로그인Clara’s POVWho could that be?My heart jumped into my throat. It was almost midnight and Cameron’s penthouse had top-tier security, no one was supposed to get up to this floor without being announced or cleared.The knock came again. Louder and more aggressive.Cameron tensed above me, his body still warm and protective. He started to push himself up from the couch.“No,” I whispered urgently, grabbing his arm with both hands. “Cam, please don’t. Don’t open it.”He looked down at me, his eyes steady even though I could see the anger already simmering beneath the surface. “It’s okay, baby. I’ll handle it. Just stay here.”“No, Cam…” I sat up quickly, still clutching his hand, my voice shaky with fear. “What if it’s him? What if it’s Joe? Please don’t open the door. We don’t know who it is. Let’s just… let’s just ignore it. Please.”Another knock, this one was heavy and furious, like someone was using the side of their fist instead of their knuckles. The sound echoed through the pentho
Clara’s POVCameron’s penthouse felt like the only safe place left in the world.I couldn’t sit still. Nahhh. The moment I stepped through the door, energy crackled under my skin like electricity that I couldn’t turn off. I paced the open living room in bare feet, my socks discarded somewhere near the couch, my fingers twisting together as I replayed the morning over and over in my head.Cameron leaned against the kitchen island, watching me with that steady, patient smile of his. A half-empty glass of water sat forgotten beside him. “You’re going to wear a hole in my floor if you keep that up,” he said gently, but his eyes were warm with amusement.“I can’t help it, I just can't.” I burst out, spinning to face him. A wild, almost giddy laugh escaped me. “Cam, I just came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. They looked at the files, I mean, they really looked at them, you should see them with their strict faces and their glasses almost on their noses, they looked like if they got hold of
Joe’s POVThe study smelled like whiskey and fear.I stood at the window, my phone pressed so hard to my ear it hurt, watching the stock ticker on my laptop update in real time. Red. Everything was fucking red.“Forty-seven percent, Chris,” I said, my voice hoarse and cracking. “Forty-seven fucking percent. How the hell did this happen so fast? Yesterday it was a dip. Today it’s a bloodbath. Tell me you can fix this.”Chris, my lawyer of twelve years, sounded like a man who had already written me off. “Because your wife didn’t just leak documents, Joe. She lit a match and walked away. The feds have opened a formal investigation. They want her statement tomorrow. They’re freezing assets as we speak. Three of your biggest partners have already pulled out publicly. The board is calling an emergency meeting in the morning. They’re going to vote you out.”I laughed, a cracked, ugly sound that echoed off the wood paneling. “Vote me out? This is my company. My father built it from nothing. I
Clara’s POVDaniel’s hand paused on the receiver for half a second before he picked it up.“It’s the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” he said quietly, his eyes flicking first to me, then to Emma.The air in the room seemed to thicken. Emma’s fingers tightened around mine until I felt the bones press together. My pulse roared in my ears.Daniel listened without speaking for what felt like forever, nodding occasionally, his face giving nothing away. When he finally set the phone down, he turned to us with a slow, deliberate breath.“They want the evidence,” he said. “All of it. The full set of documents you released, plus anything else you have in your possession. They’re opening a formal federal investigation into the money laundering. They want your official statement as the source and they want it soon. Possibly as early as tomorrow morning.”For a single heartbeat the room was completely silent.Then Emma let out a sharp, triumphant laugh, it was half sob, half victory and threw her arms ar
Clara’s POVMy phone lay face-down on the coffee table, buzzing nonstop since I’d hit “send” on the documents two hours ago.Daniel’s office felt smaller than usual, the air was thick with the scent of fresh coffee and the faint metallic tang of tension. Sunlight slanted through the wide windows, casting long shadows across the polished floor, but it did nothing to warm the chill that had settled in my bones. I sat on the edge of the leather couch, Emma pressed close beside me, our shoulders touching like we were soldiers in a foxhole. The money-laundering evidence was everywhere now.Daniel had helped me package it carefully: the shell companies, the fictitious contracts, the neat columns of dirty money flowing through Joe’s empire and coming out sparkling clean on the other side. I hadn’t dumped every file but just enough to light the fuse. A detailed thread on X with key screenshots and summaries, a short, calm statement from me explaining why I was releasing it, and the forensic
Joe’s POVWhew… so this was what winning felt like.I leaned back in the leather chair, as a slow, satisfied grin spread across my face as I replayed the video in my head. The lighting, the tone, the perfect mix of heartbroken husband and noble fighter. Damn, I’d nailed it. Maybe I should quit the family business and become an actor. Oscar-worthy performance right there.Joe, you're the bomb.I laughed softly, stroking my beard, the coarse hairs rasping under my fingers. That bitch really thought she could win. That she could make a fool out of me, Joe Pritchett. She was fucking joking.By the time I was done with her, she was going to regret every single second she spent thinking she could walk away from me. The nerve of her to leave, to…to laugh in the street with that loud-mouthed stupid Emma and that basketball-coach nobody. I was going to destroy her. Destroy everything she’d ever touched right from her little art job to her reputation, her precious “freedom.” I’d make sure she







