Chapter 14 – Don't Mess With a Twain

Mannie’s POV

My phone buzzed again the moment I stepped out of Dominic’s office.

I barely glanced at the screen before answering.

“Hello?”

“Mannie?”

The familiar voice of my best friend, Kayla, broke through the static in my chest. She was breathless, probably from chasing after Adam again.

I could hear chaos in the background—Jay and Zane arguing over something stupid, Lily trying to referee, Sophie giggling in between.

But Kayla’s voice was able to overcome the background noise.

“You okay? You sound like you’re about to set something on fire.”

“I might,” I said, too bitterly. “And it’ll be wearing a suit.”

“What happened?”

“I’ll explain later.”

“No. Explain now. You sound like a pressure cooker.”

I sighed, pressing my back against the wall of the elevator as it hummed down to the ground floor.

“It’s Evan. He tried to corner me in a hotel room. Said if I didn’t sleep with him, I’d lose my job. And he—” My throat tightened. “He bragged about doing it to another girl who… who didn’t make it.”

There was silence on the other end.

Dead silence.

Then Kayla’s voice came back, icy and calm.

“Come home.”

“What?”

“Now. Come home, Mannie. You’re too angry to think clearly. Let’s talk before you blow something up—and drag eight little Twains with you.”

“I—”

“No argument. I’ve got dinner covered. Adam just finished smearing mashed bananas on the cat, so I know your day’s been easier than mine.”

I let out a small laugh.

Not because it was funny, but because I needed the laugh before the tears came.

“I’m coming,” I whispered.

“Good. I’ll have tea and rage cookies waiting.”

The second I stepped into the apartment, Adam ran straight into my legs with his tiny arms wide open.

“Mommy! You came back! Zane said you were gonna beat up bad guys like Batman!”

I crouched and kissed the top of his soft curls. “Zane isn’t wrong.”

Zane poked his head out from behind the couch. “Did you at least get a good punch in?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Violence is never the answer.”

Jay countered, “That depends on the question.”

“Guys—”

Sophie popped a chip into her mouth and grinned. “So, who do we have to destroy?”

Kayla stepped out of the kitchen with a towel over her shoulder and a fierce look in her eyes. “Okay. Spill. Every word. I’m not your therapist, but I’m a damn good listener with access to snacks and rage.”

I collapsed onto the couch and told them everything—how Evan had cornered me, what he said about Linda, the flash drive, the recording, and my disaster of a confrontation with Dominic Blackmoore.

“He’s insufferable,” I said, throwing my hands up. “Arrogant. Thinks the sun rises just to bless his reflection. Probably imagines women fall at his feet in slow motion with violin music in the background.”

Tera nodded from the armchair. “Sounds like a narcissist with a god complex.”

“Exactly!”

“But…” Kayla leaned forward. “He fired Evan, right?”

I paused. “Yeah. Said it would be effective immediately. But it didn’t feel like justice. It felt like damage control.”

Kayla sighed. “Well, you shook the castle walls today. Give it a minute.”

I frowned. “What if he protects Evan? What if he was just buying time?”

Sophie leaned on the backrest of the couch, chewing bubblegum. “Then we leak it. We’ve got a TikTok account with 12K followers. Let’s go viral.”

Jay grinned. “Operation #ExposeThePervert?”

“I’m in,” Zane said.

“I already started something,” Nate said from the hallway, walking in with his tablet in hand. “You know I don’t wait for adults to mess things up before I help.”

I stared at my five-year-old, whose expression was calm and far too grown-up for his age.

“Nate,” I said slowly. “What did you do?”

“I ran a reverse trace on Evan’s office login through the company’s intranet,” he said casually, tapping his screen. “Then I accessed his personal email. He’s been sending explicit threats to multiple female staff over the last year. He’s an idiot. Didn’t even encrypt the attachments.”

Kayla dropped the tea cup she was holding.

I stared at him, mouth open. “That’s illegal.”

“He was harassing you. I consider this self-defense.”

“That’s not—Nate—”

“Oh, and I also found his wife’s number in his contacts.” He held up the screen, where a name glowed: Clarissa Lin.

“I… What?!”

“I sent the number to your phone,” Nate said, deadpan. “I figured she deserves to know that her husband’s a walking garbage fire.”

Jay whistled. “Daaaaamn. Remind me never to cheat on my homework around you.”

Lily crossed her arms. “That’s not even remotely the same, Jay.”

I blinked at my children, feeling both terrified and proud.

Kayla was still frozen. “Okay, listen, I love your genius hacker kids, but can we maybe not trigger a lawsuit tonight?”

“I didn’t do anything illegal,” Nate muttered. “I just didn’t wait for the law to act slow.”

I shook my head. “Okay, this is going out of control. I’m handling this. Myself. Legally.”

“Sure,” Nate said, clearly not convinced.

Sophie tossed me my phone. “So, what are you gonna do now, Mom?”

I stared at Clarissa’s number on the screen.

Then back at the flash drive still in my purse.

Then at my children—my amazing, chaotic, smart-mouthed children—and Kayla, who looked like she was ready to commit arson for me.

What was I going to do?

Honestly?

I didn’t know.

But I knew one thing for sure.

Evan wasn’t going to sleep peacefully tonight.

And Dominic Blackmoore?

If he thought he could walk around acting like the CEO of the planet, stepping over people like me, then he had another thing coming.

-----

Later that night, when the kids were asleep, and Kayla was snoring lightly in the armchair with a half-eaten cookie still in her hand, I sat at the kitchen table with my laptop open.

I plugged in the flash drive.

Linda’s email popped up on the screen.

It was a long, heartbreaking letter, sent to HR, begging for help, describing exactly what Evan did to her—and no one ever replied.

I sat there, fists clenched.

Not anymore.

I wasn’t going to be silent like Linda.

I wasn’t going to pretend like I didn’t have a voice.

I was going to be louder than Evan ever expected.

And if Dominic Blackmoore tried to stand in my way?

I’d destroy them both with a smile.