CHAPTER 7 — The Enemy Within
CHAPTER 7 — The Enemy Within
The apology should have been the hardest thing Damian had ever done.
But it wasn’t.
The hardest part came afterward.
Because saying the words was easy.
Living differently was the real challenge.
For years, Damian had built his entire identity around winning.
Every conversation was a competition.
Every disagreement was a battle.
Every person was either useful or irrelevant.
Changing that mindset was harder than losing his company.
Because his greatest enemy was not Elena.
It wasn’t the board.
It wasn’t the investors who abandoned him.
It was the version of himself he had spent years creating.
A week after his visit to the company, Damian received an unexpected call.
“Mr. Blackwood?”
He recognized the voice immediately.
“Jonathan.”
His former lawyer.
“I thought you were done with me.”
Jonathan was silent for a moment.
“I almost was.”
Damian closed his eyes.
Fair enough.
“What do you need?”
“There is something you should know.”
The tone immediately changed.
“What happened?”
Jonathan lowered his voice.
“There are people trying to push you completely out of the business world.”
Damian frowned.
“Who?”
“I don’t have proof yet.”
A pause.
“But they are moving aggressively.”
Damian stood.
“Investors?”
“Some.”
“Competitors?”
“Possibly.”
“Then why tell me?”
Jonathan hesitated.
“Because despite everything…”
He stopped.
“Despite everything, I know you built something important.”
Damian looked around his empty office at home.
Something important.
A phrase he hadn’t heard in a long time.
“Find out who they are,” Damian said.
Jonathan paused.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Damian looked at the reflection of himself in the window.
“But this time, I want the truth.”
Meanwhile, inside Voss Global Holdings, Elena reviewed the same information.
Richard placed a report in front of her.
“The situation is more complicated than we thought.”
Elena looked through the pages.
“Explain.”
“Someone has been purchasing shares through several shell companies.”
Her expression changed slightly.
“Who?”
“That’s what we’re trying to determine.”
Elena studied the documents.
The timing was too perfect.
Right after Damian lost control.
Right after his reputation weakened.
Someone was moving in the shadows.
Someone who had been waiting.
“Do you think Damian knows?”
Richard asked.
Elena looked at him.
“He probably does now.”
“And?”
A small silence.
Then Elena answered:
“He needs to discover this himself.”
Richard looked surprised.
“You’re not going to help him?”
Elena closed the file.
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because if I solve every problem for him, he learns nothing.”
She stood.
“He needs to understand the difference between being protected…”
She looked toward the city.
“And being dependent.”
That evening, Damian received another surprise.
Veronica appeared at his door.
He almost didn’t recognize her.
The woman who once walked into every room like she owned it looked completely different.
Her confidence was gone.
Her smile was forced.
“Damian.”
He stared at her.
“What are you doing here?”
She looked uncomfortable.
“I need to talk.”
He almost laughed.
A few weeks ago, she would have demanded his attention.
Now she was asking.
He stepped aside.
“Come in.”
Inside, Veronica sat across from him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Finally, she said:
“I know you hate me.”
Damian looked at her.
“I don’t hate you.”
The answer surprised her.
“Why not?”
He thought about it.
Because anger was easy.
Anger meant he was still blaming someone else.
“I think I understand you better now.”
Veronica looked away.
“That’s not what I expected.”
“What did you expect?”
She gave a small bitter smile.
“You screaming.”
Damian nodded.
“That would have been the old me.”
Silence.
Then Veronica whispered:
“I made mistakes.”
Damian looked at her.
“Yes.”
She took a breath.
“But I wasn’t the only one.”
“No.”
He agreed.
“I made bigger ones.”
Veronica looked at him carefully.
“You’re really changing.”
Damian almost rejected the idea.
But he stopped.
Because that was his old instinct.
To deny.
To defend.
Instead, he simply said:
“I’m trying.”
For the first time, Veronica had no response.
Because the man sitting in front of her was not the same man she had followed.
The arrogance was gone.
The certainty was gone.
But something else had appeared.
Humility.
Later that night, Damian met Jonathan again.
The lawyer placed several documents on the table.
“We found the connection.”
Damian opened the file.
His expression slowly changed.
“No…”
Jonathan nodded.
“Yes.”
The documents revealed the name behind the hidden purchases.
A former partner.
Someone Damian trusted.
Someone who had been beside him from the beginning.
“Adrian Vale.”
Damian stared at the name.
Adrian.
His closest friend.
His first business partner.
The person he had defended countless times.
The person who knew every weakness in his company.
Jonathan continued:
“He’s been preparing this for months.”
Damian slowly closed the folder.
A strange feeling filled him.
Not anger.
Not even betrayal.
Something colder.
Realization.
The person who helped him build his empire…
Had been waiting for the perfect moment to take it away.
The next morning, Damian arrived at Voss Global Holdings.
This time, he wasn’t there to demand anything.
He wasn’t there to ask Elena for help.
He simply walked into her office.
Elena looked up.
“You found him.”
Damian stopped.
“You already knew?”
“Yes.”
He looked surprised.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Elena leaned back.
“Because you needed to learn something.”
“What?”
“That losing an empire doesn’t always happen because of enemies outside.”
She looked at him.
“Sometimes the people closest to you are the ones waiting for the fall.”
Damian looked down.
The lesson hurt.
But he understood.
For years, he had focused only on controlling everyone around him.
And he never noticed who was standing beside him.
Elena handed him the file.
“Now the real battle begins.”
Damian looked at the documents.
For the first time since losing everything…
He felt ready.
May you like
Not to regain power.
But to finally earn it.
