The restaurant sat atop the 65th floor of a private tower—luxurious, quiet, and cut off from the world below. No photos allowed. No press. Just whispered intentions and high-stake deals.
Qin Xieren stepped out of the elevator, her heels echoing against marble. She was dressed in ivory silk and adorned with pearls—classic, disarming. But her eyes? Calculating. Sharp.
Across the table, Gao Shixing stood as if expecting royalty. Tall, in a deep charcoal suit that fit like second skin. Handsome in the kind of way that felt cold.
[Gao Shixing – CEO of Mercier Holdings, an emerging conglomerate trying to take market share from both Lu Group and Celeste. He appears elegant and composed, but he's known in elite circles for weaponizing media and blackmail to destroy reputations quietly. He once tried to enter into a strategic merger with LuTech, but Damien rejected him coldly. Since then, Shixing has waited for the perfect opportunity to strike back — and Qin Xieren becomes his pawn.]
"Miss Qin," he greeted. "Finally."
"Mr. Gao." She took her seat without offering her hand. "I believe we have… mutual goals."
"Ah," he chuckled, "you mean the Lu empire. And the woman who's suddenly at the center of it."
Qin didn't flinch. "Liyana Xu."
She sipped her wine slowly. "You know, I once thought I understood Damien. But ever since she came back into his life, he's been… blind. To me. To everything."
Shixing folded his hands, resting them on the table. "He humiliated me once. Rejected a merger proposal that would have made LuTech untouchable. Said I was 'not the kind of man he trusted.'"
"Harsh."
"Accurate," he said, with a cruel smile. "I've waited a long time for this. To chip away at everything he values. Slowly."
Qin raised a brow. "That's where I come in?"
"Correct. You, my dear, are inside the walls. I'm offering you weapons."
"What kind?"
"Media syndicates. Leaked reports. PR firms with reach. Rumors planted with precision."
She narrowed her eyes. "You want to destroy Celeste?"
"I want to shake it," he said coolly. "Not collapse it. A company in chaos is better than a company in ruins. You, me—we benefit from instability. From fear."
Qin leaned back, thoughtful. "Why now?"
"Because the public adores Liyana Xu," he said, voice laced with disdain. "The self-made empress. But what happens when we twist that narrative?"
"You think we can make her fall?"
"I think we make her stumble. Long enough for Damien to question everything. Long enough for the Lu Group board to wonder if she's a liability."
Xieren's lips curled into a smile. "And you'll make sure it's all untraceable?"
Gao Shixing smirked. "Of course. I don't like messes. I like silence, scandal, and signatures."
They clinked glasses, sealing an unholy alliance.
Later that night...
Qin stood by her window, staring out at the city's glimmer. She opened her phone and typed a message:
To: Shixing"Start with the narrative about her past. The one no one's verified. Let them dig. Let the doubt grow."
A moment later, his reply came:
"Consider it done."
Outside, the city pulsed with lights. But beneath that shimmer, cracks were forming — strategic, invisible to the naked eye.
And Liyana Xu was about to become the face of a scandal she never saw coming.