeak Villa, the first thing she noticed was the black Spyker parked in the garage.

Her heart sank.

A bad feeling crept up her spine like ice. She gripped Charles’s hand tightly, her steps growing heavier with every stride toward the house.

For once, the entire Elwin family was present. Even Philip was in the living room, seated in his wheelchair.

And then she saw him.

August.

He was facing away from her, dressed in pure white.

The moment her eyes landed on that clean, sharp silhouette, she knew.

It’s him.

While the three Derrick men stood dressed in solemn black, August’s white suit made him stand out like a ghost in daylight—so out of place, yet so striking.

And in this somber ritual...

It was clear.

He was the real centerpiece of this gathering.

Because no matter what they said, no matter what he had become—

He was the one who had loved the dead the most.