Not Just Business

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• Under the Weight of Deception   Silent Fallout

  Chapter 22 Ambercrest was moving forward. Fast. Faster than expected. Phase one of the platform was already in internal testing and, even if no one said it out loud, the reports pointed to something promising. Carter Group was positioning itself—boldly, with vision. But beneath the success, the air had grown heavier. Emma and Benjamín spoke only when necessary. Cordial, professional, to the point. Reports, objectives. Nothing more. No lingering glances, no shared silences. Yet everyone on the floor knew—though no one could say exactly what—that something between them had changed. Benjamín had grown colder. Not rude, but rigid. A constant line of tension along his jaw. And Emma... Emma had perfected the art of faking composure. She smiled without smiling. Slept little. Worked more. And whenever she was alone, she had to remind herself why she started this in the first place. Victoria, in contrast, remained untouched. Impeccable. Charismatic. Always with the right word. Always well

• Under the Weight of Deception   What Still Hurts

  Chapter 21 “Stay.” It wasn’t a command. Nor a plea. It was… broken. A need that slipped from his lips as if it hurt. Emma froze. The air compressed between them. A second earlier, her hand was already on the doorknob. Her body halfway out. But his voice pulled her back. Or rather, stopped her. As if her feet had been nailed to the ground. She blinked. Once. Twice. She didn’t understand. Not fully. She closed the door slowly, as if the slightest sound could shatter something delicate—something she hadn’t yet seen. The click of the latch felt final. And yet, nothing was resolved. Benjamín lowered his head. He ran a trembling hand through his hair again, fingers clenched, as if he could tear out what he was feeling. His elbow on the desk quivered slightly. He was on the edge. Not physically—on the edge of something deeper. Emma watched him in silence, unable to look away. Then their eyes met. The collision was devastating. Their pupils spoke in a language beyond words: pain,

• Under the Weight of Deception   Not Just Business

  Chapter 20Benjamin Carter hadn’t been sleeping well. Not for weeks.It wasn’t just the pressure from the Ambercrest project, nor the international negotiations that demanded every moment of his attention. It wasn’t even the crushing bureaucracy of the board, or the endless stream of emails marked “High Priority” arriving at impossible hours. All of that was expected. What he hadn’t expected was the persistent—unseen yet relentless—sense that the ground beneath his feet was shifting.Victoria.She had arrived some time ago with a proposal that changed everything: “I’m not here to offer an alliance. I’m here to offer expansion.” Her voice still echoed in his memory—clear and confident—promising that Ambercrest could become the launchpad for the leap he had always dreamed of. That together, they could leap five years ahead of the competition.Benjamin had accepted—not out of full trust, but because he knew that in business, hesitation rarely gets a second chance.But the alliance he had

• Under the Weight of Deception   By Other Means

  Chapter 19Victoria walked down the sidewalk, her heels carving out an elegant, steady rhythm—almost hypnotic. Her coat still carried the scent of the restaurant’s expensive perfume, but inside, she was already cold.It wasn’t that the dinner had gone poorly. Emma had responded with the exact neutrality Victoria had anticipated. No sharp rejections, no overt acceptance. Just that "Let me think about it," delivered with surgical coolness that made her an intriguing opponent.But "intriguing" wasn’t enough.Victoria couldn’t afford rivals. Not now.She entered her apartment without turning on all the lights. Dropped her purse on the console with a mechanical, almost absent gesture. Poured herself a good whiskey and held it for a moment before drinking, as if it weighed more than the glass itself.She was thinking about Benjamín.Not his face or his body. Not his gestures. She was thinking about his silences. The way he avoided her eyes now. The way he was pulling away—not just from her,

• Under the Weight of Deception   Whispers Behind Glass

  Chapter 18 The subtle click of the phone still echoed in Emma’s mind, though the conversation had ended minutes ago. She hadn’t understood a single word—only registered the stiffness in Benjamín’s posture. His back straight. His hand clenched around the receiver. That heavy silence that held more than just words: it held decisions. She tried to focus on the Tokyo report. Pretended to go over numbers, compare dates, send an email. But she couldn’t stop thinking about that "uncle." Matthew Carter. The name had flashed on the screen like a silent warning. From her desk, she could still see Benjamín’s silhouette behind the frosted glass partition. He hadn’t moved since the call ended, as if something inside him had been violently rearranged. He didn’t rub his face. Didn’t sigh. Didn’t allow himself to show anything. But Emma—who had once loved him, who still remembered how he blinked when he lied, how he pressed his lips together when unsure—caught the faintest twitch in his left eyeb

• Under the Weight of Deception   Glass Office, Iron Walls

  Chapter 17 The keyboard clattered in the office, but it wasn’t the usual sound of focused work; it felt more like a distant echo in a space where everything seemed overly restrained. Emma typed quickly, her brow slightly furrowed, sensing how every movement of her hands was accompanied by glances that deliberately avoided hers, as if she were an alien element on a meticulously arranged chessboard. Benjamín entered the meeting room with his usual flawless confidence, yet Emma noticed something different. His bearing was still impeccable, but his movements were stiffer, almost calculated. He greeted her without meeting her gaze, a curt nod replacing the usual polite ritual. He sat across from her, his expression unreadable. "Let’s begin," Benjamín said, his voice firm but stripped of its usual warmth. "I want an update on the project's status." Emma nodded and opened her folder. “So far, the team has met all deadlines. The latest financial report shows an 18% increase over the previ