The rumor didn’t arrive quietly.

It detonated.

Alyssa first saw it on her phone while stepping out of an elevator—her notifications flooding in so fast the screen lagged. Messages from directors. From investors. From people who hadn’t spoken to her in months.

Is this true?

We need to talk.

Why wasn’t the board informed?

She stopped walking.

Across the lobby, a television mounted above the reception desk flashed a breaking headline from a major business network.

INSIDE SOURCE CLAIMS ALYSSA CARTER PREPARING HOSTILE TAKEOVER OF ETHAN GROUP

Her name sat there in bold letters, clinical and merciless.

Alyssa felt the ground tilt beneath her feet.

“This is a lie,” she...