War rarely begins with a single explosion.

Most of the time, it starts with suspicion—quiet, invisible, and corrosive.

Ethan felt it spreading through the company like a slow poison. Every whisper in the hall, every stiffened posture, every cautious glance in meetings told him one thing: the people around him knew something was wrong. And they were waiting to see who would fall first.

He stood in his office overlooking the city, jaw tense.

Alyssa’s revelations from the night before still echoed in his mind—Maya had been watching her long before Ethan even met her. That alone was enough to ignite every alarm inside him. But now, with the overlapping...