Chapter 35: Alexander's Enemy

Victor Hale attacked Alexander's empire next.

Not with bullets. With banks.

By Monday morning, three Moretti shipping contracts were frozen under regulatory review. Two European partners delayed payments. A senator who had once owed Alexander favors suddenly called for an investigation into organized influence in private infrastructure.

Scarlett found Alexander in his operations room, surrounded by screens showing maps, ports, accounts, and names.

'Victor is trying to separate you from me,' she said.

Alexander did not deny it. 'He believes protecting you will make me careless.'

'Will it?'

He looked at her. 'Yes.'

The honesty unsettled her.

Luca entered with a phone in hand. 'Hale sent a message.'

Alexander took the phone. A video played. Victor Hale sat in a leather chair, smiling.

'Alexander, you always did inherit your father's tragic sentiment. Give me the Whitmore evidence, step away from the girl, and I will let your empire continue breathing.'

The video ended.

Scarlett's hands went cold. 'He wants the evidence about my accident and my mother.'

'He wants leverage buried.'

'And if you refuse?'

Luca answered quietly. 'He starts a financial war.'

Scarlett looked at Alexander. 'Can you win?'

Alexander's smile was faint and dangerous. 'I do not start wars I cannot survive.'

But survival was not the same as safety.

That night, Scarlett reviewed Whitmore shipping records and found something strange. A bankrupt logistics subsidiary her father had abandoned years ago still held customs access to several ports—ports Hale was now pressuring.

She called Alexander to her office.

'Whitmore can help unblock two of your frozen routes,' she said.

He studied the documents. 'You found this yourself?'

'I run a company now, remember?'

His eyes warmed. 'I remember.'

Together, they built a counterstrike. Whitmore's legal access would expose Hale's shell interference. Moretti's security intelligence would reveal who bribed the regulators.

At midnight, Alexander stood beside Scarlett's desk.

'You understand what this means?' he asked.

'That I am useful?'

'That you are my ally.'

Scarlett looked up at him. 'I thought I was your beloved.'

His gaze softened. 'You are both.'