The Prison-Made Queen novel Chapter 1000

Talbot snapped his head up, roaring at the paralyzed bodyguards, cold sweat pouring down his forehead.

"Stop!"

A sharp, icy woman's voice sliced through the chaos from the doorway.

Reese marched into the room. She had clearly been hovering nearby and walked right in when the shouting started.

Her predatory gaze swept over the panicking staff, instantly locking down the room. Then, she stepped forward and clamped her manicured hand over Talbot's wrist, her grip vicious enough to make him wince as he reached for his phone.

"Reese! What the hell are you doing? He's unconscious! We need an ambulance right now, get out of my way!"

Talbot was frantic, violently trying to rip his arm free.

"An ambulance?"

"Talbot, use your brain!"

"Did you forget what we've been doing to him for the last three days?! You bring EMTs in here, the sirens go off, and tomorrow morning's headline will be 'Langley Group Chairman Driven to Critical Condition by His Own Son'! How are you going to explain locking him in this room? We'd be crucified!"

No matter how ruthless Talbot was in the boardroom, watching his own father die was tearing him apart. But Reese felt absolutely nothing.

She shot a clinical, detached glance at the motionless old man in the chair, who looked like he could take his last breath at any second. A glint of pure, calculated ambition flashed in her eyes.

"Talbot, take a breath and think about this! If you send him to the hospital now, everything we've built, every single move we've made, burns to the ground! The board will use this to butcher us!"

"You... you're telling me to just stand here and watch him die?"

"I can't do that!"

She dug her perfectly manicured nails into Talbot's forearm, her voice a toxic blend of seduction and threat.

"Talbot, I know this is hard. But think about the reality. If you save him now, and he wakes up... he will despise you. He will make it his dying mission to ruin you!"

"He'll strip us of everything! Think about how many years we've been forced to smile and play second fiddle! Think about the empire that was supposed to be yours, that he held hostage! The Langley Group is literally in the palm of your hand right now!"

"This is our one shot. Are you really going to throw away everything we've ever wanted just because you got weak at the finish line?"

Talbot's entire body shuddered. He stared into Reese's eyes, seeing nothing but bottomless greed and absolute ruthlessness.

Her cold-blooded logic sent a shiver down his spine.

But the terrifying truth was... every single word she said was exactly what he needed to hear.