No flowers for the dead - Chapter 16: Chapter 16
You are reading No flowers for the dead, Chapter 16: Chapter 16. Read more chapters of No flowers for the dead.
The morning after the attempted car bombing, Elias woke to silence.
Alina wasn’t in bed.
He found her in the kitchen, barefoot in one of his button-down shirts, sipping coffee and reading through a dossier thick with names.
Names of board members. Allies turned enemies. Companies suddenly pulling out of joint ventures. A list of people who had once toasted to their empire—and now wanted to slit its throat.
“You’re awake,” she said without looking up.
“I should be saying that to you,” he murmured, leaning against the doorway.
“You were right,” she said. “They don’t just want control. They want erasure. They want to wipe the memory of you clean.”
“They can try.”
“I won’t let them.”
Her voice didn’t rise. It didn’t need to. Alina didn’t threaten—she promised.
⸻
Later that day, she met with a woman named Soraya—an old contact from a Geneva banking family. Elegant. Discreet. Dangerous in a way that made men stutter.
“I need to transfer everything into my name,” Alina said, sliding documents across the marble table in a penthouse suite that smelled of tobacco and rose oil. “All the liquid assets tied to Elias. Now that we’re married, it’s legal.”
Soraya raised an eyebrow. “You’re consolidating.”
“I’m protecting.”
“Aren’t those the same thing in love?”
Alina didn’t smile. “Not in this world.”
⸻
Meanwhile, Elias began dismantling the Vale Holdings inner circle from the inside.
Not through brute force.
But through whispers.
One executive at a time.
He visited families. Called in debts. Delivered evidence of shady deals to the right hands at the right moments.
Within a week, three more board members resigned.
Two fled the country.
The ones who remained?
Worried.
He could smell it on them.
Fear had a scent. He’d grown up in it.
Now he wore it like cologne.
⸻
But Matteo didn’t flinch.
Instead, he launched a smear campaign.
Fake records. Fabricated scandals. Photos doctored to show Elias in places he hadn’t been in years.
And then—worst of all—rumors about Alina.
That she was a plant. A con. That she seduced Elias to destroy the empire from within.
The tabloids feasted on it.
“Let them talk,” Alina said as the headlines broke.
But Elias felt something crack when he saw her picture splashed across digital screens, labeled with words like temptress, manipulator, gold-digger.
“They don’t deserve your silence,” he growled.
She turned to him, eyes burning. “Then let’s show them the truth.”
⸻
That night, they held a press conference.
Not from the company tower.
But from a battered community center on the edge of the city—the first place they ever invested in together. The beginning of their empire. The place where love had first felt real.
Alina stepped up to the podium.
“I’m not here to defend myself,” she began. “Because I don’t answer to cowards hiding behind headlines.”
“I’m here because I’ve built every inch of this empire with the man beside me. And I’ll burn it to the ground before I let them rewrite that story.”
She stepped back.
Elias took her hand.
And the world watched as a billionaire and his wife chose fire over forgiveness.
Alina wasn’t in bed.
He found her in the kitchen, barefoot in one of his button-down shirts, sipping coffee and reading through a dossier thick with names.
Names of board members. Allies turned enemies. Companies suddenly pulling out of joint ventures. A list of people who had once toasted to their empire—and now wanted to slit its throat.
“You’re awake,” she said without looking up.
“I should be saying that to you,” he murmured, leaning against the doorway.
“You were right,” she said. “They don’t just want control. They want erasure. They want to wipe the memory of you clean.”
“They can try.”
“I won’t let them.”
Her voice didn’t rise. It didn’t need to. Alina didn’t threaten—she promised.
⸻
Later that day, she met with a woman named Soraya—an old contact from a Geneva banking family. Elegant. Discreet. Dangerous in a way that made men stutter.
“I need to transfer everything into my name,” Alina said, sliding documents across the marble table in a penthouse suite that smelled of tobacco and rose oil. “All the liquid assets tied to Elias. Now that we’re married, it’s legal.”
Soraya raised an eyebrow. “You’re consolidating.”
“I’m protecting.”
“Aren’t those the same thing in love?”
Alina didn’t smile. “Not in this world.”
⸻
Meanwhile, Elias began dismantling the Vale Holdings inner circle from the inside.
Not through brute force.
But through whispers.
One executive at a time.
He visited families. Called in debts. Delivered evidence of shady deals to the right hands at the right moments.
Within a week, three more board members resigned.
Two fled the country.
The ones who remained?
Worried.
He could smell it on them.
Fear had a scent. He’d grown up in it.
Now he wore it like cologne.
⸻
But Matteo didn’t flinch.
Instead, he launched a smear campaign.
Fake records. Fabricated scandals. Photos doctored to show Elias in places he hadn’t been in years.
And then—worst of all—rumors about Alina.
That she was a plant. A con. That she seduced Elias to destroy the empire from within.
The tabloids feasted on it.
“Let them talk,” Alina said as the headlines broke.
But Elias felt something crack when he saw her picture splashed across digital screens, labeled with words like temptress, manipulator, gold-digger.
“They don’t deserve your silence,” he growled.
She turned to him, eyes burning. “Then let’s show them the truth.”
⸻
That night, they held a press conference.
Not from the company tower.
But from a battered community center on the edge of the city—the first place they ever invested in together. The beginning of their empire. The place where love had first felt real.
Alina stepped up to the podium.
“I’m not here to defend myself,” she began. “Because I don’t answer to cowards hiding behind headlines.”
“I’m here because I’ve built every inch of this empire with the man beside me. And I’ll burn it to the ground before I let them rewrite that story.”
She stepped back.
Elias took her hand.
And the world watched as a billionaire and his wife chose fire over forgiveness.
End of No flowers for the dead Chapter 16. Continue reading Chapter 17 or return to No flowers for the dead book page.