Ashes of Empire

The click of my heels echoed hollowly across the gleaming floors of the Hayes Cosmetics headquarters. The familiar sound used to fill me with purpose and pride. Now it only served as a mocking reminder of ambitions collapsing around me.

I swept past the offices and cubicles where my employees dutifully kept their eyes averted. The Board meeting disaster had eroded what little confidence remained in my leadership after the catastrophic loss of the Hamilton deal. My kingdom was crumbling swiftly into ashes before I could grasp at solutions.

And now the latest tidings of my public humiliation had arrived to grind salt deeper into barely scabbed wounds - Tristan had left Avalon behind entirely after our bitter divorce. Likely he assumed the airing of our dirty laundry had sufficiently ruined my prospects here as petty recompense.

Part of me hoped the news meant he would simply fade into obscurity without the wealth and connections my family name had afforded him for so long. But an insi