~LAYLA~
The morning shattered at exactly 8:15 AM.
I was still in my robe, making coffee in the kitchen, my hair still damp from the shower, when Helena suddenly walked through the penthouse door without knocking. Her face was pale, and she was holding her phone tightly in her shaking hand.
"Layla," she gasped. "We have a situation."
Axel appeared from the bedroom, imdiately on alert. "What kind of situation?"
"Eclipse Beauty," Helena said in a shaky voice. "Our European and Asian manufacturing plants have been flagged for contamination. Multiple regulatory boards are issuing warnings and the stock is..."
"Show ," I interrupted, grabbing her phone.
The screen displayed a cascade of alerts. FDA Europe. CFDA Asia. Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. All reporting the sa thing: potential contamination in Eclipse Beauty products. Hazardous materials. Imdiate recalls recomnded.
My stomach dropped.
"This can’t be real," I whispered. "We have quality control asures. Triple checks. This is impossible."
"The news outlets are already running with it," Helena said, pulling up her tablet. "Bloomberg. Reuters. The Business Wheel. They’re all reporting the Eclipse Beauty contamination scandal. The stock opened at $127. It’s already down to $89 and dropping."
I sank onto the couch, my mind racing. "Get the quality control reports from all affected plants. Contact the heads of manufacturing. I need data, not speculation."
"Boss, I already did," Helena said quietly. "The plants are showing clean. But soone hacked into our database and uploaded false contamination logs. Logs that were backdated to look like we’ve been covering this up for weeks."
The room went cold.
"Charles," Axel said flatly.
"Has to be," Tye added, erging with his laptop. "This level of coordination, the timing, the precision, this is his work."
I stood up, pacing. "I need to go to headquarters. Now. I need to hold a press conference, reassure the board, contact our distributors..."
"No," Axel said imdiately.
I spun to face him. "Excuse ?"
"You’re not leaving this penthouse," Axel said. "This is exactly what Charles wants. He’s manufactured a crisis to force you out into the open."
"Axel, this is my company, our company!" I snapped. "Eclipse Beauty is my legacy. I built it from nothing. I won’t hide in this tower while it burns to the ground!"
"You won’t be much good to your company dead," Axel shot back.
"He’s right, Layla," Tye interjected. "Look at the data. These contamination reports are too perfect and synchronized. Charles planted backdoors in your supply chain database months ago. This isn’t about destroying Eclipse, it’s about drawing you out."
"I don’t care!" I shouted, frustration boiling over. "I have employees depending on . Shareholders who trusted . Custors who believed in my brand. I can’t be a CEO who hides while everything I worked for crumbles!"
"You can’t be a CEO if you’re kidnapped or dead," Axel countered, stepping closer. "Charles is betting on exactly this: your sense of duty, your refusal to back down. He knows you’ll sacrifice your safety for Eclipse."
"Then what do you suggest?" I demanded. "I sit here and do nothing? Watch the stock crash? Watch my reputation destroyed?"
"No," Helena said quietly. "You handle it from here. Video calls with the board. Press releases. Remote managent. I’ll be your proxy at headquarters. I’ll handle the physical presence."
I turned to her. "Helena..."
"I’m your personal assistant," she said firmly. "This is literally my job. Let do it."
Axel nodded. "We set up a command centre here. Layla manages the crisis remotely. Helena represents her at headquarters. Tye coordinates security. We don’t play Charles’s ga."
I wanted to argue. Every instinct scread at to get in that elevator, walk into Eclipse headquarters, and fight this battle in person.
But looking at their faces: Axel’s determination, Tye’s concern, Helena’s resolve, I knew they were right.
"Fine," I said tightly. "But I want live feeds from headquarters. I want updates every fifteen minutes. And Helena, you speak for me directly. No filtering, no softening. My words, understood?"
"Understood," Helena said.
The next three hours were chaos.
I set up in the penthouse office, surrounded by screens. One showed the stock ticker, Eclipse Beauty continuing its free fall. Another displayed live news coverage, reporters speculating about the "contamination scandal." A third showed video feeds from Eclipse headquarters, where employees rushed around in controlled panic.
I held ergency video conferences with the board. Marcus Sterling’s face was practically purple with rage.
"This is a disaster!" he shouted through the screen. "A complete and utter disaster! Where are you, Layla? Why aren’t you here?"
"I’m managing the crisis, Marcus," I said coldly. "Location is irrelevant, it’s results that matter, and I have results."
I pulled up the data Tye had compiled. "The contamination reports are fabricated. Our actual quality control logs show zero issues. This is a cyberattack designed to manipulate our stock price and damage our reputation. We’re coordinating with federal authorities to trace the source."
"That’s all well and good," William Chen interjected, "but the market doesn’t care about facts right now. They care about perception. And the perception is that Eclipse Beauty is toxic."
"Then we change the perception," I snapped. "Helena is coordinating with our PR team. We’re issuing statents to every major outlet. We’re offering third-party testing of all products. We’re being transparent and aggressive."
"Are you coming to headquarters or not?" Sterling demanded.
"No," I said firmly. "I’m exactly where I need to be. If you have concerns about my leadership, Marcus, feel free to voice them. But Eclipse Beauty will survive this because I won’t let it fall. Is that clear?"
Silence.
"Crystal," Sterling muttered.
I ended the call and imdiately started the next one, this ti with our European distributors. Then our manufacturing heads. Then our legal team.
Axel brought coffee at hour two. "You’re doing great."
"I’m losing," I said, staring at the stock price. "$73 and falling."
"You’re managing an impossible situation," Axel corrected. "Charles had months to plan this. You’ve had three hours."
"Unfortunately, it’s not good enough," I muttered, pulling up another report.
By noon, Helena had held two press conferences. Our PR team had issued statents on every platform. Tye had confird the cyberattack to federal investigators. But the damage was done, Eclipse Beauty’s reputation was haemorrhaging.
I sat back in my chair, exhausted and furious, watching cable news dissect my company like vultures picking at a carcass.
Axel had left to coordinate sothing with Tye in the security office. The Duke was resting in his room. I was alone with my screens and my spiraling thoughts.
That’s when the email arrived.
My laptop pinged. One new ssage from an unknown sender. There was no subject line and just a video attachnt.
My hand hovered over the mouse. I knew I should call Axel. I knew I should have Tye check whether this was safe to open. But curiosity, desperation, or maybe just exhaustion, made click.
Charles’s face filled the screen.
He looked different, older, and harder. His glasses were gone, his hair slightly dishevelled. But his eyes were sharp, calculating, and utterly cold.
"Hello, Layla," he said smoothly. "I assu by now you’ve realised what’s happening to Eclipse Beauty. Quite unfortunate, isn’t it? All that hard work, all that success, crumbling in a matter of hours."
My hands clenched into fists.
"But here’s the good news," Charles continued, leaning closer to the cara. "You can save it. All of it. The stock price. The reputation. The company you built from nothing."
He smiled, a predator’s smile.
"All you have to do is et me. Alone. I’ll send the coordinates in five minutes. You have two hours to arrive. Co alone, Layla. No Axel. No Tye. No security team. Just you and , having a civilised conversation about the future."
His smile widened.
"Refuse, and I’ll release evidence that the contamination is real, the ones that I manufactured and planted months ago. There are already dical reports, lab results, and testimonials from ’victims.’ Eclipse Beauty won’t just crash; it’ll be destroyed. Criminal investigations. Class action lawsuits. Your na will be synonymous with scandal."
He leaned back, adjusting his collar.
"Your choice, my dear. Your company’s future, or your husband’s overprotective paranoia. Two hours. The clock starts now."
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