บททั้งหมดของ The CEO’s Temptation : บทที่ 121 - บทที่ 130

*****************************Etian’s POV********************The precinct buzzed with confusion. Officers whispered in tight corners. Phones rang longer than they should. And the air—it carried this strange weight. Everyone could feel the storm coming, but no one dared say its name.I stood at Aliana’s empty holding cell, my arms crossed tightly against my chest, my jaw locked. The door hadn’t been forced open, no signs of a struggle, and yet she was gone.Vanished.Claire paced the hallway just a few feet away, murmuring into her phone with Liz. Her shoulders were tense, her face pale. This wasn’t just another delay in the case. This was deliberate. Calculated.“I need all the CCTV footage from the last six hours,” I barked at one of the guards. “Every hallway. Every exit. Don’t miss a frame.”The guy flinched, then nodded and scrambled off.Thanks to Mack, I was able to get my badge back. And fully back to work.Claire hung up and approached me, her voice was quiet but urgent. “Liz

************************Claire’s POV************************Faking defeat should have felt like a relief. Instead, it tasted like deadly poison burning through my throat shredding through my oesophagus, down to my chest.The pain felt surreal.I hadn’t been to the office in three days. The company received an official letter that I was taking a "leave of absence." I made one last court appearance—small-time, barely a misdemeanor—then disappeared. Just like we planned.But every part of it felt wrong.Etian had arranged it all. His friends—if that’s what you could call them—planted fake evidence that I’d handed off the Aliana case and buried it. Publicly, it looked like I’d lost interest. Privately, I was burning inside.I hated pretending.Mack didn’t like the plan, either. He’d offered at least five alternatives—most of them involving private security, tactical threats, or full-blown press conferences. But Etian had been firm: Liam needed to feel untouchable again. Only then would h

*********************** – Rowe’s POV***********************I hadn’t realized how loud silence could be until now.Etian’s desk was still a mess. His notepad sat open, pen still uncapped like he had meant to come back. His jacket was draped over the chair, slung carelessly like it always was—one arm hanging off, the other caught between the cushion and the backrest. It looked like he’d just stepped out for a moment. Just for air.But he wasn’t coming back.I stood in the doorway of his small office, unable to step inside. My chest felt like someone had cracked it open with a crowbar and left it hollow. Every breath burned, slow and cruel. Guilt, heavier than anything I’d ever carried, sank deeper with each passing second.I was the one who brought him into this. I handed him Sadie’s file, told him it was just another case. That we were chasing shadows and needed someone smart, someone honest. And he believed in me.He trusted me.And now he was gone.A soft knock broke through the sti

********************(Aliana’s POV)**************************My eyes fluttered open, my lashes brushed against swollen cheeks, and all I could feel was a pounding ache behind my skull and the sting of dried tears. I was no longer in that suffocating cell beneath the precinct. No guards, no concrete walls—just silence, heavy and humid.The room was dim, but not dark. There was a low light flickering from a bulb overhead, casting erratic shadows that danced across the walls. The scent of mildew and iron filled my nose. The floor was cold, rough cement beneath me. My wrists burned—tied behind my back with something coarse. Rope, maybe. My ankles were bound too, tighter than necessary.Panic clawed its way up my throat as I twisted, but the restraints didn’t budge. My voice came out hoarse, cracked from disuse and earlier screaming. “Hello?” I croaked, my voice trembling. “Is anyone there?”A slow clap echoed through the room.My stomach dropped.That voice—calm, mocking—crawled down my

**********************Claire’s POV*************---The video looped again, each second sinking deeper into my chest like a knife. Aliana’s eyes—wide, red, pleading—flashed across the screen. Her mouth was gagged, but the terror was unmistakable. Whoever filmed it wanted us to know she was alive... but barely.Mack stood behind me, arms crossed tightly, jaw flexing with restrained fury. The footage had come through an encrypted line, with no metadata, and no sender ID. Just the image of Aliana’s bruised face and the slow, deliberate voice that accompanied it.“You think you’re all so clever. But you forget—I always play the long game.”It was Liam’s voice.I didn’t need confirmation. I didn’t need tech forensics or voice analysis. I knew the way his words curled with arrogance. He wanted me to see this. To hear it. To break.I closed the laptop screen with a soft click and leaned forward, resting my forehead on my palms. My mind buzzed—too much, too fast. Etian’s blood hadn’t even dri