No flowers for the dead - Chapter 18: Chapter 18
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The headlines were relentless.
VALE HEIR KILLS ATTACKER IN HIGH-SOCIETY AMBUSH.
POWER COUPLE OR DANGEROUS DYNASTY?
WHO REALLY RUNS THE EMPIRE: ELIAS OR HIS WIFE?
The world couldn’t stop watching.
Elias had been cleared, but public scrutiny was an entirely different battlefield—and this time, they weren’t fighting in the shadows. Every camera turned toward them. Every whisper, every blink, every decision was dissected.
Still, they didn’t hide.
They didn’t run.
Because Elias Vale and Alina Moreau had spent too many years building their world in silence. It was time to live it out loud.
⸻
They took back the company one piece at a time.
Three senior board members resigned within a week. Two more switched sides, pledging loyalty to Elias after seeing Matteo’s desperation exposed. The rest? They fell in line or were pushed out.
Alina attended every meeting. Not as a silent partner. Not as a trophy wife.
But as co-founder.
She started speaking.
And when she spoke, people listened.
She was calm, deliberate, devastatingly precise. No theatrics. No arrogance.
Just power.
And behind her, always, stood Elias—watching, proud.
⸻
But even with the tides turning, something quiet had started to crack inside Elias.
Alina saw it in the way he paused when the room was empty. The way he sometimes stared out the window too long, jaw clenched. The way his hands shook for half a second before he made a deal.
Trauma didn’t vanish just because you’d survived.
And guilt?
That stayed.
⸻
One night, she found him in the study, music playing low, bourbon untouched in his glass. He didn’t turn when she entered.
“You’re thinking too loudly again,” she said, leaning against the doorway.
He gave a soft, broken laugh. “I keep wondering what would’ve happened if I hadn’t pulled the trigger.”
“You’d be the one they buried.”
He finally looked at her. “Exactly.”
She crossed the room and sat beside him on the leather couch, taking his hand.
“You didn’t kill a man,” she whispered. “You saved us both.”
He shook his head. “Still feels like something in me died.”
“It did,” she said gently. “The last part of you that still believed they’d ever love you back.”
He blinked slowly.
She held his hand tighter.
“They don’t have to. I do.”
⸻
They spent the rest of that night in silence. Not because there was nothing to say, but because silence with her was never empty.
It was full of home.
Of healing.
⸻
By morning, Elias made the final move.
He issued a press statement formally removing himself from day-to-day operations at Vale Holdings. The empire would remain in his name. But Alina would now run it.
Fully.
Legally.
Publicly.
The headlines exploded.
THE WOMAN WHO OUTPLAYED THE EMPIRE.
But inside their home, there were no crowns. No titles. No threats.
Just two people who had survived every storm—and still chose each other.
⸻
That evening, as they walked barefoot on the balcony overlooking the city they’d rebuilt in their name, Elias whispered, “I don’t think they ever expected you to be the one who would ruin them.”
Alina smiled. “That’s because they never bothered to see me.”
He wrapped an arm around her waist. “Their mistake.”
She leaned into him. “Their last one.”
VALE HEIR KILLS ATTACKER IN HIGH-SOCIETY AMBUSH.
POWER COUPLE OR DANGEROUS DYNASTY?
WHO REALLY RUNS THE EMPIRE: ELIAS OR HIS WIFE?
The world couldn’t stop watching.
Elias had been cleared, but public scrutiny was an entirely different battlefield—and this time, they weren’t fighting in the shadows. Every camera turned toward them. Every whisper, every blink, every decision was dissected.
Still, they didn’t hide.
They didn’t run.
Because Elias Vale and Alina Moreau had spent too many years building their world in silence. It was time to live it out loud.
⸻
They took back the company one piece at a time.
Three senior board members resigned within a week. Two more switched sides, pledging loyalty to Elias after seeing Matteo’s desperation exposed. The rest? They fell in line or were pushed out.
Alina attended every meeting. Not as a silent partner. Not as a trophy wife.
But as co-founder.
She started speaking.
And when she spoke, people listened.
She was calm, deliberate, devastatingly precise. No theatrics. No arrogance.
Just power.
And behind her, always, stood Elias—watching, proud.
⸻
But even with the tides turning, something quiet had started to crack inside Elias.
Alina saw it in the way he paused when the room was empty. The way he sometimes stared out the window too long, jaw clenched. The way his hands shook for half a second before he made a deal.
Trauma didn’t vanish just because you’d survived.
And guilt?
That stayed.
⸻
One night, she found him in the study, music playing low, bourbon untouched in his glass. He didn’t turn when she entered.
“You’re thinking too loudly again,” she said, leaning against the doorway.
He gave a soft, broken laugh. “I keep wondering what would’ve happened if I hadn’t pulled the trigger.”
“You’d be the one they buried.”
He finally looked at her. “Exactly.”
She crossed the room and sat beside him on the leather couch, taking his hand.
“You didn’t kill a man,” she whispered. “You saved us both.”
He shook his head. “Still feels like something in me died.”
“It did,” she said gently. “The last part of you that still believed they’d ever love you back.”
He blinked slowly.
She held his hand tighter.
“They don’t have to. I do.”
⸻
They spent the rest of that night in silence. Not because there was nothing to say, but because silence with her was never empty.
It was full of home.
Of healing.
⸻
By morning, Elias made the final move.
He issued a press statement formally removing himself from day-to-day operations at Vale Holdings. The empire would remain in his name. But Alina would now run it.
Fully.
Legally.
Publicly.
The headlines exploded.
THE WOMAN WHO OUTPLAYED THE EMPIRE.
But inside their home, there were no crowns. No titles. No threats.
Just two people who had survived every storm—and still chose each other.
⸻
That evening, as they walked barefoot on the balcony overlooking the city they’d rebuilt in their name, Elias whispered, “I don’t think they ever expected you to be the one who would ruin them.”
Alina smiled. “That’s because they never bothered to see me.”
He wrapped an arm around her waist. “Their mistake.”
She leaned into him. “Their last one.”
End of No flowers for the dead Chapter 18. Continue reading Chapter 19 or return to No flowers for the dead book page.