---- Chapter 13 Barron Carroll POV: The world was gray. The vibrant colors of my life had bled out, leaving behind a monochrome existence of grief and regret. | lived in the penthouse, a mausoleum filled with her ghost. | rarely went to the office. The empire | had built to impress her, to possess her, meant nothing without her. | spent my days re-reading the transcripts of her therapy sessions, which |' d secretly had recorded, searching for clues | had missed. | spent my nights watching the home videos of our life together, torturing myself with the image of her smile, a smile | had systematically erased. Today was the anniversary of her parents' deaths. For five years, we had gone to their graves together. She would lay flowers, and | would stand behind her, a supportive hand on her back, playing the part of the devoted son-in-law. It was all part of the performance. A performance that had cost me everything. | went to the cemetery alone. | brought her favorite flowers, white peonies. | stood before the cold granite of their headstones, the names KELLER etched in unforgiving stone. " m sorry," | whispered to them, the words feeling hollow and useless. "I'm sorry | destroyed your daughter. | loved her. ---- | still love her. You have to believe me." But the dead offered no absolution. | returned to the penthouse as the sun was setting, casting long, lonely shadows across the city. The emptiness of the place was a physical presence. | walked into her closet, the scent of her perfume still lingering in the air like a phantom limb. The new clothes | had bought for her were still there, untouched. A silent testament to her rejection. | ran my hand over a silk dress, imagining her in it, imagining a different life, a different ending. If | hadn't been so blinded by my debt to Cydney, if | had just seen the treasure | held in my hands... But it was too late for regrets. | went into the kitchen, the heart of our home. | remembered a night, early in our marriage, when | had found her here, trying to bake a cake from one of her mother' s recipes. She had been covered in flour, laughing, a smudge of chocolate on her nose. She had looked so young, so happy, so unbroken. | had promised her that night that | would spend the rest of my life making her that happy. Another broken promise. On autopilot, | began to cook. | made her favorite meal: pan- seared scallops with a lemon-butter sauce. | set the table for two, with our best china and crystal. | lit candles. | opened a bottle of the vintage Chardonnay she loved. ---- | sat at the head of the table, staring at her empty chair, and | waited. | pretended she was just running late. That any moment, | would hear her key in the lock, hear her light footsteps in the hall, see her walk in, her face breaking into a smile when she saw what | had done. The food grew cold. | reheated it. It grew cold again. The candles burned down, dripping wax onto the polished mahogany. The sky outside turned from dusky purple to inky black. Hours passed. The silence in the apartment was deafening. Finally, | heard the sound | had been waiting for. The purr of a car engine in the driveway below. The chime of the private elevator ascending. My heart leaped into my throat. She had come back. She had forgiven me. | rushed to the door, my hands shaking as | pulled it open. But it wasn't her. It was Marcus, my head of security. His face was grim. "Sir," he said, his voice urgent. "You need to come to the office. Now." "I'm busy," | said, my voice flat with disappointment. "Sir, it can' t wait. The virus Emerson planted... it wasn' t just a virus. It was a key. It opened a back door into our entire ---- financial network. We' ve been hemorrhaging money for weeks, but it' s escalated. Someone is systematically liquidating your assets. Transferring them to untraceable accounts. We' re on the verge of collapse." | stared at him, my mind struggling to process the information My empire. Crumbling. "Who?" | whispered. "We don' t know," Marcus said. "The transactions are being routed through a ghost network based in Zurich. It' s the most sophisticated hack |' ve ever seen. It' s almost as if... as if it was designed by Keenan Sullivan himself." The name was a punch to the gut. Of course. It was him. He wasn't content with just taking her from me. He was finishing the job she had started. He was destroying me in her name. "And sir," Marcus said, his voice dropping even lower. "There ' s something else. Something you need to see." He handed me a tablet. It was a live feed from a security camera, timestamped from an hour ago. The location was a seedy motel on the outskirts of the city. The room was squalid. And in the middle of the room, tied to a chair, was Cydney Velazquez. She was bruised and terrified. A man stood over her, his face obscured by shadow. "We got an anonymous tip," Marcus said. "She never made it to Rio. Someone grabbed her at the airport." My mind reeled. Sullivan. He had taken her too. He was tying ---- up all the loose ends. | looked at Cydney' s terrified face, and | felt nothing. No pity. No anger. No obligation. She was a ghost from a past | no longer cared about. A debt | had paid in full, with the currency of my soul. "Leave her," | said, my voice empty. "Sir?" Marcus looked at me, shocked. "She's not my concern anymore," | said, turning my back on the screen. "None of this is." | walked back to the dining table and sat down in my chair, staring at the empty seat across from me. My empire could burn. Cydney could rot. The world could end. All that mattered was that Emerson was gone. And | was alone. Forever. Title: A Princess? No! I'm the Female General! In "A Princess? No! I'm the Female General!" by CrushReel, Adela Taylor, a noble family's daughter, disguises herself as her brother to secure their Duke title by joining the army. Despite facing obstacles, she achieves remarkable success. However, upon her triumphant return, her brother betrays her, setting off a chain of events that will test her resolve and reveal hidden truths. This captivating novel delves into themes of secrets, reincarnation, revenge, murder, and drama. Adela's journey from deception to betrayal is filled with intrigue and suspense as she navigates through a world where power dynamics and family loyalties collide. What sets this story apart is its strong female lead who defies expectations and challenges societal norms in a quest for justice and redemption. Experience the riveting tale of Adela Taylor online at CrushReel and witness the transformation of a princess into a formidable female general.