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Chapter 3
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2026-01-30 05:29:31Elara spent the night on a bench in Riverside Park. She couldn't afford a hotel. Her credit cards had been declined when she tried, frozen probably, pending some kind of fraud investigation Marcus had no doubt initiated.
When dawn broke gray and cold over the city, she walked to the nearest coffee shop. She used the last of her cash to buy a small black coffee and sat in the corner booth with her phone.
The news had exploded overnight.
"Disgraced Scientist's Meltdown at Golden Gala" was trending on three different platforms. The videos had been viewed millions of times. Someone had created a hashtag: #AethelgardMeltdown.
She scrolled through the coverage with a kind of detached horror.
Then she saw it.
A new article, posted two hours ago.
"Medical Records Reveal Troubled History of Researcher Who Disrupted Gala."
A low, involuntary sound, a ragged gasp, escaped her. Her hands went numb.
She clicked the link.
The article, loaded with images of medical documents, patient records, psychiatric evaluations.
Her name was on every single one.
"Patient: Dr. Elara Vance
Diagnosis: Clinical psychosis with paranoid delusions
Treatment: Recommended inpatient psychiatric care
Physician: Dr. Raymond Cortez, MD"
The date on the evaluation was from eight months ago.
Elara stared at the screen. She'd never seen these documents before in her life, or met any Dr. Raymond Cortez and certainly never had been diagnosed with psychosis.
The documents were fake.
But they looked real. Official letterhead, stamped signatures, case numbers that probably checked out in whatever database Marcus had paid someone to insert them into.
The article continued below the images.
"Sources close to Dr. Vance report that she has been receiving treatment for mental health issues for nearly a year. Her ex-partner, Dr. Marcus Sterling, attempted to support her through this difficult period but ultimately ended their relationship when her behavior became too erratic to manage.
'I wanted to protect her privacy,' Sterling told reporters this morning. 'But given her public accusations last night, I feel I have a responsibility to share the truth. Elara is sick. She needs help, not a platform to spread these delusions.'
A wave of sudden, violent nausea hit Elara, forcing her to clutch the edge of the cheap formica table. The casual, concerned lie was more sickening than the forged documents.
There were more documents below. Security footage from Aethelgard Pharmaceuticals showing Elara in the lab late at night. The timestamp read 3:47 AM.
The caption: "Vance was frequently found in the laboratory during unauthorized hours, exhibiting erratic behavior and paranoia about her colleagues."
Another footage showed her arguing with someone in a hallway. The other person's face was blurred for privacy, but Elara recognized Isabella's red coat.
The caption: "Confrontation between Vance and Dr. Isabella Cross, six weeks prior to the Golden Gala incident."
Elara's hands shook as she scrolled.
Every piece of evidence looked real. Every document, every video, every testimony from unnamed sources.
It was a masterpiece of character assassination.
And it had clearly been planned for months.
She thought about the security footage of her in the lab at 3 AM. Marcus hadn't been supporting her career; he'd been encouraging the late nights, pushing the deadlines, and gently manufacturing a crime scene. Every "I believe in you" had been a lie designed to get a high-quality, incriminating timestamp on a security tape.
He'd been setting her up.
The footage of her arguing with Isabella in the hallway, that had been the day Isabella first arrived at Aethelgard and walked into Elara's lab uninvited to go through her notes. Elara had confronted her about it, and Marcus, standing right there, had told Elara she was overreacting, that Isabella was just eager to contribute. He'd been manufacturing evidence even then, positioning her outrage as paranoia for the camera.
The medical documents from Dr. Cortez were the final piece. Completely fabricated, but impossible to disprove without access to sealed medical records that didn't exist.
It was perfect.
Elara set her phone down on the table then subtly observed her surroundings
Around her, morning customers ordered lattes and pastries. Someone's laptop played a news program at low volume. She heard her own voice shouting from the speakers.
"That's my research! You know I did, Marcus! Tell them!"
A woman at the next table glanced at Elara, then quickly looked away.
Did she recognize her?
Elara pulled the hood of her jacket up and hunched lower in the booth.
Her phone buzzed. An email from Aethelgard Pharmaceuticals.
"Dr. Vance,
In light of recent events and the serious allegations regarding your conduct, Aethelgard Pharmaceuticals is conducting a formal investigation into your employment history and research contributions. Effective immediately, your building access has been revoked and your credentials are under review.
You are required to appear before the Ethics Committee on Friday, June 14th at 9:00 AM to address these concerns. Failure to appear will result in immediate termination and potential legal action.
Regards,
Human Resources Department
Aethelgard Pharmaceuticals"
Friday was tomorrow. Less than twenty-four hours to prepare for her professional execution.
Elara closed her email. She opened her banking app.
Account balance: $247.83
Her savings account was empty. The joint account she'd shared with Marcus showed a balance of $0.00 with a note: "Account closed by primary holder."
He'd taken everything.
She pulled up her research files from the cloud storage. Her fingers moved across the screen, navigating to the folder where she kept her lab notebooks, her synthesis protocols, her trial data.
Access denied.
She tried again.
Access denied.
Marcus had her login credentials. He'd had them since they moved in together, back when sharing passwords seemed like an intimate gesture of trust.
He'd locked her out of her own research.
Elara set the phone down carefully. If she didn't, she'd smash it against the table.
She had two hundred and forty-seven dollars. No home, no job, no access to her research, and a reputation so thoroughly destroyed that no one in the pharmaceutical industry would ever hire her again.
The door to the coffee shop opened. A woman in a business suit walked in, her phone pressed to her ear.
"Did you see that video from the gala?" she was saying. "Completely unhinged. I feel bad for Marcus Sterling. Three years with someone that unstable must have been exhausting."
Elara stood up. She left her half-finished coffee on the table and walked out into the gray morning.
She had nowhere to go, but she knew exactly what to do. Marcus Sterling wanted her gone. He wanted her silent. That, she realized, was the one thing he would never get.
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Betrayed, I Become The CEO'S Contracted Bride Chapter 358
The oldest ledger arrived while Hammond was downstairs with the prosecutor.An evidence technician placed it on the green mat beneath the fixed light. Its cover was thicker than the 2 ledgers Vass had opened that morning, and its paper edges had darkened with age."You have 20 minutes," he said. "Don't mark the pages or lift the book from the mat. Write down what you need copied, then call me.""Understood."He left Elara alone and shut the heavy door.She had asked for the earliest surviving record that could place Arthur inside the medical program. Vass's conversion tables connected trusts, clinics and doses, but the prosecutor still needed something that did not depend on a former clerk explaining Arthur's private marks.Elara needed that link too. Arthur Vance was her father, and Subject One had been his name for her long before the federal case used it. What she did not have was the beginning in his own hand.The ledger opened stiffly.Its first pages looked nothing like Vass's l
Betrayed, I Become The CEO'S Contracted Bride Chapter 357
The temporary case room smelled of fresh toner. Hammond's phone lay facedown beside a yellow pad marked NOON at one end of the long worktable. Numbered photocopies covered everything else.The evidence staff had taken Vass and the original records elsewhere. They had left Elara stamped working copies of the conversion tables.Hammond checked the time. "Give me a minimum we can defend."Elara pulled the first 3 pages toward her. "Duplicates don't count twice. If the same symbol moves between clinics or appears in another ledger, it's still 1 subject.""And broken rows?""Provisional. No clinic or formulation match, no place in the confirmed count."That might make the result smaller than the truth, but Hammond could defend it to the prosecutor. A guess would give Arthur's lawyers something to pull apart.Hammond taped the continuation pages to the blank wall while Elara made the first column on the legal pad. He called out a code. She found the private mark attached to it, followed the
Betrayed, I Become The CEO'S Contracted Bride Chapter 356
Vass had kept the black canvas bag against her knees since Elara returned to the private room.Hammond was outside with the federal evidence staff, and a cart stopping in the corridor meant they would not stay outside much longer. Once they entered, every page in the bag would be numbered, sealed and taken somewhere Elara could examine it only through a formal request.She needed to see it beside the woman who had filed it first."They're ready," Vass said."They can wait for the minute you agreed to give me."Vass looked at the wooden door. She had established Arthur's first medical trust in 2009 and spent years turning his directions into ordinary records. She kept the bag after learning Arthur could change an instruction and leave the typist responsible.Elara held out her hand. "Put it on the table."The strap came free from Vass's wrist. She set the bag between them and opened the zipper.Trust papers came out first. Then invoices, payment records and 2 bound ledgers with dates w
Betrayed, I Become The CEO'S Contracted Bride Chapter 355
Alexander kept the engine running at the pickup curb outside the federal building. A metal sign bolted to a street pole warned that stopped vehicles would be towed.He watched the glass doors at the top of the wide stone steps. The curb was restricted and heavily monitored by cameras mounted on the walls. Security would move him along in a few minutes if Elara did not appear.He had driven himself because she had sent a short message asking him to collect her. She had not asked for a company car. A driver had not been requested to bring her home. His afternoon had been cleared so he could drive to Manhattan alone.They had not lived in the same house for three months. But she was still his wife. He refused to decide her request meant anything more than transport before she reached the street.She walked out of the building. The dark coat she had left in this morning was buttoned to her throat. Her hands carried no bags and held no documents.Her day had been spent inside with the woma
Betrayed, I Become The CEO'S Contracted Bride Chapter 354
Elara pushed the door until the latch caught. Hammond and his 2 employees remained in the corridor, close enough to enter when Vass allowed it and too far away to hear what came first.Vass watched the door, then looked at Elara. The strap of the black bag was still looped around her wrist.Elara returned to the chair opposite her. The table between them was empty."What did you do for him?""Office filings.""That can mean almost anything.""I established the first medical trust in 2009. After that, I maintained records and processed the paper Arthur gave me."Elara studied her. Vass had entered under her own name, but she had answered with a job small enough to fit inside 2 words."Did you manage any clinic?""No.""Choose the doctors?""No.""Set the doses?"Vass's fingers pressed into the fabric of the bag. "I'm not medically trained. I entered the numbers I was given."The answer removed authority without removing the work. Elara had spent years reading records made to look ordin
Betrayed, I Become The CEO'S Contracted Bride Chapter 353
Elara kept her left hand out of her coat pocket because there was nothing in it. Hammond had her phone upstairs, along with her watch and the keys she usually forgot could record sound. Vass had asked for no electronics, and the empty weight at Elara's side reminded her that Hammond had kept the agreement.The revolving doors at Foley Square turned again. Another group crossed the lobby toward the metal detectors, none of them pausing to search for Elara.Vass had chosen the meeting time after Hammond accepted her conditions. The minute had arrived. Elara watched the entrance without checking a screen, counting the space between each turn of the glass instead.For days, Leonie Vass had been a voice on a dedicated phone and the only person holding Arthur's original books. Elara had started thinking of her as part of the case rather than a person who still had to walk through a public door.Then a woman in a gray wool coat stepped inside alone.The plain black bag against her hip could
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