Chapter 11 - The Morning Headlines
Maya woke up to the sound of birds singing outside her window. For a moment, she lay perfectly still, her mind caught in the hazy space between sleep and wakefulness. She expected to feel the familiar, suffocating dread that usually accompanied the start of her day. She expected to hear David’s harsh voice demanding his morning espresso.
Instead, there was only the gentle rustle of the wind through the oak trees of her mother’s estate.
She sat up, pulling the soft linen sheets around her. The dull ache on her scalp from the night before was still there, a physical reminder of the nightmare, but her soul felt lighter than air.
Downstairs, Elena was already seated at the grand dining table, sipping black coffee and reading a tablet.
"Good morning, sweetheart," Elena said, looking up with a warm smile. "Did you sleep well?"
"For the first time in years," Maya admitted, taking a seat across from her mother.
Elena slid the tablet across the polished mahogany table. "You might want to see this. The financial world wakes up early."
Maya looked at the screen. The front page of the Wall Street Journal digital edition featured a large, unflattering photo of David looking panicked outside a corporate building.
"HARRINGTON EMPIRE CRUMBLES: OLYMPUS FUND PULLS BACKING, SEC LAUNCHES EMERGENCY PROBE."
Maya read the headline twice. "It really happened," she whispered.
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"It happened," Elena confirmed, her eyes glinting with cold satisfaction. "By 8:00 AM, his stock plummeted by forty percent. The banks have frozen his personal accounts to secure their bridge loans. David Harrington is officially a king without a kingdom."
Maya let out a breath she felt she had been holding for five years. The monster wasn't invincible after all.
