Before the Fall: Rise of the Apocalypse King-Chapter 38: The End of Tolerance

The next day, Ashley reached the office early. She looked calm on the outside, but her mind was already racing with plans.

As soon as she stepped inside her private office, she called one of the people she trusted the most—Kevin.

"Kevin, I want you to arrange a meeting," she said firmly. "Only invite the people from my close circle. No one else."

Kevin nodded without asking questions. "Consider it done, Boss."

Once he left, Ashley walked over to her desk and sat down. She opened her laptop and began browsing the internet.

She wasn’t just wasting time—she was doing research, double-checking some important things, and looking into a few leads she had found the night before.

Even though she was surrounded by luxury and peace now, she knew it wouldn’t last. Something big was coming.

And she had no intention of being unprepared this time.

She quickly found what she was looking for and closed the internet and her web searches.

Next, she opened up a secret folder and started looking through the assets, properties, and everything else she owned... and she owned a lot of those.

Lastly, she checked her bank balance and was very much satisfied with the numbers she saw there. She had several accounts, some in different countries as well, and every single one of them was loaded from the years of hard work she had put into Blackwood’s business empire.

Just as she finished looking up everything that she planned, her phone buzzed with an incoming call. She immediately picked it up when she saw the caller ID.

"Boss, everyone’s waiting for you in the meeting room. I’ve also made sure to distract the outer circle, so no one will find out about this meeting," Kevin spoke from the other end of the call.

"Good. I’ll be there in five," Ashley replied before ending the call and shutting down her laptop and computer. She didn’t forget to lock her office before she headed toward the secret meeting room.

Just like she told Kevin, she arrived within five minutes.

When she entered the room, she was met with several familiar faces. They all greeted her politely, their expressions serious. They knew that if such a meeting was being held in secret, the situation had to be urgent.

Ashley fixed her gaze on the seven people standing around the long meeting table. She signaled for them to take their seats before she too settled down.

"Boss, what’s going on?" Kevin finally asked after noticing her unusually serious expression. He had been wondering about the reason behind this sudden meeting but hadn’t dared to ask—until now.

Ashley looked around the room at the only people she trusted in this new life. These were the people she had chosen to rely on after the betrayal that had cost her everything in her past life.

She took a deep breath... and then finally dropped the bomb.

"We are closing our base... tonight."

Silence.

No one dared to even breathe loudly after Ashley announced the most unexpected news.

Everyone just sat there in complete silence, staring at her as if she was suddenly talking in a language they couldn’t understand. Or maybe they were just waiting for her to say it was all a joke.

"I’m being serious," Ashley confirmed their worst nightmare without showing an ounce of hesitation. "We are closing our base tonight, and the seven of you will make sure that we leave behind nothing. There should be no trace left for anyone to ever find us once daylight breaks tomorrow morning."

This time, she waited patiently for them to absorb her words. She just sat there and watched them process the news. She wasn’t sure how long it took before finally one of them decided to speak.

"But Boss... why are we closing our base all of a sudden?" It was Valeska who asked the question. The twenty-seven-year-old’s dark eyes were fixed on Ashley as she waited for the answer, along with the rest of the six members of the inner circle.

Ashley looked around the table, taking in the anxious expressions of each one of them. All seven had been with her since childhood. She had trained with them, fought with them, and even killed with them. They had spent more than fifteen years together.

Each of these seven people was highly skilled at keeping their expressions unreadable, no matter the situation—yet they were failing badly now as they heard her sudden announcement about closing the base that had existed for nearly a century.

"I know you all have questions. But before I answer them, there’s something I want to ask you all. It’s the same question I asked Kevin earlier today," she said, her eyes moving across their faces. "Do you all trust me?"

"Yes!"

No hesitation. No second thoughts. No regrets. They all answered in unison without missing even a second.

Ashley felt a weight immediately lift off her shoulders once she heard their response. With a small nod of her head, she continued, "Then I want all seven of you to trust my decision to close the base. If we want to survive, we need to end things before it’s too late."

Her words made the seven exchange worried glances among themselves.

"Boss, is something bad going to happen?" Jasper asked.

Ashley let out a small sigh and nodded. "We need to prepare for a dangerous upcoming disaster. It’s a top secret in the government, and I only found out about it this morning through my private sources. So make sure not to speak about it in front of anyone else."

After seeing all seven of them nod in understanding, she continued, "But the main reason we’re closing the base is because of our own people."

Shock and confusion were clear on their faces as they exchanged more glances, trying to understand what she meant.

The outer circle has rebellious intentions."

Grace revealed, taking everyone by surprise even though they all had questioned the outer circle’s loyalty toward her at least once in the past.

"They want to replace me, and if I don’t stop them, they might succeed sooner or later."

"How dare he! I knew Daniel and his men were up to no good," Kevin growled in anger. He had never trusted the outer circle, especially their leader, Daniel.

"What’s your plan, Boss?" Aleena asked from where she sat next to Kevin. Despite her charming face and kind appearance, the coldness and killing intent in her eyes shone brightly—a contrast that always left everyone stunned.

At the question, Ashley turned her attention to Ryan. "You have more than enough evidence to prove Daniel’s disloyalty toward the Blackwoods, right?"

she asked the man who had been secretly tailing Daniel for the past three years and collecting information on his plans to betray her.

In her previous life, she had known about Daniel’s betrayal but chose to ignore it. After the apocalypse struck Earth, she didn’t want to throw him out, thinking it would be inhumane. She didn’t realize then just how foolish she had been.

But in this life, she wouldn’t repeat the same mistake. She would never allow someone like Daniel to become a threat again.

"I have more than enough to erase his very existence," Ryan answered with a proud grin, causing the rest of the team to stare at him in shock. They clearly had no idea about his secret mission.

"Wait... even if Daniel is guilty, there are hundreds of people in the outer circle. What happens to them when we shut the base?"

Maven asked. He wasn’t challenging Ashley’s decision—he just wanted to understand the plan more clearly.

"It’s because of those people that we need to close the base," Ashley replied.

"Most of them are more loyal to Daniel than they are to me. And the ones who aren’t yet, will be soon.

Since we can’t go around killing hundreds overnight, closing the base and leaving them with nothing is the best solution."

The seven nodded, finally understanding the real reason behind her decision.

"And what about Daniel? How are you going to handle him? Should we hand him over to the authorities?" Kevin asked.

Ashley shook her head.

Her eyes gleamed with deadly intent. "We can’t afford to attract any attention from the authorities while we’re trying to erase our traces. I have a perfect plan for Daniel... one that he truly deserves for betraying me.

----

What these people didn’t know was that Ashley and Daniel had been secretly dating. In fact, she was his fiancée.

That was the real reason she had tolerated him for so long—his attitude, his ego, and even the way he misused his power. She kept quiet and let things slide.

But that’s all in the past now.

In this second chance at life, things were going to be different.

This time, she would be the one in control.

She would be the queen—strong, fearless, and powerful. And no one, not even Daniel, would stand in her way again.

==≠====================

Author’s Note:

Roman has chosen the dark path. The world will burn again... but under **his** rule this time. freewёbnoνel.com

If you’re enjoying the chaos, don’t forget to:

- 🔥 Drop a Power Stone

- ✍️ Leave a review

- 💬 Share your thoughts in the comments

Your support helps the story rise — and ensures Roman doesn’t come after *me* for stopping. 😂

See you in the next Chapter!

—Author

New n𝙤vel chapters are published on fre(e)webnov(l).com