Chapter 3: The Slow Decay
The next morning, Mark Stevens woke up with a headache and a vague sense of unease. He told himself it was just the stress of the night before. He walked into his kitchen, intending to make coffee, but his phone wouldn't stop buzzing.
He checked his email. Termination Notice.
He frowned. He logged into his company portal. Access Denied.
He called his boss, trembling with anger. "Hey, what is this? I've been with the firm for six years!"
"Mark," his boss’s voice was hollow. "I don't know what you did, but the parent company, Thorne Global, just launched a forensic audit. They found the offshore accounts. They found the money you skimmed. The police are on their way to your office to arrest you, and my lawyers have told me to distance myself from you immediately."
Mark dropped the phone. The floor seemed to sway beneath him.
But it wasn't just his job. He went to check his bank accounts. Frozen. He went to his car in the driveway. It had been towed—repossession, citing a missed payment that he knew he hadn't missed.
He was being erased.
It was systematic, brutal, and terrifyingly efficient. Every asset he had, every credit card, every social media account, every digital footprint he possessed was being dismantled. He had treated Elena as a "charity case" who had nothing. Now, he was the one who had nothing.
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He sat on his couch, his home feeling like a prison. He realized then, with a jolt of pure, unadulterated fear, that he had messed with the wrong woman. He had mocked her for having no family, but he had failed to realize that she was the daughter of a titan.
And titans didn't just fight; they crushed.
