All Chapters of Return Of The Betrayed Heiress : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

"Because I have nothing left to lie for."I stared at him. I saw the truth of it written in every line of his face. The man who'd once commanded boardrooms and charmed investors was gone. What remained was someone who'd lost everything. His freedom. His reputation. His future. Someone who had no reason to perform anymore."I know this doesn't fix anything," he continued. "I know saying I'm sorry doesn't undo what I did to you. But I needed you to know that what we had in the beginning, that was real. My feelings for you were real."Tears I hadn't expected began burning behind my eyes.I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand. I was angry at myself for crying in front of him. "You don't get to make me feel sorry for you, Allen.""I don't want your pity. I want you to know the truth so you can stop carrying my poison around inside you."His words hit too close to home. The anger I'd been nurturing. Feeding. Using as fuel. Maybe it was poisoning me. Maybe that's why even the happiest mome

The reporter looked surprised by my answer. She'd expected something more dramatic. More definitive."What's next for you?"For once, the answer came with calm certainty."Building something beautiful. The foundation Smith and I have been planning. Maybe a book about healing after betrayal. Definitely a life that's bigger than the worst thing that ever happened to me."As the evening wound down, Smith and I stood outside the theater. We breathed in the cool night air. The red carpet was being rolled up. The photographers were packing their equipment. The media circus was moving on to the next story."How do you feel?" Smith asked."Free," I said without hesitation. "After two years, I finally feel completely unbound.”He pulled me close. I melted into his embrace. "I'm proud of you. Not just tonight, but for everything. For the strength it took to rebuild. For the courage it took to face Allen yesterday. For the grace you showed tonight.""We rebuilt. You've been with me through every

Three weeks had passed since Helen's heart attack. I finally felt comfortable returning to my normal schedule at Carter Enterprises.Helen was recovering beautifully at home. She had a private nurse with her. Smith had stopped looking like he might collapse from exhaustion at any moment.I was reviewing the foundation's expense sheets. My PA's voice came through the intercom."Ms. Jones, David Kim is here to see you. He doesn't have an appointment. But he says it's urgent."My stomach tightened. Urgent? I hadn't seen David in three months. That was when he came to propose the foundation idea to me."Send him in, Alice."David stepped into my office looking nothing like the man who’d first proposed the foundation three months ago. His shirt was creased, his hair slightly unkempt, and his expression shadowed by worry lines, and something in my chest tightened at the sight."David." I stood immediately. I gestured toward the seating area. "What's wrong?"He remained standing. His hands w

The caller ID caught my attention immediately. Agent Camille Drake, the woman who had arrested Allen, who had been my lifeline through months of legal chaos. She never called unless something big was happening."Emelda." Her voice carried an urgency I'd never heard before. "I need you to come to my office. Today."My grip tightened on the phone. "What's happened?""Not over the phone. How soon can you get here?"I glanced at my watch. Three-thirty in the afternoon. "An hour?""Make it forty-five minutes."The line went dead before I could ask more questions.Forty minutes later, I sat across from Agent Drake in her sterile federal building office. The fluorescent lights cast harsh shadows across her sharp features, and the stack of files on her desk seemed to have tripled since my last visit."Thank you for coming so quickly." She pushed a cup of coffee toward me, but her hands shook slightly as she did it.That tremor scared me more than anything else. Camille Drake didn't shake."Yo

Two weeks had passed since the accident.Two weeks of living like a prisoner in my own life. Two weeks of security details and federal agents. Two weeks of looking over my shoulder every time I stepped outside.The Jones mansion had become my fortress. And my cage.I sat in the courtyard under the shade of the old oak tree. My laptop was open on the wrought-iron table. Files from the foundation stared back at me. Applications. Budget reports. Program proposals.But I couldn't focus.The afternoon sun filtered through the leaves. Birds sang in the garden. Mrs. Howell hummed in the kitchen, preparing dinner. Everything seemed so normal.Except for the two armed guards stationed at the gate. And the federal agent parked in the unmarked car across the street.My phone buzzed.An email notification. I almost ignored it. Then I saw the sender.Office of Congressional Affairs, Committee on the Judiciary.My heart stopped.I clicked it open. Read it once. Then twice. Then a third time to make