OSWALD leaned back in his chair, rubbing his eyes as the late-night fatigue settled in. The office was quiet, the only sound being the soft hum of the air conditioner and the faint ticking of the clock on the wall. After that disturbing and disrupting call from his mother, he had been at his desk for hours, finalizing contracts and answering emails, his mind a blur of business numbers and strategy. The constant pressure of being the head of one of the country's most powerful empires weighed heavily on him, but it was a weight he had learned to carry.

As you know, Oswald had long ago given up on...