All Chapters of When Love Was A Lie: Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

The antique Richard Holdings seal ring, a final, chilling gift from the vanished Tasha contained the ultimate secret: a digitized memoir by Grandpa Richard detailing his entire history of chaos, culminating in a direct message about a hidden, unfiled patent that was the true key to "absolute, generational control" of Richard Holdings.​I stared at the screen, the final sentence of his memoir burning into my mind: "I hid the location of the final document within a flaw in the one thing that obsessed me to the end..."​Damian and I were alone in the secure strategy room, the news of my pregnancy temporarily forgotten in the face of this profound, final challenge from the grave.​"He didn't just want us to fight for the company, he wanted us to earn the true power," Damian murmured, running his hand through his hair. "He forced us to clean up the corporate structure, eliminate the external threats, and then, only when we proved worthy, did he allow the final, greatest prize to be reveale

My father, Alistair Williamson, had delivered the final, most shocking strategic move: offering Declan Wright absolute legal immunity in exchange for serving as the uncompensated, independent global head of the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation, the very entity managing the profits of the Global Technology Trust.​The silence after the phone call was heavier than any boardroom tension. I looked at Damian, who was processing the magnitude of the proposition.​"Declan, running the Foundation?" Damian finally said, his voice laced with disbelief. "It's a fate worse than prison for him. He tried to destroy this company for personal power, and now his only route to freedom is administering its global ethical mandate."​"It's the ultimate ethical sentence," I confirmed. "It forces him into five years of public, transparent service, ensuring the success of the very empire he tried to dismantle. My father chose the perfect form of servitude."​"And the ultimate protection for the Trust,"

Damian's POVThe weight of Emmah's absolute trust, and the pressure of the CSO veto I had just invoked to protect her was immense. I was operating under the strictest mandate possible: Neutralize Declan Wright's archive and secure the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation without compromising the ethical integrity of the Covenant.The enemy was clear, Declan was paying The Watchman, Grandpa Richard's legendary, unseen operative to compile a definitive record of every strategic vulnerability, family secret, and hidden technology the old man had ever created. This archive was the final, devastating ghost of the past.I stood in the Tower's secure strategy room, my attention split between the monitoring screens and the audio feed from Emmah's hospital room."Trace every payment, every communication, and every asset linked to the security firm Cerberus Ops, the front for The Watchman," I commanded my intelligence team, which was operating in a state of absolute secrecy. "Declan is using S

Emmah's POVThe strategic victory over the Shanghai Collective, neutralizing the threat without escalation, and using the core values of the Covenant, redemption and restorative justice, to secure the source code, was the final proof of the company's new ethos. The integrity of the Global Technology Trust, was unassailable.With the external threats neutralized and the corporate structure solidified, the era of constant conflict definitively ended. Richard Holdings entered a period of unprecedented, stable growth, guided by the principles we had fought so desperately to establish.My executive leave transitioned into a permanent restructuring of my role. I remained the CEO, but my focus shifted entirely to the Vision, the ethical and long-term strategic direction while Damian managed the Execution as the Chief Strategic Officer.Five years passed in a blur of global expansion, technological innovation, and domestic bliss. Eleanor Covenant Richard was now a bright, curious five-year-ol

Eleanor's POVThe Family Archive, unsealed in the quiet sunlit Conservatory, was not a collection of dusty relics; it was a detonation of historical truth. My parents, Emmah and Damian Richard, had spent two decades protecting me from the chaos, but now, at twenty, I plunged willingly into the deep, dark well of the Richard Legacy.The first artifact I consumed was Grandpa Richard's Final Memoir. It was a staggering, self-serving confession, a brilliant, toxic roadmap of ambition and paranoia. He detailed the Decoy Will, the creation of the Voidance Clause, and the absolute certainty that his progeny would fail without the five years of strategic warfare he orchestrated.The memoir was followed by the clinical detail of the Tasha files, the digital surveillance of Declan’s descent, the calculated moves of Marcus Williamson, and the precise, surgical maneuvers my parents used to neutralize them all.I was not reading a family history, I was studying a Masterclass in Corporate Warfare a