Chapter Twenty-Seven The Weak Link

Elena

There are moments when your entire world hinges on a single conversation. One whisper. One breath. One truth that changes everything.

This was that moment.

We sat in a dimly lit corner of a nearly empty café on the outskirts of town. It smelled of old wood and burnt espresso. The kind of place people came to disappear. Which made it the perfect place to meet Isla Greene.

She looked nothing like the confident assistant Sophie paraded around in hospital corridors years ago. Her hands trembled as she wrapped them around a chipped coffee cup. Her eyes darted to the window every few seconds like she expected Sophie to materialize from the shadows and slit her throat.

Jasper sat beside me, his presence grounding, silent, watchful. But my heart pounded like a warning bell.

“I shouldn’t be here,” Isla whispered, barely above audible.

“But you are,” I said. “Because you’re the first person who’s ever dared to speak out against her.”

Isla’s lips pressed into a thin line. “You have no idea who she really is.”

“No. But I’m learning fast.”

She hesitated, then reached into her bag and pulled out a flash drive, sliding it across the table with trembling fingers. “I saved copies. Emails. Schedules. Voice memos she recorded while bragging about what she’d done. What she was planning.”

I looked down at it, like it was a loaded gun in disguise.

“She’s setting you up, Elena,” Isla continued. “Everything that’s happened—the rumors at work, the fake concern from HR, even your sudden ‘performance review’—it’s her.”

“She’s not even subtle about it anymore,” I muttered, rage curling in my chest.

“She doesn’t have to be. Because you’re already the woman on the edge. She’s built that image for months—little by little. She wants to paint you as paranoid. Delusional. Dangerous.”

“And Jason?” I asked. “Where does he fit in this?”

Isla’s expression hardened. “He’s not innocent. He’s feeding her your schedules. Your legal vulnerabilities. I heard them on a call once—Jason said if Sophie could help him take you down cleanly, he’d go public with their relationship. She just has to break you first.”

The bile in my throat nearly choked me.

That bastard.

That lying, spineless coward of a man. And to think I once trusted him with my life. My body. My son.

I exhaled slowly, trying to contain the explosion boiling inside me.

“She’s done this before,” Isla added. “You’re not the first. There was another woman—Ava. She worked with Sophie, caught onto her lies, threatened to go to the board. Sophie ruined her. Had her admitted for mental instability. She lost custody of her child. Her job. Her life. And then… she vanished.”

My blood went ice cold.

“Vanished?”

“Gone. Her apartment was cleaned out overnight. No one heard from her again. I think—” Isla’s voice cracked. “I think Sophie made her disappear.”

The silence that followed was suffocating.

“She won’t stop,” I said, my voice low and razor-sharp. “She wants my family. My reputation. My son. But she picked the wrong woman this time.”

Isla’s eyes met mine—fragile, but hopeful. “Then fight her. Use that. Burn her from the inside out. But be careful… if she senses fear, she’ll devour you.”

I nodded and slid the flash drive into my coat pocket. “I’m not afraid anymore.”

Because this wasn’t just about Jason or Sophie.

This was about every woman who’d ever been betrayed, belittled, and buried alive by those who wore masks of power.

And I was ready to tear those masks off—one lie at a time.