Rose stared at theptop screen, a smile
spreading across her face as she scrolled through the photographs. The yacht had been easy to find once Herod''s investigators had traced
Alexander''s movements. Getting someone with a telephoto lens onto a nearby boat had been even easier.
"Perfect," she whispered, zooming in on a
particrly intimate image of Camille and Alexander on the deck of his yacht. Her sister, not that she deserved
that title anymore, locked in an embrace with the billionaire, their kiss leaving nothing to the imagination.
The penthouse suite Herod had secured for her sparkled with morning light, illuminating dozens of photos and documents spread across the ss table. Three empty coffee cups testified to her sleepless night Her phone buzzed. Herod.
"Are you watching the financial news?" he asked without preamble.
"No," Rose replied, still scrolling through the photos. "I''ve been busy with our little project."
“Kane Industries stock jumped twelve points after yesterday''s meeting," Herod said, frustration sharpening his voice. "Your sisterpletely dismantled my safety concerns. Made me look like a fool."
Rose switched to speaker phone and set it down. "She''s not my sister. And don''t worry about yesterday. By this afternoon, no one will be talking about the Phoenix Grid anymore."
She selected nine photos, each more damning than thest. Camille and Alexander kissing. Camille in his arms at the railing. The two of them disappearing below deck, then emergingter with unmistakable si "The photos are ready?" Herod asked.
"Better than we hoped." Rose moved them to a separate folder. "The lighting is perfect. No question about who they are. No possibility of iming they''re doctored."
She heard Herod''s approving chuckle. "And the other material?"
Rose clicked to another folder containing documents, emails, and financial records, some
real, most fabricated by the expert Herod had hired.
"All prepared," she confirmed. "The story writes itself. Alexander Pierce, using Camille
Kane to gain control of Victoria''spany through the bedroom rather than the boardroom."
"Which outlets are you sending them to?"
Rose picked up a handwritten list. "New York Spectator gets the exclusive on the photos. They''ll reach the
widest audience fastest. The financial documents go to
the Wall Street Journal and
Bloomberg simultaneously, more credible sources for that angle."
She checked her watch. "The Spectator will run the photos online at noon. The financial pieces will hit the wire services an hourter, just as everyone is talking about the scandal."
"Excellent.” Herod''s voice carried grudging admiration. “I underestimated your media instincts.”
"I lived with these people for seven years," Rose reminded him. "I know exactly how to manipte
public perception. It was my specialty, remember?"
"Don''t get too confident," Herod warned. "Your sister has proven remarkably resilient."
"She won''t recover from this," Rose said, certainty hardening her voice. "Victoria Kane values control above all else. The suggestion that
Camille ispromised by a rtionship with a business rival, letting emotions cloud her judgment, that strikes at the heart of everything Victoria believes in."
She clicked through the photos again, savoring each one. "Victoria may have epted Camille as her heir, but she''ll never tolerate
this kind of vulnerability. Not with Alexander Pierce of all people."
"Why does that name matter specifically?" Herod asked.
Rose smiled, pleased to know something Herod didn''t. "Victoria and Alexander have history. Years ago, Pierce Industries tried to acquire a shippingpany Victoria wanted. He outmaneuvered her, and Victor She pulled up another document, an old news Sessfully unlocked! looking coldly at Alexander across a
conference table. "Victoria sees him as a threat Always res
"All the better for our purposes," Herod said thoughtfully.
Rose stood and stretched, moving to the floor-to-
ceiling windows overlooking Central Park. "How much more do you need to buy?"
"With what I already have secretly through shellpanies, another fifteen percent would give me effective control," Herod replied. "The remaining shareholders are scattered, disorganized. They''ll follow whoe Rose nodded, watching a jogger far below. "And when you control Kane Industries?"
"We dismantle it," Herod said simply. "Sell off the profitable divisions, shut down the rest. Including the Phoenix Grid."
"And Camille?"
"Publicly humiliated. Professionally destroyed. Exactly what you wanted."
Rose closed her eyes, imagining the scene. Camille watching helplessly as everything she''d built crumbled. The press that had praised her as Victoria''s brilliant protégée would tear her apart as the foolish wom "What time is your meeting with the reporters?" Herod asked.
"Eleven," Rose replied, ncing at her watch. "I''m meeting the Spectator''s editor off the record at that café near Columbus Circle. He gets the exclusive photos, and I feed him quotes from ''sources close to Kar rtionship has been going on for months."
"You''re not worried about being recognized?"
Roseughed. "I''ve spent my life learning how to change my appearance. Besides, the media has forgotten me already. Six months is an eternity in their world."
She had dyed her hair dark brown and now wore it in a severe bob, nothing like her previous flowing blonde style. Thick-
framed
sses and carefully applied makeup altered the shape of her face. The transformation was soplete that she''d walked past a former client in the lobby yesterday without being recognized.
After ending the call, Rose returned to the table, meticulously organizing the materials for her meeting. The fabricated financial documents suggesting Alexander had been buying Kane Industries stock through email trail indicating he had pursued her with calcted intent, not genuine interest. The manufactured evidence that he
had previously used rtionships to gain business advantage.
None of it would stand up to serious investigation, but that didn''t matter. By the time anyone disproved the allegations, the damage would be done.
An hourter, Rose sat in the back corner of the café, waiting. She''d arrived early to secure the perfect table, private enough for a confidential conversation, but public enough that the editor wouldn''t feel trapped.
She spotted him the moment he entered, Malcolm Reed, the Spectator''s executive editor, a
man whose tabloid had once featured Rose herself in its society pages. He scanned the café, not recognizing her even as his gaze passed over her. She raised
a hand slightly, and he approached.
"Ms. Johnson?" he asked, using the fake name she''d given.
Rose nodded, gesturing to the chair across from her. "Thank you foring, Mr. Reed."
"Your message said you had information about Camille Kane and Alexander
Pierce," he said, getting straight
to business. Something that would ''shock New York society.""
"I do." Rose removed the memory drive from her purse and ced it on the table. "These photos were taken three days ago on Mr. Pierce''s private yacht." Reed picked up the drive, turning it in his fingers with caution.
"And you obtained these how?"
"That''s not important," Rose replied smoothly. "What matters is their authenticity. They''repletely unaltered. Your technical team can verify that."
"And what do you want in exchange for this... exclusive?"
Rose leaned forward slightly. "Two things. First,plete anonymity. I was never here, we never met, you found the drive in your mailbox from an unknown source."
Reed nodded. This was standard procedure for tabloid bombshells.
"Second," Rose continued, "I want you to include certain... context in your reporting."
"What kind of context?"
Rose withdrew a sealed envelope from her purse. "Background information
about Mr. Pierce''s business dealings. His history of using personal rtionships for corporate gain. The convenient timing of this affair with Ms. Kane''s sudden rise to power at Kane Industries." Reed''s eyes narrowed. "You''re suggesting Pierce is using Kane to get to Victoria''spany?"
"I''m not suggesting anything," Rose said innocently. "I''m simply providing context that your readers might find... illuminating."
Reed took the envelope, weighing it in his hand. "If these photos are what you say they are, this
will be front page. Online
232
within the hour."
"I would expect nothing less," Rose replied. "The public deserves to know when the acting CEO of one
of New York''srgestpanies ispromised by a personal rtionship with a knownpetitor."
After Reed departed, Rose remained at the table, ordering lunch she had no intention of eating. Her appetite had been reced by a humming excitement. She checked her watch: 11:47. In thirteen minutes, th website.
Her phone buzzed with a text from Herod: *Financial documents delivered to WSJ and Bloomberg. Contacts confirm they''re following up.*
Rose smiled. Perfect timing. She replied: *Photos delivered to Spectator. Expect online by noon.*
At exactly 12:01, the headline appeared:
*EXCLUSIVE: CAMILLE KANE''S SECRET YACHT ROMANCE WITH BUSINESS RIVAL*
Rose''s heart
leapt as the page loaded, revealing the most damning photo front and center, Camille in Alexander''s arms on the deck of his yacht, locked in a passionate embrace that left no doubt about their rtionship. The She scrolled down, pleasure washing through her as she took in the article. Malcolm
Reed had used everything she''d given him, framing the rtionship exactly as she''d suggested, not as a simple romance, but as a potential conflict of interest, a betrayal of Victoria Kane''s trust, a scandal that *Sources close to Kane Industries express shock at the revtion,* one paragraph read. *“Victoria Kane has always maintained strict boundaries between personal and professional rtionships,” said one insider who requested anonymity. "She would never approve of her chosen sessor bing involved with Alexander Pierce, of all people."*
Roseughed softly. She had written those quotes herself, knowing exactly how Victoria would react. Reed had swallowed them whole.
Her phone buzzed again, a notification
from a financial news app. Kane Industries stock had dropped three points in the first minutes after the
story broke. As she watched, it fell another two.
This was just the beginning. When the financial allegations hit in an hour, the real damage would begin. By market close, Camille''s reputation would be in tatters, Kane Industries stock would be in freefall, and ions About Pierce-
In the taxi back to Herod''s penthouse, she received another alert: *BREAKING: Documents Raise C Kane Rtionship*. The Wall Street Journal had published their story,plete with the fabricated emails a Rose leaned back against
the seat, closing her eyes as satisfaction washed through her. By tomorrow, Camille''s world would lie in ruins. Her professional reputation destroyed. Her rtionship with Victoria damaged beyond repair. Her r Everything Camille valued, everything she had built since Victoria rescued her from that parking garage, all of it copsing because she had dared to feel, to connect, to be vulnerable. The taxi pulled up outside Herod''s building. As Rose stepped out, her phone buzzed with yet another: Kane Industries stock had been halted after falling twenty points in a single hour.
The destruction had begun, faster and morepletely than even she had hoped. By this
time tomorrow, nothing would remain of Camille Kane''s carefully constructed new life.