
THE EMPIRE WITHIN
bashirtajudeen90 · Ongoing · 51.5k Words
Introduction
Story Description
Elena Cruz has it all—a billion-dollar tech empire, a corner office in Manhattan, and a reputation as one of the most brilliant CEOs of her generation. She built CruzTech from the ground up, transforming her father's modest import business into a global powerhouse. But success comes with a price she never imagined paying.
When her father, Antonio Cruz, is found murdered in his penthouse, Elena's perfect world shatters. The police investigation reveals a nightmare: her family's empire is built on blood money. For decades, the Cruz name has been a front for a powerful European cartel trafficking drugs and humans across continents. Every contract she signed, every expansion she celebrated, was funded by crime.
As Elena digs deeper, she discovers her charming brother Julian is neck-deep in the operation, and her mother's death years ago was no accident. An anonymous message leads her to a hidden vault in Switzerland containing evidence that could destroy everyone she loves—or save her life.
But Elena isn't the only one searching for answers. Detective Ryan Hale suspects she's covering up her father's murder, while Vera Ivanova, the ruthless head of the cartel, wants Elena dead to protect her empire. Hunted by assassins and the FBI, Elena must run.
What follows is a deadly game of deception across three continents. Betrayal comes from those closest to her. Trust becomes a weapon. And as Elena gets closer to the truth, she realizes the most dangerous person in this game might be herself.
In a world where power is everything and family is a lie, how far would you go to survive? Elena Cruz is about to find out—and the answer will destroy everything she's built.
Chapter 1
Elena Cruz stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows of her corner office, looking down at Manhattan from forty-two stories high. The city stretched below her like a kingdom she had conquered with nothing but intelligence and determination. Cars moved like toys on the streets. People looked smaller than ants. From this height, everything seemed manageable and under control.
At thirty-four years old, Elena was the youngest female CEO of a Fortune 500 technology company. CruzTech was her creation, built from her vision and sacrifice. Business magazines called her a genius. Newspapers wrote stories about her rise from poverty to power. She had worked sixteen-hour days for fifteen years to earn those headlines.
Elena turned from the window and walked to her massive oak desk. Her black heels clicked sharply on the marble floor with each step. She wore a perfectly tailored black suit that cost more than most people earned in a month. Her dark hair was pulled back in a tight, professional style. Everything about her appearance screamed power and success. She had learned early that looking weak meant being weak in the business world.
Her phone buzzed with a message from her assistant Sarah. "Board meeting in ten minutes, Ms. Cruz."
Elena picked up her tablet and reviewed the quarterly financial reports one final time. The numbers were excellent. CruzTech had grown by thirty-two percent this year alone. They had opened new offices in London, Tokyo, Singapore, and Dubai. Their stock price had doubled. Everything was going exactly according to her carefully designed plan.
The intercom on her desk crackled to life. "Ms. Cruz, your father is on line two."
Elena pressed the button to take the call. "Hello, Papa."
"Elena, my beautiful daughter." Antonio Cruz's voice came through the speaker, warm and commanding. Even at sixty-eight years old, he sounded like a man who owned the world. "Are you coming to dinner tonight? Your brother will be there."
"I have back-to-back meetings until eight," Elena replied, glancing at her packed schedule. "I can try to stop by around nine."
"Try?" Antonio's voice hardened slightly. "Family dinners are not optional, Elena. Cancel your meetings. Be here at seven. This is important."
Elena felt a familiar frustration rising. Her father always expected everyone to drop everything when he called. "Papa, I have investors flying in from Tokyo. I cannot cancel."
"Then bring them to dinner. I will not take no for an answer. Seven o'clock sharp." The line went dead before Elena could protest further.
She set down the phone and took a deep breath. Her relationship with Antonio was complicated at best. He had built the family fortune from absolutely nothing, starting with a tiny shipping business in Madrid forty years ago. He taught her that success required complete sacrifice. That showing weakness meant death in business. That family loyalty came before everything else, always.
But lately, something had changed. Antonio had become more demanding and secretive. He called at strange hours asking odd questions about CruzTech's financial structure. He wanted to know which board members she trusted completely. Which executives had access to offshore accounts. His behavior worried her, though she would never admit it out loud.
Elena gathered her materials and headed to the boardroom. The meeting lasted two hours. She presented expansion plans for the Asian market, answered questions from skeptical board members, and approved a fifty-million-dollar marketing budget. She spoke with absolute confidence, revealing none of the worry growing in the back of her mind.
When the meeting finally ended, she returned to her office and worked through dozens of emails. The sun set over Manhattan, painting the sky orange and purple. The city lights began to glow like thousands of tiny stars below her window. Elena barely noticed the beauty anymore. She had trained herself to see only numbers and opportunities.
At seven-fifteen, her phone buzzed with a text from Julian, her younger brother. "Dad is furious you're late. His paella is getting cold. Hurry up before I eat your share."
Elena smiled despite her stress. Julian was thirty-one but still acted like a teenager most of the time. He was charming, funny, and completely irresponsible. Their father complained constantly that Julian lacked ambition and discipline. That he cared more about parties and women than building the family business. But Elena loved him anyway. He was the only person in her life who could make her genuinely laugh.
She grabbed her coat and briefcase, then took the private elevator down to the underground parking garage. Her driver Marcus stood waiting beside the black Mercedes, as he did every evening.
"Good evening, Ms. Cruz." He opened the rear door for her.
"Marcus, take me to my father's penthouse, please. And drive fast. I'm already late."
The drive through Manhattan traffic took nearly forty minutes. Elena sat in the back seat answering emails on her phone and reviewing contracts. She was so focused on work that she never noticed the dark SUV following three cars behind them. She never saw the man in the passenger seat watching her through tinted windows and speaking quietly into a phone.
They arrived at Antonio's luxury building just before eight o'clock. The doorman Robert greeted Elena warmly as she entered the marble lobby. She always made a point to remember the names of service workers. It was good business practice and simple human decency.
She rode the private elevator that went directly to the penthouse on the top floor. The doors opened straight into her father's apartment. Elena stepped out and immediately sensed something was wrong. The lights were dimmed lower than usual. The classical music her father always played was completely silent. The air felt thick and strange, like the moment before a storm breaks.
"Papa?" Elena called out. Her voice echoed strangely in the silence. "Julian? I'm here."
No response came back.
Elena's heartbeat quickened. She walked slowly through the marble entrance hall into the vast living room. Expensive furniture cast long shadows in the dim light. The floor-to-ceiling windows showed the glittering Manhattan skyline, but inside the penthouse everything felt dark and cold and wrong.
Then she saw him.
Antonio Cruz lay motionless on the floor near his antique desk. His expensive white shirt was soaked dark red with blood. His eyes stared blankly at the ceiling, seeing nothing at all. His mouth hung slightly open, frozen in an expression of shock or pain or both.
Elena couldn't breathe. Couldn't move. Couldn't think. She stood completely frozen, staring at her father's body. The man who had taught her everything she knew. The man who had built an empire and expected her to protect it. The man who had made her strong and ruthless and successful.
Dead on the floor.
Her legs finally moved before her brain could process what was happening. She ran to him and dropped hard to her knees beside his body. Her hands shook violently as she touched his face. His skin was still slightly warm, but there was no pulse in his neck. No breath from his lips. No life left at all.
"No, no, no, Papa, please no." The words spilled from her mouth in a desperate whisper. "Wake up. Please wake up."
But Antonio Cruz would never wake up again.
Elena grabbed her phone with trembling fingers and somehow managed to dial emergency services.
"911, what is your emergency?" The operator's voice sounded impossibly calm.
"My father has been shot. I need help immediately. Please send someone right now." Elena forced herself to sound steady and controlled. She gave the address clearly. Answered the operator's questions mechanically. Her mind worked on autopilot while her heart shattered into pieces.
She stayed kneeling beside Antonio, holding his cold hand, until she heard sirens wailing outside the building. Only then did she force herself to stand and look around the room more carefully.
Papers were scattered across the desk in messy piles. A large oil painting on the wall hung crooked, revealing a wall safe behind it. The safe door stood wide open. Completely empty inside.
Someone had been searching for something specific.
Elena walked carefully to the desk, her heels clicking on the marble floor. Her father's laptop computer was missing. Several file drawers had been pulled open and rifled through. Documents were scattered everywhere. This was not a random robbery or a crime of passion. Someone had come here with a clear purpose, looking for particular information.
The elevator suddenly dinged.
Elena spun around, her heart pounding. A tall man stepped out, followed by two uniformed police officers. He was perhaps forty years old, with sharp gray eyes and a hard, suspicious face. He held up a gold detective's badge.
"I'm Detective Ryan Hale, NYPD Homicide. Please step away from the body, Ms. Cruz."
Elena moved backward slowly. Within minutes, more police officers flooded into the penthouse. Crime scene investigators, photographers, and forensic technicians filled the room. They moved around her like she was invisible, like this was not her father lying dead on the floor.
Detective Hale approached her where she stood. "I'm very sorry for your loss, Ms. Cruz. I need to ask you some questions right now."
"Of course, Detective."
"When did you last speak with your father?"
"This afternoon around five o'clock. He called me at the office and invited me to dinner tonight."
"Was anyone else supposed to be here this evening?"
"My brother, Julian." Elena's stomach suddenly dropped with new fear. "Where is Julian? Is he safe? Have you found him?"
Hale exchanged meaningful looks with another officer before answering. "We're trying to locate your brother now. What time exactly did you arrive at this apartment?"
"Just before eight o'clock."
"Did you touch anything besides your father? Move anything at all?"
"No. Just him. I checked if he was still alive, but he was already gone."
Hale made notes in a small leather notebook. "Ms. Cruz, I need to ask you something difficult. Do you know of anyone who would want to harm your father?"
Elena looked directly into his suspicious gray eyes. "My father was an extremely powerful man, Detective. Powerful people always have enemies."
"What kind of business was Antonio Cruz involved in?"
"Import and export operations. International real estate. Technology investments through my company. All completely legal and legitimate."
"All completely legal," Hale repeated slowly. His tone clearly said he did not believe her at all.
Before Elena could respond, her phone suddenly rang. The screen showed "Unknown Number." She answered it.
Heavy breathing filled her ear. Then a voice, mechanically distorted and threatening, spoke six terrifying words: "Stop looking, or you're next."
The line went dead instantly.
Elena stared at her phone. Her hand shook. Detective Hale watched her carefully with those sharp gray eyes. "What was that, Ms. Cruz?"
"A threat," Elena said quietly. "Someone just threatened to kill me."
Last Chapters
#43 Chapter 43 Into The Machine
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#42 Chapter 42 The shadows Network
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#41 Chapter 41 The New Order
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#40 Chapter 40 The Human Network
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#39 Chapter 39 The Seed
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#38 Chapter 38 The Shadow Return
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#37 Chapter 37 The Echo
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#36 Chapter 36 Into the Code
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#35 Chapter 35 The signal that wouldn't Die
Last Updated: 11/1/2025#34 Chapter 34 The Mirror World
Last Updated: 11/1/2025
You Might Like 😍
The Biker's Fate
I squeezed my eyes shut.
"Dani," he pressed. "Do you get me?"
"No, Austin, I don't," I admitted as I pulled my robe closed again and sat up. "You confuse me."
He dragged his hands down his face. "Tell me what's on your mind."
I sighed. "You're everything my parents warned me against. You're secretive, but you're also honest. I feel wholly protected by you, but then you scare me more than anyone I've ever known. You're a bad boy, but when I dated a so-called good one, he turned out to be the devil, so, yeah, I don't get you because you're not what I expected. You drive me crazier than anyone I've ever met, but then you make me feel complete. I'm feeling things I don't quite know how to process and that makes me want to run. I don't want to give up something that might be really, really good, but I also don't want to be stupid and fall for a boy just because he's super pretty and makes me come."
Danielle Harris is the daughter of an overprotective police chief and has led a sheltered life. As a kindergarten teacher, she's as far removed from the world of Harleys and bikers as you could get, but when she's rescued by the sexy and dangerous Austin Carver, her life is changed forever.
Although Austin 'Booker' Carver is enamored by the innocent Dani, he tries to keep the police chief's daughter at arm's length. But when a threat is made from an unexpected source, he finds himself falling hard and fast for the only woman who can tame his wild heart.
Will Booker be able to find the source of the threat before it's too late?
Will Dani finally give her heart to a man who's everything she's been warned about?
His Mission
Emily is suddenly thrown from one world of danger and uncertainty into another. The two teens ride the rollercoaster of love, unbelievable betrayal and heartache.
The mafia princess return
Accardi
“I thought you said you were done chasing me?” Gen mocked.
“I am done chasing you.”
Before she could formulate a witty remark, Matteo threw her down. She landed hard on her back atop his dining room table. She tried to sit up when she noticed what he was doing. His hands were working on his belt. It came free of his pants with a violent yank. She collapsed back on her elbows, her mouth gaping open at the display. His face was a mask of sheer determination, his eyes were a dark gold swimming with heat and desire. His hands wrapped around her thighs and pulled her to the edge of the table. He glided his fingers up her thighs and hooked several around the inside of her panties. His knuckles brushed her dripping sex.
“You’re soaking wet, Genevieve. Tell me, was it me that made you this way or him?” his voice told her to be careful with her answer. His knuckles slid down through her folds and she threw her head back as she moaned. “Weakness?”
“You…” she breathed.
Genevieve loses a bet she can’t afford to pay. In a compromise, she agrees to convince any man her opponent chooses to go home with her that night. What she doesn’t realize when her sister’s friend points out the brooding man sitting alone at the bar, is that man won’t be okay with just one night with her. No, Matteo Accardi, Don of one of the largest gangs in New York City doesn’t do one night stands. Not with her anyway.
Mated by Contract to the Alpha
William—my devastatingly handsome, wealthy werewolf fiancé destined to become Delta—was supposed to be mine forever. After five years together, I was ready to walk down the aisle and claim my happily ever after.
Instead, I found him with her. And their son.
Betrayed, jobless, and drowning in my father's medical bills, I hit rock bottom harder than I ever imagined possible. Just when I thought I'd lost everything, salvation came in the form of the most dangerous man I'd ever encountered.
Damien Sterling—future Alpha of the Silver Moon Shadow Pack and ruthless CEO of Sterling Group—slid a contract across his desk with predatory grace.
“Sign this, little doe, and I'll give you everything your heart desires. Wealth. Power. Revenge. But understand this—the moment you put pen to paper, you become mine. Body, soul, and everything in between.”
I should have run. Instead, I signed my name and sealed my fate.
Now I belong to the Alpha. And he's about to show me just how wild love can be.
I Slapped My Fiancé—Then Married His Billionaire Nemesis
Technically, Rhys Granger was my fiancé now—billionaire, devastatingly hot, and a walking Wall Street wet dream. My parents shoved me into the engagement after Catherine disappeared, and honestly? I didn’t mind. I’d crushed on Rhys for years. This was my chance, right? My turn to be the chosen one?
Wrong.
One night, he slapped me. Over a mug. A stupid, chipped, ugly mug my sister gave him years ago. That’s when it hit me—he didn’t love me. He didn’t even see me. I was just a warm-bodied placeholder for the woman he actually wanted. And apparently, I wasn’t even worth as much as a glorified coffee cup.
So I slapped him right back, dumped his ass, and prepared for disaster—my parents losing their minds, Rhys throwing a billionaire tantrum, his terrifying family plotting my untimely demise.
Obviously, I needed alcohol. A lot of alcohol.
Enter him.
Tall, dangerous, unfairly hot. The kind of man who makes you want to sin just by existing. I’d met him only once before, and that night, he just happened to be at the same bar as my drunk, self-pitying self. So I did the only logical thing: I dragged him into a hotel room and ripped off his clothes.
It was reckless. It was stupid. It was completely ill-advised.
But it was also: Best. Sex. Of. My. Life.
And, as it turned out, the best decision I’d ever made.
Because my one-night stand isn’t just some random guy. He’s richer than Rhys, more powerful than my entire family, and definitely more dangerous than I should be playing with.
And now, he’s not letting me go.
Omega Bound
Thane Knight is the alpha of the Midnight Pack of the La Plata Mountain Range, the largest wolf shifter pack in the world. He is an alpha by day and hunts the shifter trafficking ring with his group of mercenaries by night. His hunt for vengeance leads to one raid that changes his life.
Tropes:
Touch her and die/Slow burn romance/Fated Mates/Found family twist/Close circle betrayal/Cinnamon roll for only her/Traumatized heroine/Rare wolf/Hidden powers/Knotting/Nesting/Heats/Luna/Attempted assassination
The War God Alpha's Arranged Bride
Yet Alexander made his decision clear to the world: “Evelyn is the only woman I will ever marry.”
My Possessive Alpha Twins For Mate
My drunk stepfather remained indifferent, his weight suffocating, making it hard to breathe as my heart raced.
Suddenly, the door slammed open, and two figures burst in.
"Get off her!" a deafening roar echoed.
I didn't expect the twin brothers who'd bullied me at school to come charging in like gods to save me.
After my grandmother passed, I had to move in with my mom and stepdad, who treated me like a servant. I prayed every day for my 18th birthday to come, so l could leave and escape this broken home.
However, on my first day at my new school, l encountered the legendary twins everyone feared.
To make matters worse, the Moon Goddess revealed they were both my mates!
After helping me out with my stepdad, my twin mate cornered me, played with my hair, and whispered possessively, "You belong to us, our little mate..."
Goddess Of The Underworld.
When the veil between the Divine, the Living, and the Dead begins to crack, Envy is thrust beneath with a job she can’t drop: keep the worlds from bleeding together, shepherd the lost, and make ordinary into armor, breakfasts, bedtime, battle plans. Peace lasts exactly one lullaby. This is the story of a border pup who became a goddess by choosing her family; of four imperfect alphas learning how to stay; of cake, iron, and daylight negotiations. Steamy, fierce, and full of heart, Goddess of the Underworld is a reverse harem, found-family paranormal romance where love writes the rules and keeps three realms from falling apart.
Fangs, Fate & Other Bad Decisions
After finding out her boyfriend cheated, the last thing she expected was to stumble across a wounded man in an alley. And definitely not one with fangs. But thanks to a mix of cocktails, shame, and her questionable life choices, she takes him home. Turns out, he’s not just any vampire—he’s a king. And according to him, she’s his fated mate.
Now, she’s stuck with an overprotective, brooding bloodsucker who keeps rescuing her, a growing list of enemies who want her dead, and an undeniable attraction that’s making it very hard to remember why falling for a vampire is a terrible idea.
Because if she’s not careful, she won’t just lose her heart—she’ll lose her humanity.












