Power did not make Alexander cruel.
Betrayal did.
He sat at the head of the long conference table, back straight, face carved in calm stone.
Screens lined the walls, frozen on the headline that had nearly ruined the twins' peace.
BILLIONAIRE'S SECRET CHILDREN.
CUSTODY DISPUTE UNDERWAY.
And beside that headline: Victoria Hayes.
His ex-fiancée.
His former ally.
His ghost.
Damian stood beside him, tablet in hand, the only person Alexander trusted inside the war room of his empire.
"You're sure we have everything?" Alexander asked, voice low.
Damian hesitated.
"Alexander, once we execute this, there's no salvaging her career. It will destroy her entirely."
The room was empty except for them, the calm before controlled annihilation.
Alexander's jaw tightened.
"She tried to take my children," he said quietly.
"That is unforgivable."
Not loud.
Not dramatic.
Just truth.
He tapped the folder in front of him:
LUCENT HOLDINGS – UNDISCLOSED ACCOUNTS
OFFSHORE SHELL CORPORATIONS
MONEY LAUNDERING TRAIL: 3 YEARS
Victoria's crimes weren't impulsive.
No. They were curated.
Planned.
He knew all of it, long before the war began.
He had spared her.
Because once upon a time, she had loved him, or whatever she believed love to be.
But Victoria crossed a sacred line.
She targeted Selene.
She threatened the twins.
In Alexander's world, there were limits.
Even power bowed to morality.
"Begin."
Damian nodded once and sent the encrypted packet.
Within seconds…
The Board's phones lit up.
Government compliance servers pinged.
Legal departments across three countries opened their eyes.
Alexander watched the chain reaction unfold in real time.
A board member texted him:
Is this real? Tell me this is fake.
Another:
She forged our signatures??
Damian's screen chimed.
"Sir…" he murmured, eyes widening. "Her accounts are freezing."
Alexander leaned back, expression unreadable.
"She wanted to take something priceless from me."
A pause.
"So I'll take everything she ever pretended to earn."
Meanwhile in Victoria's office…
Glass thundered as Victoria slammed her laptop shut.
"What did you do?!"
Alexander's face appeared on the office monitor, cool, emotionless, a king addressing a pawn.
"I chose to stop protecting you."
Her laugh was sharp, unraveling at the edges.
"You're bluffing. You would never expose me. You cared…"
"No," he cut in, voice steady. "I tolerated you."
Her breath caught.
"You're destroying me for her."
"No," he said, and the gentleness in his tone frightened her more than anger.
"I'm protecting my children."
Victoria's façade finally cracked, mascara smeared, breath trembling.
"You should have been mine," she whispered.
Alexander shook his head once.
"A crown forced is a cage."
Then he delivered the final blow.
"You will sign the withdrawal of your custody claim, or I will testify, publicly and under oath, about everything you orchestrated at Lucent Holdings."
Victoria's knees weakened.
"Alexander… please…" Victoria started to beg. But Alexander stern response has gave her tremor. She knew she had crossed the line so fiercely.
"No."
Just that.
A refusal so complete that the room seemed to tilt.
He leaned forward, eyes cold with unwavering conviction.
"You will never come near Selene again.
You will never speak to or about my children again.
If you even breathe wrong in their direction, I will finish what I started."
Victoria knew then that she had not lost to Selene's gentleness.
She had lost to his mercy running out.
Back at knight industries headquarters…
Damian exhaled. "It's done. She signed."
Alexander closed the file. He slowly tacked away the file with finality and precision. He drew a sigh of relief knowing that the family he has been keeping, protecting in the only way he knows can now finally feel the security he'd been longing to give. And he looked in the far distant where the city buzz with the only chaos it breathes, and knows about.
Not with triumph.
But with finality.
"She made war on my family," he said softly.
"I made sure she can never wage another."
He stood, adjusting his suit jacket.
"What will you do now?" Damian asked.
Alexander looked toward the windows, the city gleaming below, the future sharp and fragile ahead.
"I'm going home."
A pause.
"To earn back what matters."