Chapter 2: The Empire Crumbles

Chapter 2: The Empire Crumbles

Handcuffs clicked one after another.

The arrogant laughter from earlier had vanished.

Now came desperate bargaining.

"I'll donate fifty million."

"I can explain."

"This is political!"

One billionaire suddenly pointed at my attacker.

"He started everything!"

Another immediately turned on his closest business partner.

"He handled the payments!"

Years of friendship collapsed in minutes.

Loyalty had only existed while the doors remained open.

My attacker stared at me.

"You planned this..."

"For how long?"

"Fifteen years," I answered.

"The gala wasn't chosen because it was glamorous."

"It was chosen because every person responsible would be standing in one room."

He swallowed hard.

"You used yourself as bait."

I nodded.

"You always believed powerful men couldn't resist humiliating someone they considered powerless."

"You proved me right."

His face twisted with disbelief.

"You let me hit you?"

"I knew you would."

The investigators wheeled in dozens of evidence cases.

Financial records.

Encrypted phones.

Private servers.

Everything had already been seized before the first steel door closed.

The lockdown had never been about catching criminals.

It was about preventing anyone from destroying evidence.

One by one...

The most influential people in the country walked out in handcuffs.

Not through the front entrance.

Through the same loading dock used for catering deliveries.

No cameras had been invited.

But thousands were already waiting outside.

The live broadcast had reached every news network in the nation.

Their reputations collapsed before the police cars even left the building.