Chapter 3

The next morning Sophie was still in intensive care. Evelyn had barely stepped out of the hospital doors before two internal investigators blocked her way.

"Ms. Reed, we need your cooperation with an internal data leak investigation."

Hartwell's unreleased quarterly figures and internal emails had been sent anonymously to several financial outlets the night before. The leak was traced to an old work account of hers that had long been deactivated.

Evelyn handed her car keys to the attorney accompanying her and remained reasonably composed. "Pull the raw server logs, and everything will be clear."

She was not genuinely alarmed. The system had never assigned guilt based on a few screenshots. After four years of marriage, even if Julian favored Claire, Evelyn still believed he could tell the difference between damage-control rhetoric and facts no one had the right to manipulate.

Yet she was wrong.

For the entire night, investigators held her phone and computer and pulled every access record. At first, she laid out a clear timeline of her night at the hospital. By three in the morning, when they asked for the third time why she still had access to the old system after the divorce, she had only one answer left.

"Pull the raw server logs."

At seven Julian came to the interview room himself and held out his coat. Evelyn did not take it.

"The lawyers have dealt with it. You can go."

As the elevator doors closed, Evelyn asked, "Did you find the real source of the login?"

Julian's brief silence filled Evelyn with dread.

"We did."

"Who?"

"A work device used by Claire's team."

Evelyn stopped.

"When did you confirm it?"

"Before the investigators came to question you."

The corridor was quiet enough for them to hear each other breathe. Evelyn remembered an earlier hotel accident, when Julian had declared before an entire conference room that what he despised most was sacrificing an innocent person to shield a company from public outrage.

It turned out that only applied when Claire could not be the one sacrificed.

"You knew the problem came from her team, yet you still let them question me all night?"

"I only asked you to cooperate with the investigation temporarily."

"Temporarily?"

"Our engagement has only just become public. If we reveal immediately that her team faked the login record, both Hartwell Group and Claire will be thrown into a public firestorm." Julian softened his tone. "None of this will stick to you. I'll take care of it."

"I sat in an interview room all night."

"Sorry you went through that."

Five weightless words, as if the entire ordeal were beneath notice.

The absurdity of it seized Evelyn. She had always assumed Julian simply did not love her. Now she understood that it was worse. He knew perfectly well that she would be hurt and that she was innocent. He merely calculated how much pain she could bear.

Julian saw the distance in her eyes and reached for her shoulder.

Evelyn stepped back.

"Evelyn."

"Don't touch me."

He stopped, then said quietly, "Next time, no matter what happens, I'll stand by you."

Evelyn looked at him.

"There isn't going to be a next time."

Julian dismissed it as a fit of temper and frowned. "Go home and rest. I'll have the lawyers prepare every document for tomorrow's hearing."

Evelyn stopped explaining. From that moment on, she stopped telling Julian when he hurt her and stopped hoping he would understand. She focused only on confirming when the travel restriction would be lifted, checking the handover documents, and securing Sophie's medical authorizations.

That night, a court notice arrived, scheduling an emergency hearing for the following morning. Once Hartwell submitted the raw server logs, the primary allegation against her could be dropped and the temporary hold on her passport lifted.

The flight she had booked five days earlier was scheduled to depart six hours after the hearing.

Evelyn looked at that ticket for a long time. She had stopped expecting Julian to choose her long ago. What was left was the smallest possible hope. Hand over the evidence and let me go.