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Chapter 82: Aurora?

作者: Evve
last update 公開日: 2026-01-07 00:06:05

The elevator doors closed on the most pivotal moment of Aurora Vale’s life, sealing her inside the descending steel box with the man she had spent five years running from.

But this time, the air wasn't heavy with fear. It was charged with something new. Something dangerous.

A partnership.

Liam stood next to her. He wasn't invading her space. He wasn't looming. He was simply... there. A solid, warm, quiet presence that felt less like a threat and more like a gravitational pull.

He didn't speak.
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    The conference room table at Sterling, Vance & Associates was buried under a blizzard of white paper.To anyone else, it looked like a legal filing. To Aurora Vale-Cross, it looked like a demolition order.She sat at the head of the table, her hands clasped on top of the leather binder labeled PLAINTIFF: HOPE VALE-CROSS (MINOR). She wasn't wearing her usual silk. She wore a black wool blazer that scratched against her neck, a tactile reminder to stay sharp. To stay angry."It's filed," Arthur Vance said, closing his laptop with a definitive click. "Federal Court. Southern District. Copyright infringement, theft of intellectual property, wire fraud, and—thanks to the deepfake precedent—intentional infliction of emotional distress.""Good," Aurora said. Her voice was low, devoid of the relief she usually felt when a project was greenlit. This wasn't a project. It was a rescue mission.Liam sat to her right, his jaw set in a line of granite. Marcus paced by the window, staring out at the

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