"Don't worry about her," Alex said, voice calm and utterly confident. "I have special things prepared for Victoria."

Both women turned to look at him.

Catherine's eyebrow arched.

"Special things?"

"Resources," Alex confirmed. "Items that will help her cultivate. Safely. Efficiently. Without the complications she's concerned about."

Victoria was watching him with complete trust, clearly believing he had something planned.

Catherine looked intrigued, her mind immediately racing through possibilities.

What kind of resources could skip the pain? The grueling effort? The years of careful cultivation that she herself had endured to reach Peak Enhanced? Resources that could eliminate complications entirely seemed too good to be true, and her mind wanted to dissect every detail, demand specifications, understand exactly what Alex was promising.

But then she remembered her investigation... or rather, the alarming lack of solid information it had revealed.

She didn't know how he'd cultivated so efficiently at his age. Didn't know where his resources came from or who was backing him. The gaps in his history were significant, almost deliberately obscured.

She wanted to ask everything... demand answers about his methods, his sources, his seemingly impossible abilities. But something held her back. An instinct that told her pushing too hard, too soon, would only make him withdraw. Better to let him reveal things in his own time, earn that trust naturally rather than interrogate it out of him.

Maybe he really did have something extraordinary.

Her eyes drifted to Victoria, half-expecting to see doubt or skepticism mirrored on her face.

But Victoria looked utterly calm, unsurprised by Alex's bold claim. As if she believed him fully, without reservation.

That alone was telling... Victoria was naturally cautious about promises, especially regarding cultivation. She'd turned down Catherine's own offers for years. Yet here she sat, complete trust written across her features, as though Alex's ability to provide miraculous resources was simply fact.

If Victoria believed him that completely, maybe Catherine should too.

But even as that thought settled, something else flickered across her expression... something almost like envy. Not jealousy exactly, but a subtle shift in her posture, the way her fingers tightened slightly around her wine glass.

The way Alex was taking care of Victoria.

Planning for her future. Speaking with such certainty about resources and advancement.

Catherine wanted that attention too.

Alex caught the look immediately, and his smile widened... warm, knowing, reassuring.

"You're not being left out," he said. "I promise."

Her eyes met his, surprise flickering across her features.

"You just have to promise me something," Alex continued, voice becoming more serious.

"Don't try to breakthrough to Apex realm without telling me first. I need time to prepare what I have for you. If you push through on your own now, you'll miss the opportunity for something extraordinary."

Catherine stared at him for a long moment, and he could see the calculation happening behind her eyes. Weighing his words.

Assessing the risk of delaying her advancement against the promise of something better.

Then her expression softened, and a genuine smile spread across her face... not her usual calculated CEO smile, but something warmer. More vulnerable.

"Promise," she said simply, and there was happiness in her voice. Relief, maybe, that she hadn't been forgotten in his planning. "I won't breakthrough without telling you first."

Alex reached across the table with his other hand, so now he was holding both of them.

"Good," he said. "Because I'm going to make sure both of you reach heights you can't even imagine yet."

Victoria squeezed his hand, trust absolute in her expression.

Catherine did the same, but her smile turned slightly wicked.

"You know," she said, "for someone who just met me today, you're making some very bold promises."

"I know," Alex replied, matching her tone. "But I keep my promises."

"We'll see."

"You will."

Victoria laughed softly, looking between them.

"You two are going to be impossible together, aren't you?"

"Absolutely," Catherine and Alex said in unison.

The three of them sat there for a moment, hands linked across the table, wine glasses catching the warm light, and something settled between them. Not just physical attraction or political alliance, but something deeper.

Trust.

Partnership.

The beginning of something that could become truly powerful if they let it.

The comfortable silence stretched for another moment before Victoria shifted slightly in her seat, something flickering across her expression... concern mixed with guilt, as if she'd just remembered something important she should have asked earlier.

"Catherine," she said, and her tone had changed from the playful banter of moments before to something more serious. "How's everything going from your end?"

Catherine's wine glass paused halfway to her lips.

"About Richard," Victoria continued, leaning forward slightly. "Is everything... good?"

The concern was clear in her eyes, genuine worry for her sister cutting through the warmth of the evening they'd been enjoying.

Catherine set her glass down with deliberate care, and for just a moment, the mask slipped.

Not entirely... she was too practiced for that... but enough that Alex could see the weight she'd been carrying beneath all the confidence and control.

She exhaled a long, slow breath.

"Everything's good," she said, but the words came out flat. Unconvincing. "For now."

Victoria's expression tightened, waiting for the rest.

Catherine's fingers traced the rim of her wine glass, eyes distant as if calculating variables even as she spoke.

"You know after the incident with James..." she said quietly. "Nothing has been quite the same for us. The families who supported us... who believed House Blackwood's future lay with someone willing to modernize, to adapt... they're not very sure anymore."

Her jaw tightened fractionally.

"They're skeptical about a woman leading them. About whether I can actually handle the pressure when things get difficult." She looked up, meeting Victoria's eyes.

"Especially the Steeles." The name came out like a curse. "That sly old man... though calling him a man is generous at this point."

Her smile was cold and cutting. "And his bitch of a wife. They supported us initially. Made grand statements about backing my succession."

Her fingers tightened around her wine glass.

"Now they're opposing us openly. At every opportunity. That... creature and his wife have become Richard's loudest supporters, questioning everything I do, undermining my authority whenever they can."

"James's failure reflected on all of us. And Richard has been very thorough in making sure everyone remembers that."

Victoria's hand found Catherine's across the table, squeezing gently.

"What's he offering them?" she asked.

"Everything he can," Catherine replied, voice hardening slightly. "Promises of stability. Traditional leadership. A return to 'proven methods' of managing House affairs." Her lips curved in something that wasn't quite a smile.

"He's positioning himself as the safe choice. The one who won't bring scandal or uncertainty."

Alex's mind locked onto one word.

Steele.

The moment Catherine said it, everything clicked into place.

And now, from this conversation, he'd learned something crucial: the Steeles were no longer aligned with Catherine. They'd turned against her. Switched sides entirely to support Richard.

Which meant they were in the enemy camp now.

A cold satisfaction settled in Alex's chest.

Good.

That made things simpler. Cleaner.

He could take his revenge without worrying about political complications or damaging Catherine's position. The Steeles had made themselves enemies of both Catherine and himself simultaneously.

But something else nagged at him... the mention of James, the incident that had apparently triggered this entire political shift.

The event that had made Catherine's supporters question her leadership.

"What happened to James?" Alex asked, voice carefully neutral. "Actually happened, I mean."

Both women turned to look at him.

Catherine's gaze shifted to Victoria first, something passing between them... a silent communication that suggested this was painful territory. Then she looked back at Alex, her expression hardening with a mixture of anger and bitter resignation.

"The same thing that happens to any prince who starts thinking the throne is already in his grasp," she said, voice carrying an edge. "He got careless. Started losing focus. Thought his position was secure enough that he could afford to be... indulgent."

Catherine's fingers tightened around her wine glass.

"He got drugged," Catherine said, each word precise and controlled. "During what should have been a harmless social gathering. Someone slipped something into his drink... a poison so potent, so rare, that we didn't even recognize the symptoms at first."

Genuine anger flickered across her features.

"It ate away at his cultivation slowly. Week after week, his body deteriorated. His muscles weakening, his physical strength draining away like sand through broken fingers." Her voice hardened.

"By the time we understood what was happening, the damage was irreversible."

She took a breath, steadying herself.

"His cultivation is gone. Completely. All that potential, all those years of training, destroyed by a single dose of poison." The fury beneath her flat tone was palpable. "He'll never cultivate again."

Her fingers tightened around her wine glass.

"And without cultivation, he lost everything else. His claim to succeed Father. His position in the family. His future." She looked up, meeting their eyes. "You can't lead House Blackwood as a mortal. The moment his power vanished, so did his candidacy."

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