CHAPTER 24

Liana's  Pov 

I did not head home straight away. My hands kept shaking on the steering wheel, my heart racing like a war drum. Who was the man in the hooded sweatshirt on the pavement? Was Dominic spying on me now?

I pressed the speed dial. "Leo, I need you. Now."

There was silence. "Liana? What's going on?"

"I cannot tell you on the telephone. But it's bad. Really, really bad. I have some information and I think someone is trailing me. Do you have time to see me this afternoon?

“For you? Always. Conference room, 3 p.m. Bring everything.”

I ended the call, exhaled deeply, and turned the wheel hard toward ZCore HQ.

This wasn’t just corporate sabotage anymore. This was war.

………..

The minutes crawled toward 3pm like molasses. I had barely lifted my lunch, anxiety curdling tight in my chest. When I arrived at the private meeting room, the storm within me had distilled to something else. I  was guarded. Focused.

Jonathan was already seated, his head back in his chair, his eyes scanning the code on his tablet as always. I had met him on my way in and invited him to join us for the meeting. Leo stepped in behind me, his shiny gray suit crisp, his expression crisper.

He locked the door behind us and turned back around.

"Okay," Leo said, sitting beside me. "You said it was serious. What do we have here?"

I glanced up at him before speaking.

"It's a lot” I said, not hesitating.

I told them everything, the message, the run-in with Serena, Dominic's and Audrey's recorded phone call, the mysterious man who was staring at me outside the café. Everything. 

They didn't interrupt. Leo's face darkened minute by minute. Jonathan's fingers flew over his tablet with lightning speed, no doubt already tracking digital breadcrumbs and cross-referencing timestamps.

After I finished, I pulled out my phone, slid it across the table, and let them see the message trail and audio recording.

"Out there, that guy.I don't know who he was," I said at last. "But my gut says Dominic's getting paranoid. I think I'm being followed."

Leo intertwined his hands on the table. "Then it's time we stop playing along and start taking control of the story. I will file a report."

He looked at Jonathan. "Lock down all systems. I don't want Dominic's fingers on our records or personnel. Trace back everything that's gone through Liana's phone in the last seventy-two hours. Lock down her comms."

Jonathan nodded. "On it."

I pressed on. "I want him exposed. All of it. The manipulation, the smear campaign, the blackmail. He tried to destroy me in public. I want him to choke in the same spotlight."

Leo sat quietly for a moment. Then, "We will. But strategically. Serena is still in his house. If he believes she's our leak, she's dead."

"So what do we do?"

He leaned back in his chair, offering a slow, thoughtful smile. "We make it appear as though Audrey was our one and only leak."

I raised an eyebrow. "Audrey?

He nodded. “We reach out to her. Offer a deal—testify against Dominic publicly, and we’ll bring her back into the company. She gets paid, her reputation gets mended, that shields Serena. Everyone wins. That way Serena  keeps feeding us intel while he’s busy chasing shadows.”

Jonathan looked up. “Audrey’s greedy. She’ll bite.”

“Exactly,” Leo said.

I crossed my arms. “And if she doesn’t?”

"She will," Jonathan said, firmly. "Especially when she hears what we have."

Leo turned to me. "Until then, keep your evidence secure. Treat it like gold. This makes or breaks everything. That tape alone will bring him down. Not to mention all the other stuff we've got."

I nodded slowly, adrenaline and pleasure mixing. "Then let's burn the bridge."

Leo turned to me, intrigued. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I want to post something. Online. Tonight."

Jonathan's eyes snapped up. "Liana, that won't be wise…"

"Not a total expose," I cut in. "Enough to shake him. Make him afraid. Let him realize the storm is coming, and I'm wielding the lightning."

Leo sighed. "Subtlety would be the better part of valor.".

"Where did subtlety get me last time Barrister Leo?" I exploded. "He soiled my name. He had the world believing I was an unethical slut, someone to be looked down on or not respected. He gave the media license to sink their claws into me like a bottomless hole."

I stood up, voice rising. "Not anymore. If Dominic Smith thinks he can play God, he's going to learn who taught the devil how to dance."

The silence that followed was heavy. with tension, and respect.

Leo at last nodded. "Then make it ambiguous. Don't use his name. No direct accusations. But make it lethal."

Jonathan smiled. "So you really want to hurt him?"

I smiled too. "Not just that. I want him to bleed."

Later that night, I sat at my desk in the private corner office with city lights shining outside windows, fingers resting above the keyboard. The weight of all that we'd accomplished, all that I'd endured, raged through me like a tornado.

I clicked over to my private X account which had thousands of followers. Corporate influencers, insiders, journalists. I knew the minute I hit post, people would read it.

And most importantly… he would read it.

I was having second thoughts but the moment I remembered the post and how small he made me, how Cam had been mentally, emotionally and physically humiliated in school, and the man on the street outside the café. I began to type.

The wolves may forget that the lambs recall.

You tried to ruin me, but you forgot something— I don't break. 

Your mistake wasn't coming for me. It was doing it in this manner. You're about to learn that you made the biggest mistake of your life.

And just so you know, I have the receipts

I read it three times, my heart pounding.

It was as polite as a poem but as cutting as a scalpel. No threats. No names. Only a bit of truth in steel.

Taking a deep breath, I published it and watched the countdown begin.