The Maybach sped dangerously along the pitch-black mountain road. The air in the car felt thick and suffocating.

Herminia rubbed her bruised, red wrists. She glared at the man beside her. "You are a lunatic."

Bradley ripped his tie off and threw it on the floor. He turned to her, eyes blazing. "You threw away your dignity for that pathetic actor?"

Herminia let out a cold, mocking laugh. "Ignacio is a thousand times better than a cheating piece of garbage like you."

Those words made Bradley snap. He lunged across the seat, grabbed her shoulders, and pinned her hard against the cold window. He squeezed her jaw, his face inches from hers. "As long as I don't sign that paper, you'll die as Mrs. Elliott."

Herminia lifted her chin, refusing to show a single ounce of fear. "I'll see you in court tomorrow."

Just as the tension hit a breaking point, Bradley's phone rang loudly. He pulled it out, annoyed. The name "Kristal" flashed on the screen.

He was about to decline, but he caught the look of absolute disgust in Herminia's eyes. Driven by dark, spiteful impulse, he hit accept.

Instantly, Kristal's hysterical crying blasted through the car's Bluetooth speakers.

"Bradley! The power went out in the apartment! Someone's banging on the door! I'm so scared!"

The muscles in Bradley's arms tensed immediately. His furious tone vanished, replaced by urgent panic. "Are you hurt? Did they get inside?"

Herminia listened to his gentle, worried voice. Her stomach churned violently. The nausea was unbearable.

"Please come back and save me," Kristal sobbed. "I only have you!"

"I'm on my way. Lock the bedroom door," Bradley promised softly.

He hung up and turned to the driver. "Turn the car around. Back to Manhattan. Now."

The driver looked in the rearview mirror, face pale and sweating. "Sir, this mountain pass is incredibly narrow. Reversing out of here will take too much time and it's extremely dangerous in the dark—"

Bradley cut him off with a glare and turned to Herminia. His eyes were completely cold.

"Get out of the car," he ordered. "I'll send another car for you after I make sure Kristal is safe."

Herminia stared at him. The middle of the night. Freezing autumn wind. A desolate mountain road with wild animals nearby.

"You're leaving me in the middle of nowhere for a phone call from that woman?" Her voice dropped to a whisper.

Bradley looked annoyed. "Kristal is in actual danger. Every second counts. I don't have time to argue with you. Just step out so the driver can maneuver safely. Stop being unreasonable."

That sentence cut the last thin thread holding her to him.

Herminia suddenly laughed out loud.

She didn't say another word. She reached over, pulled the handle, and kicked the heavy door open. Freezing wind instantly filled the car. She stepped out into pitch-black darkness. She didn't look back once.

A sharp, strange pain pierced Bradley's chest. He forced it down.

"Turn the damn car around!" he yelled.

The Maybach struggled to reverse into the narrow dirt path, tires spinning, before finally turning around and speeding away. The red taillights disappeared around the bend.

The mountain fell into dead, terrifying silence.

Herminia stood alone on the freezing asphalt, pulling her thin jacket tighter. Her body was freezing, and her heart felt like a lump of solid ice.

Herminia walked blindly along the dark asphalt. Sharp gravel bit into her bare heels, scraping off the skin until she felt the warm trickle of blood.

The wind cut across her face. She wrapped her arms around her chest, teeth chattering uncontrollably. A low howl echoed from the trees in the distance. Her stomach tightened in primal fear.

She pulled out her phone, praying for a signal. The top left corner read: No Service.

Just as despair threatened to swallow her, two blinding beams of light cut through the darkness behind her.

A silver Aston Martin slammed on its brakes right next to her. Tires shrieked, leaving thick black marks on the road.

The driver's door flew open. Ignacio jumped out, his coat half-on, chest heaving. "I threatened to call the police on his guards the second they let up. I tracked your phone's last location before it lost signal. I couldn't believe he would actually just leave you out here!"

He ran to her, eyes wide with panic and fury, and pulled her into a tight embrace.

Herminia pressed into his warmth. For a second, her composure nearly broke. Ignacio ripped off his heavy cashmere coat—still warm from his body—and wrapped it tightly around her shivering shoulders.

He guided her into the passenger seat and immediately blasted the heater to maximum. Then he got behind the wheel, gripping it so hard his knuckles popped. "That animal. I'm going to kill him."

Herminia leaned her head against the leather headrest, watching the dark trees blur past. Her voice was weak but entirely steady. "Don't say his name. It's completely over."

Ignacio looked at her. Her eyes were dry, vacant. He reached over and gently patted the back of her cold hand. "Whenever you need me, I'm here."

Herminia slowly pulled her hand away, avoiding his intense gaze. "Just take me back to the city."

The Aston Martin glided through the night. An hour later, they pulled up to the glowing entrance of a five-star hotel in downtown New York. Ignacio booked the Presidential Suite.

When they reached the door, Herminia politely but firmly refused his offer to stay. She closed the heavy door and locked him out.

She walked straight into the marble bathroom and turned the shower to the hottest setting. She stood under the scalding water, scrubbing her skin until it was red, washing away the freezing mountain air and the lingering traces of Bradley Elliott.

After the shower, she put on a thick white bathrobe and sat at the desk. She opened the hotel computer and logged into the MY Corporation internal network. She stared at the disastrous financial reports, her eyes turning cold and sharp.

She picked up her phone and dialed Anne. It was three in the morning, but Anne answered on the first ring.

"Notify all senior executives," Herminia commanded, her voice hard. "Emergency board meeting at eight a.m. sharp."

Anne paused, then let out a squeal of excitement. "Are you finally coming out of the shadows?"

Herminia looked at her reflection in the dark window. "Anna is back."

The next morning, sunlight pierced through grey clouds. Herminia stepped out of the hotel in a razor-sharp black power suit. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight knot. Her lips were painted a fierce blood-red. Four-inch stilettos clicked sharply against the pavement.

A black Rolls-Royce Phantom glided to a stop in front of her. Anne opened the back door. Together, they drove straight toward the MY Empire.

The Rolls-Royce Phantom stopped smoothly in front of the towering glass headquarters of MY Corporation. The doorman rushed to open the door.

Herminia stepped out, her presence radiating cold authority. Anne walked half a step behind her, carrying a thick leather folder.

Employees in the grand lobby stopped and stared. Whispers broke out as the striking, unfamiliar woman marched toward the elevators.

The head receptionist stepped forward to block them. "Excuse me, you need a badge—"

Anne didn't say a word. She simply held up a solid black, top-tier Board of Directors keycard. The receptionist stepped back, face pale.

They took the executive elevator straight to the top floor. Outside the double doors of the boardroom, a dozen nervous managers were pacing.

Herminia pushed the heavy wooden doors open and walked past the stunned executives. She sat directly in the center seat—the Chairman's chair.

An older, arrogant vice president slammed his hand on the table. "Who the hell are you? Get out of that chair!"

Herminia smiled. It didn't reach her eyes. She took the folder from Anne and tossed a certified document into the center of the table.

"I am the majority shareholder," she said, her voice echoing off the glass walls. "I am the founder, Anna. As of this second, I am taking over."

Dead silence fell over the room. The arrogant vice president looked at the signature on the document and started sweating.

Herminia didn't give them a second to breathe. She looked at Anne. "Read the list."

Within three minutes, she fired three top executives for corruption and faction-building. Security guards physically dragged them out of the room. The remaining executives sat frozen in terror.

Herminia leaned forward, eyes cold, and began outlining her brutal restructuring plan.

At that exact moment, a few blocks away in the Elliott Capital building, the tension in the CEO's office was thick enough to choke on.

Bradley sat behind his massive desk, eyes bloodshot. He'd spent the entire night dealing with Kristal's fake panic attacks.

Connor knocked timidly and entered, holding a red-stamped, highly classified report.

"Sir," Connor swallowed. "Madam is not on the streets. She went to MY Corporation."

Bradley frowned. "She got a job as a low-level clerk?"

Connor shook his head, hands trembling. "No, sir. She isn't working for them. We tracked her directly to the top-floor boardroom. There are internal rumors... she might be deeply connected to Anna, the mysterious founder of MY. Her exact identity is protected by top-tier encryption, but she took over the chairman's seat today."

Snap.

The expensive fountain pen in Bradley's hand broke in half. Black ink exploded across his fingers and dripped onto the Persian rug.

He shot up from his chair, snatching the report from Connor's hands. For three years, she had played the weak, uneducated housewife. She had played him for a fool.

Betrayal and rage choked him. He grabbed his phone and dialed her number again. Still disconnected.

Bradley ripped off his tie and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, staring down at the concrete jungle of Manhattan. She was slipping out of his control. Fine. If she wanted to play a business game, he would crush her with capital until she crawled back begging.

He turned around. His eyes locked onto his target like a hawk.

"Initiate a hostile takeover of MY Corporation immediately," he ordered, voice dripping with venom. "Cut off their supply chains. Block their bank loans. Back her into a corner until she comes crawling back to me."

Connor nodded quickly and rushed out.

Bradley looked back out the window, jaw clenched tight. "You can't escape me, Herminia."