The days melted into a delicate routine, forced proximity, stolen glances, and conversations that always tiptoed around the truth. Jason had become relentless, making sure Bella stayed close, under the guise of professional necessity. Every blueprint, every late-night revision session in the glass-walled executive suite was a battlefield one where neither swords nor shields were visible, but wounds ran deep.
Bella buried herself in work, refusing to give Jason the satisfaction of seeing her flinch. She cloaked herself in professionalism, her clipped replies and cool tone a barrier she hoped he couldn’t breach. But he was watching. Always watching. As if trying to read between her movements, decode her silences, and uncover the story behind her eyes.
Then, one late evening, Jason slid a report across the table without a word. Bella glanced at the highlighted numbers.
“Security enhancements?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Supposedly,” Jason replied, voice calm but tight. “But the cost breakdown is vague, and the supplier doesn’t exist. Did you approve this?”
Bella scanned the document. “Absolutely not. This wasn’t part of the original plan.” Her eyes narrowed. “That’s Veronica’s team’s addition, isn’t it?”
Jason nodded once. “It has your digital signature.”
The breath caught in Bella’s throat. “That’s not possible.”
“Apparently it is.” He leaned back, studying her. “Someone’s trying to make it look like you’re mishandling funds.”
A cold dread settled over her shoulders like a shroud. Veronica wasn’t just playing games anymore she was laying traps.
The next day, the trap sprang tighter.
Veronica, smiling with syrupy sweetness, handed Bella a last-minute assignment. “Mr. Reed wants you to personally inspect the Upstate property. It’s urgent.”
Bella stared at the printed order, her heart sinking. The property was remote and long-forgotten. No one had mentioned a revival. “Are you sure he—?”
“He insisted,” Veronica said, her smile sharp. “Today.”
Just as Bella reached the lobby, suitcase in hand, Ryan Cole intercepted her.
“Where are you headed?” he asked, concern evident.
“Apparently Jason wants me to evaluate a condemned site in the middle of nowhere.”
Ryan’s expression darkened. “Jason didn’t authorize that. Bella, that’s Veronica. She’s trying to isolate you. And she’s been whispering to Jason... about your exit from Reed International five years ago.”
Bella stiffened. “What exactly is she saying?”
“That you tampered with financial records before you left. That you used your role to move money.”
Bella’s voice trembled with anger. “That’s a lie. I left with nothing but my dignity.”
“I believe you,” Ryan said gently. “But Jason’s already asking questions. She’s leading him somewhere dangerous.”
As she rode the train north, Bella’s thoughts tangled with memories and fears. Veronica was circling like a vulture, Jason was chasing ghosts, and the truth was too fragile to bear exposure without unraveling everything.
That week, the most unexpected thing happened.
Jason showed up at Lila’s school.
He claimed it was a routine check on the firm’s new security installations. But Bella wasn’t fooled.
Lila spotted him instantly. “Hey! You’re the man from Mommy’s office!”
Jason chuckled, kneeling before her. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Lila pointed at a class display screen flashing parents’ pictures. “Are you Daddy’s friend?”
Jason froze.
The air felt thinner.
Then, he smiled, just a little. “Something like that.”
When he reached to gently tuck a curl behind Lila’s ear, Bella’s breath hitched. The way his fingers trembled, the awe in his eyes told a story words never could. He didn’t know he was looking at his daughter. But some part of him felt it.
That night, back in her apartment, Bella sat on the floor beside Lila’s bed, watching her daughter sleep. The weight of it all bore down on her—Jason’s nearness, Veronica’s schemes, the five years of silence thick between them. Her phone buzzed.
It was Dean.
“Just wanted to hear your voice,” he said, warmth lacing every syllable. “I miss seeing you around here. Are you okay?”
Bella hesitated. “I don’t know. I feel like I’m caught in a storm.”
“You don’t have to stay,” he said. “Come back. To Boston. To us. To something safe.”
Safe.
That word echoed like a bell tolling across her chest.
Dean was steady, gentle, everything Jason wasn’t. But Jason was the father of her child. And no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't forget the way he looked at Lila not with suspicion, but something achingly close to love.
And then her phone vibrated again.
An anonymous message.
“You don’t know the real reason Jason broke things off with Veronica. Dig deeper. Start with the night you left.”
Bella’s blood ran cold. She stared at the screen, heart racing.
Someone wanted her to uncover the truth.
And suddenly, she wasn’t just caught in a battle between love and lies she was standing at the edge of a deeper, darker web.
The game of proximity had just become a game of survival.
The media firestorm surrounding Reed International had escalated into a full-scale siege. Headlines blared fresh accusations daily; corporate misconduct, internal sabotage, and even whispers of federal investigations. Behind the chaos, George Reed’s hidden network operated with surgical precision, pulling invisible strings and manipulating public perception like a master puppeteer.Jason had bought a sliver of time with a narrow board vote of confidence barely enough to breathe. His office became a war room, cluttered with documents, transaction maps, and red-eyed associates fighting to trace the poison bleeding into the company’s core. He stood before a digital board, outlining the web of financial manipulation and media leaks.“They’re shorting the stock, controlling the narrative, and manufacturing panic,” Jason said, his voice low and grim. “This isn’t just an attack, it’s a hostile operation. They’re trying to destroy Reed International from the inside out, force a devaluation, a
The morning light filtering through Jason’s penthouse windows did little to brighten the mood. Bella sat on the edge of the leather couch, hands wrapped tightly around a mug of untouched coffee, replaying the kiss from the night before. It hadn’t been just physical. It was raw, emotionally charged, scar reopening. Yet now, with daylight came the retreat, the second-guessing. The war outside their doors had only escalated.Jason stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, eyes scanning a barrage of breaking news headlines scrolling across his tablet. Each one was a blow to his public image, a calculated attack launched with precision and malice.“Reed International in Crisis: Whistle-blowers Confirm Financial Irregularities.”“Insider Claims CEO Jason Reed 'Mismanaged Funds' – Federal Inquiry Looming?”“Grace Monroe Speaks Out: 'Reed International Needs a New Era of Leadership.’”Bella’s stomach churned as she watched a video clip of Grace speaking on a morning financial show, her voice syr
The digital trap had worked like clockwork.Silas Thorne’s signature was all over the infiltration logs, his reckless brilliance, his arrogance, his fingerprints. With every line of code, every unauthorized access, he had not only buried himself but dragged Veronica Pierce and George Reed into the light with him. Mark Jenkins and his cybersecurity team moved swiftly, documenting the breach, assembling airtight evidence for Detective Harris. The noose was tightening. Slowly, methodically. And this time, it wouldn't loosen.But amid the chaos and corporate warfare, something more subtle and far more dangerous was happening.Bella and Jason had been forced into close quarters for weeks now. Emergency meetings turned into late-night strategy sessions. Mutual blame had transformed into shared purpose. And beneath the tension and high-stakes maneuvering, an old, simmering current had begun to rise again quiet, potent, undeniable.It came to a head one night, just past midnight.The office w
The trap had sprung.Inside Jason's office, the tension was suffocating. Mark Jenkins’s screens pulsed with lines of code, log access trails, and metadata overlays, each confirming what they had hoped for: the digital infiltration was underway.“They’re in,” Jenkins murmured. “Silas Thorne’s signature is unmistakable.”Bella leaned in, eyes fixed on the scrolling activity. The invaders were navigating the decoy server like seasoned professionals, slipping past firewalls, decrypting dummy files, scanning fabricated financial logs designed to mirror Reed International’s true accounts.“They’re after the embezzlement records,” Jenkins confirmed. “They think they’ve found the mother-lode. I’d bet money they’re preparing to inject false transactions that pin it all on you, Bella and then wipe the server clean.”Jason clenched his jaw. “Let them. Every keystroke is a nail in their coffin.”But something tugged at Bella's instincts. Her gaze narrowed. “Mark,” she said, pointing at a data log
The truth about Silas Thorne and George Reed’s continued, ruthless orchestration behind the scenes landed like a professional boxer’s punch. Bella sat still for long moments after Jason revealed the financial links, her body trembling from the sheer weight of betrayal. It was no longer just Veronica’s venom or corporate ambition, it was George himself, lurking in the shadows like a puppet master, weaponizing surveillance and fear against them. Against Lila.That realization didn’t break Bella it strengthen her resolve and forged her.Jason, no longer just the heir or the leader, had shifted. The warmth in his eyes was still there when he looked at Bella, but the fire had hardened into something colder, more dangerous. The protective instincts he’d once dulled out of obligation were now sharpened into a blade of vengeance.“Jenkins,” Jason said, voice clipped and steely, “I want full visibility on Silas Thorne’s firm. I want his staff tracked, I want every server ping logged. No more h
The game had shifted. This was no longer a matter of corporate espionage or bruised egos it was war. With each passing hour, the threat loomed larger, more insidious, and now unbearably personal. Bella could feel it in the cold tightness of her chest, in the way her gaze never strayed far from her phone, expecting another anonymous message, another veiled threat. But it wasn’t herself she feared for—it was Lila. Her daughter had become the center of this dangerous game, the ultimate prize.Jason’s entire demeanor had changed. The protective shell he once kept so carefully measured had cracked. Now, he was all edge, operating on cold fury and precise urgency. He wasn’t just fighting for Bella anymore. He was fighting for his child.Mark Jenkins delivered the first breakthrough.“We’ve tracked a physical address,” Jenkins said in his usual gravelly monotone, standing in Jason’s office like a silent predator. “The original server registered under an inactive shell corporation was linked