Camille''s point of view


    I sat in my private office at Kane Industries, watching; six screens track different aspects of my n to destroy Rodriguez Shipping. Each monitor told part of the story, stock prices, trading volumes, news alerts, media sentiment,petitor reactions, and internalmunications we''d managed to intercept. One year of meticulous preparation leading to this pivotal moment. The leather of my executive chair creaked so "Ready?" Victoria asked from the doorway, her tailored charcoal suit as impable as always. Her eyes gleamed with the predatory anticipation I''de to recognize over our months working together. "Everything''s in position." I pulled up the final numbers, watching as our algorithms predicted theing cascade. "Our traders are standing by in London, New York and Singapore. The evidence of Rodriguez three seconds."


    She moved to stand behind my chair, studying the screens with the careful attention of a general reviewing battle ns. Her subtle perfume, always jasmine with notes of sandalwood, filled the air between us. "Three different whistleblowers will contact financial reporters about questionable ounting practices at precisely staggered intervals. The evidence has already been nted in their internal systems, backdate written exposés. "If they somehow weather the safety scandal, the financial improprieties will finish them."


    My hands stayed steady as I typed finalmands into the trading system, muscle memory from countless simtions we''d run. Inside, emotions warred, satisfaction, pain, a strange kind of grief for thepa hand had been gone for months now, but sometimes I still felt its phantom weight.


    "First article just dropped," Victoria noted as alerts started shing across the primary monitor. "Wall Street Journal. ''Major Safety Concerns gue Rodriguez Shipping Fleet: Internal Documents Reveal Years I allowed myself a small, controlled smile as other notifications followed in rapid session. Reuters. Bloomberg. Financial Times. CNBC breaking news. Each one sharing damaging details we''d carefully leake "Trading volume spiking," my head trader


    reported through the speaker, his voice betraying the excitement he was trying to contain. "Up four hundred percent above normal. Major institutional investors starting to sell. ckRock just dumped twelve per On my main screen, Rodriguez Shipping''s stock chart turned bright red, the downward trajectory steepening with each passing second. Down five percent. Then twelve. Then wenty. A freefall gaining speed with frequency trading programs reacting to the negative press.


    My phone buzzed a message from our source inside thepany: Total chaos here. Stefan locked in emergency board meeting. Conference room screens showing stock copse. His father just arrived looking “Time for phase two,” Victoria said quietly, a manicured all tapping the edge


    of my desk in perfect rhythm with the declining stock ticker.


    I nodded, sending the encrypted signal to our trading team positioned around the globe. Kane Industries would start quietly buying shares through aplexwork of shellpanies, but only after driving th More alerts filled my screens in a


    cascade of digital destruction. Industry analysts questioning thepany''s future viability. Suppliers nervously reviewing contracts. Customers making backup ns with Credit agencies cing Rodriguez Ship "Thirty percent drop," Victoria noted with undisguised satisfaction, her reflection in my monitor showing the slight smile she reserved for victories. "The margin calls will start soon. Their creditors won''t wait." She was right. Rodriguez Shipping had leveraged their asses heavily for the


    Asian expansion Stefan had championed against his father''s wishes. As the stock price fell, their loan covenants would trigger, forcing immediate repayment. A cascade of financial disaster we''d carefully engine My phone buzzed again: *Stefan''s father just walked out


    of the board meeting. Never seen him so angry. Screaming about family legacy destroyed. Three generations of work ruined. Stefan looks shell-


    shocked. CFO in tears.*


    I should have felt only triumph. This was what I''d nned, systematic destruction of everything Stefan valued. But memories kept intruding unbidden. His father''s pride when giving me a tour of their gship ves receable.


    A notification from our banking contacts appeared: *Rodriguez seeking emergency credit line. Multiple rejections already.


    "Ms. Kane?" My assistant''s voice through the inte, professional


    as always despite the financial bloodbath ying out on our screens. "Mr. Rodriguez Senior is attempting to contact you directly. He''s called three times in thest five minutes." Victoria''s eyes narrowed slightly. "Desperation sets in quickly."


    "Block the calls," I replied, voice cool despite the turmoil inside. "And inform security that no Rodriguez family member is to be admitted to the building under any circumstances,"


    The financial carnage continued as more investors abandoned what was clearly bing a sinking ship. News channels began running special segments on the "Rodriguez Copse,” featuring experts we''d qu Fresh alerts flooded my screens. Rodriguez Shipping''s board had called an emergency session Rumors of Stefan''s possible removal as CEO spread through financial circles. Trading halts triggered then lifted, "Forty percent drop," Victoria announced with clear satisfaction, pouring two sses of the eighteen-


    year-


    old Macan she kept in my office for special asions. "Well done, Camille. Absolutely masterful execution."


    Lepted the ss but didn''t drink, watching instead as our source continued to provide real-


    time updates from Inside the Rodriguez headquarters.


    More messages appeared: Stefan''s office being


    cleared out Personal items in boxes. Security escorting him from building, Executive team inplete meltdown. Legal team preparing for shareholderwsuits.*


    I stared at the words until they blurred together. Remembered Stefan''s boyish pride in his family''s


    night talks about modernizing the fleet. The dreams he''d sharedte at night about expanding their legacy across new shippingnes, new countries, new possibilities. The way his eyes lit up when discussing th All ash now. All destroyed by my hand, methodically, deliberately, without mercy, just as he''d destroyed me. "Iing call from Margaret Lewis," my assistant announced through the inte, interrupting my th "Decline," I said sharply, watching Rodriguez stock hit another circuit breaker.


    Victoria sipped her whiskey, watching me over the rim of her ss with the calcting gaze that had first drawn me to her after my world copsed. "After this, there will be no going back. You understand that? "Those doors closed the moment Stefan and Rose decided to betray me," I replied, finally tasting the aged whiskey, letting it burn down my throat. "I''m simply making it official."


    "The market closes in ten minutes," Victoria said, ncing at her watch. "Tomorrow we start on their Asia division. By week''s end..."


    "By week''s end they''ll have nothing left," I cut in, watching each percentage


    point drop with a hollow satisfaction. "Isn''t that the point? Compléte annihtion?


    On screen, Rodriguez Shipping''s stock hit bottom again. Trading halted for the fourth time. Stefan''s legacy ended not with a bang but with a whimper and a lot of red numbers. The five- year chart showed a perfect cliff


    edge, everything before today rendered meaningless.


    My phone buzzed one final time. A photo from our source, Stefan being escorted out, box of personal items in his arms, face pale with shock and disbelief. The golden boy


    finally facing consequences. The heir apparent dethroned. The man who had promised me forever now facing his own sudden ending.


    I''d done this. Me. The woman he''d discarded like yesterday''s news. The wife he''d betrayed with her own sister. The inconvenient obstacle


    to his true desires.


    So why didn''t victory taste sweeter? Why did the whiskey turn bitter on my tongue? Why did the emptiness inside seem to grow rather than diminish?


    Victoria studied me carefully, her years of experience reading people picking up on my unexpected hesitation." You''re not having second thoughts, are you? After everything we''ve done to get here?" "Not second thoughts," I said, setting down my ss. "Just wondering whates after."


    "After?" Victoria raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow. "After this, we continue with the n. Rose''s fashion empire. Your mother''s social standing. One by one, we dismantle everything they value, everything, they Victoria''s sigh held years of experience, both professional and personal. "Just remember why we started this. What they


    did to you. What they deserve, How they would have continued using you if you hadn''t discovered the Truth"


    "I remember everything," I said softly, touching the screen where Stefan''s broken expression was captured forever. "That''s the problem."


    The final trading bell rang, the sound echoing through my office like a death knell. Rodriguez Shipping''s stock closed down sixty-


    two percent, the worst single-day performance in thepany''s century-


    long history. Headlines already proimed the death of a shipping dynasty that had survived wars, depressions, and global crises, but couldn''t survive my vengeance.


    I''d won. Thoroughly. Completely. Just as nned.


    My phone began buzzing incessantly, financial reporters


    seekingment, business associates offering congrattions, vultures seeking, to pick at the Rodriguez carcass, I silenced it without looking at the names


    Tomorrow would bring new targets, new strategies, new victories. But tonight... tonight I would sit alone with my thoughts, the taste


    of ash in my mouth despite the expensive whiskey, and consider what exactly came after revenge. When all the destruction wasplete, when everyone who had hurt me was brought low, what would I build f


    It was a question I hadn''t allowed myself to consider until now, focused solely on tearing down rather than building up. Perhaps it was time to start thinking beyond vengeance, beyond the all- consuming fire that had driven me these past months.


    Perhaps there was something waiting for me on the other side of revenge.