Chapter 287

• I sat motionless on the cold marble floor of the executive legacy room, my eyes wide with the dull shine of painful recollection. As my mind retraced the missteps of that disastrous expansion campaign in the Southern Corridor, reality struck like a hammer. I had walked straight into a trap one that had been obvious to everyone but me.
• Back then, I’d convinced myself it wasn’t my fault. I built reasons to mask the truth. I blamed Rafael, claiming he was orchestrating my downfall to spotlight Cassandra instead. That he wanted to rewrite the company’s narrative without me in it. That Cassandra was the favorite, the heir apparent. But now faced with the raw truth she laid bare there was nowhere left to run.
• My excuses crumbled. My self-righteous justifications dissolved into silence.