August's POV When Caesar said the family was going to suffer a major blow, I never imagined it would be a full-blown explosion. From the first news involving my grandfather, everything rotten began to surface. Buried stories, suspicious alliances, shady contracts. A single article was enough to destroy many companies. One scandal was all it took. SEG29, however, had an entire arsenal of scandals carefully hidden away. Some were things I had known nothing about. Others were things I was ashamed to admit I had been involved in. I had no intention of leaving Isabelle alone at home, knowing she was still recovering from the trauma. I could see the silent effort she was making to keep herself under control, to pretend everything was normal, to try to return to her routine as if nothing had happened. But at that moment, I was the only person in the family who still held a position and had any presence inside the company. If I walked away, it would be the same as officially declaring

August's POV It had been a long time since the three of us had gotten together just to talk. In fact, I thought it had only happened once before, when we were still in school, but I couldn't remember exactly when. We decided to have lunch at a restaurant with a private dining room, surrounded by security guards, a precaution that would have seemed excessive to me not that long ago. I arrived first and waited. Caesar was the second to arrive, still sporting that somewhat hippie look, casual clothes and an unshaven beard. For the first time, when I looked at my older brother, I had the strange certainty that this was how he had always been meant to look. Lighter. More like himself. Diana arrived last. I hadn't seen her since the day at the hospital. We had all been busy taking care of the people we loved. She was still elegant, but the arrogant air was gone. She seemed different, more serene. The little bump beginning to show caught my attention, and I was suddenly struck by the

August's POV I left my father's office with hatred coursing through my veins, throbbing through every cell in my body. I had to take a deep breath to regain control, put on an appearance of normalcy, and process what had just happened. A merger, along with using the family name, was a masterstroke. I had to admit it. It had never crossed my mind. If there was no way to save the company, my plan had always been to sell it, shut everything down, erase the name as if the company had never existed. But he had found a way to do the exact opposite, turning chaos into strength. For the first time in a long time, I felt that old sense of helplessness. My father was a force of nature. Difficult to defeat, difficult to bring down. The closest I had ever come was when we had gotten into a fistfight, and even that hadn't been enough to break him. I was forced to stay late at the company, dealing with questions and demands about a merger I barely understood. I was almost certain my father

August's POV There was still a lot to deal with, so I asked Isabelle to go home and rest. I didn't want her involved in any of it. "But I want to stay by your side," she said, wrapping her arms around me. "You don't have to, love. You need to rest and think about our baby. I'll keep you updated, so don't worry. Caesar is coming with me to the police station, and afterward I still need to see my mother." Isabelle looked at me uncertainly, but I really didn't want her staying there in the middle of all that chaos. She would be better off at home, somewhere safe. She had already been through enough. She didn't need to endure any more of this. "You can go." I kissed her cheek. She finally agreed, and I asked the driver to take her home. When I turned back to Caesar, he was staring at me seriously, as if studying me. "What?" "Nothing. Seeing you like this, being a loving husband, worrying about your wife, about to become a father... it's a sight that still catches me off gua

August's POV "Do you think it's a good idea? Isn't it too soon?" Isabelle asked, unable to hide her concern as I got dressed and prepared for a meeting with Albert Trudeau, the CEO who had taken over my father's position. "It's been two days. I can't put it off any longer. We need to talk, figure out what our next steps are, find out whether the merger is still going forward, and understand what my father left behind when he came back... I'm completely in the dark." Isabelle came over and helped me tie my tie. "Just be careful." "And you, are you okay? Are you feeling anything?" I asked, wrapping my arms around her and breathing in her scent. "Don't worry. I don't feel anything, just the nausea. I spoke to the doctor, and I'm going to have the tests I couldn't get done before. He thinks that, if we're lucky, we might be able to see the baby's sex at the next ultrasound," she said, her eyes lighting up. "Let me know when it's scheduled. I'll go with you." I left Isabelle