Moments later, The delivery arrived at the Isabella estate just as the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long, skeletal shadows across the driveway.
A courier in a crisp black uniform handed the box to the maid, who brought it into the sitting room where the family sat in a suffocating silence.
Charles snatched the box, his heart hammering against his ribs.
He hoped that maybe it was from the A&D company.”
“Yes!
” He said.
“I knew they wouldn’t just cancel the contract just like that! This must be them.”
He ripped the lid open.
The room went cold.
Nestled in white silk were a dozen black withered roses, their petals so withered and dark, they looked like velvet dipped in ink.
There was no note, but tucked into the stems was a small, tarnished silver charm—a broken locket that Charles hadn’t seen in a while…..
Ms. Isabella gasped, her face draining of all color.
“It…
it can’t be.”
“Who dare send this rubish to the Hudsos?” Charles growled, slamming the box onto the mahogany table.
At that exact moment, the aluminum glass door of the Boardroom at the glass tower swung open.
The directors, men who had spent their lives the city’s wealth, fell silent as the click of heels echoed against the marble.
Eva walked in, her presence commanding the oxygen in the room.
She didn’t sit in the vacant chair at the side, she walked straight to the head of the table, the seat belonging to the Chairman.
“Gentlemen,” she said, her voice smooth and dangerous.
“I believe you’ve been looking for the person who liquidated your offshore holdings this morning.”
One older director stood up, his face red.
“This is a private meeting!
You can’t just—”
“I can,” Eva interrupted, tossing a thick folder onto the table.
“I own the debt your company accrued in the third quarter. I own the land some of your homes are built on. And as of five minutes ago, I own the votes to dissolve this board.” She paused, then rotated her glare at the dumpstamed men.
“I own 60% of the companies share, so my decisions, my rules!”
“My name is Eva Hudson, though some of your associates might remember, right Mr Jones? I’m not here to talk about me.”
She paused, a chill settling over the room.
“I’m here to discuss evictions.”
The silence in the boardroom was so thick it felt physical.
Eva remained standing, her palms flat on the mahogany table, watching the “titans of industry” squirm like insects under a microscope.
The first to break wasn’t the oldest or the loudest.
It was Director Martin Epstein, a man known for his iron nerves and even colder heart.
His hand trembled as he reached for a glass of water, the ice clinking violently against the crystal.
“Eva Hudson?…” Epstein whispered, the name tasting like ash in his mouth.
“You’re the daughter in-law of…of the Hudsons.”
“The very lady you made fun of and pushed her outside when she had applied for a job in here,” Eva corrected, her voice dropping an octave.
“The one that you mad to spend a night in prison with charges of malicious damage just because she couldn’t accept to sleep with you, Mr Epstein. Don’t you fuckin remember? Cause I do. I’ve memorized every word that you spoke that day.”
Epstein’s face turned a sickly shade of grey.
He looked around the table for support, but the other directors were staring at their feet, terrified that Eva’s gaze would land on them next.
” I was just following Ms Isabella’s orders!” Halloway blurted out, his voice cracking.
Nothing personal!”
Eva let out a short, chilling laugh that didn’t reach her eyes.
She leaned in closer to him, her expensive perfume masking the scent of his fear.
“Nothing personal is when you don’t harm a soul. Retribution is when you trade souls,” she whispered.
“And yours is the first one I’m collecting.
You have thirty minutes to vacate your office.
My security team is already clearing your desk.”
“You can’t do this!” Halloway shrieked, finally snapping.
He stood up so fast his chair flipped over.
“I built this firm!
I’ll call the police, I’ll call—”
“Don’t bother, they are currently staring at a box of dead flowers and a broken locket,” Eva said, standing tall and smoothing her dress.
“They are too busy mourning their own future to save yours.”
Epstein collapsed back against the wall, his breathing ragged.
The other directors watched in horror as the man who had once been the city’s most feared financier crumbled into a sobbing mess. This story is hosted at g.com.
Eva turned her gaze to the rest of the table.
“Who’s next? Or shall we move straight to the asset seizures?”
Epstein didn’t wait for the security team to arrive.
He stumbled out of the boardroom through a side service exit, his heart hammering a frantic rhythm against his ribs.
With trembling fingers, he pulled a burner phone from his pocket and dialed a number he had memorized years ago for emergencies just like this.
“Pick up, damn it, Charles… pick up,” he hissed into the receiver.
On the third ring, Charles’s voice crackled through, sharp and impatient.
“Mr Epstein?
I’m in the middle of a crisis here.
This isn’t a good time.”
“You don’t understand!” Mr Epstein whispered, his voice cracking with terror.
“The ‘business elite’—the woman you’re looking for—she’s here. She’s in the boardroom right now. Charles, it’s Eva Hudson, your ex wife.”
There was a sudden, deafening silence on the other end of the line.
Charles’s breathing became heavy, audible.
“Eva?
That’s impossible.
She’s gone.
You told me yourself she will disappeared once she enters Mr Alphab ‘s mansion, You said she was handled.”
“Well, she wasn’t handled well enough!” Epsty snapped, his eyes darting toward the closed door as he heard heavy footsteps in the hallway.
“I don’t know how she managed but, she’s back, Charles.
She just liquidated my entire life in ten minutes.
She said she’s here for revenge, not profit.”
Ms Isabella grabbed a phone from Charles,
“Listen to me,” she said, her voice dropping to a low, dangerous growl.
“Don’t worry,If she thinks she can just walk back into this city and take what’s mine, she’s forgotten who I am. I don’t mind selling her to another monster.”