Lahat ng Kabanata ng My Ex, My Ruin: Kabanata 31 - Kabanata 40

Elena's POVThe Resort was beautiful in the way that obscene wealth always was understated, tasteful, and utterly removed from reality.I stood in the grand lobby beside Adrien, watching people who controlled billions flow past us like we were invisible. Tailored suits. Designer dresses. Jewelry that cost more than most people made in a lifetime. Everyone moved with the casual confidence of those who'd never known the consequences."You okay?" Adrien murmured, his hand at the small of my back."No." I tried to smile. Failed. "But I'm here."We'd arrived an hour ago. Checked in under our real names no point in aliases when they'd sent the invitation directly to me. The staff had been perfectly professional, perfectly discreet. No questions about why Adrien Sterling, recently resigned CEO, was attending an elite investors' summit. No curiosity about Elena Santos.They knew. Of course they knew. Everyone here knew exactly who we were and why we'd come."The opening reception is in the As

Elena's POVThey questioned Adrien for three hours.I sat in the medical center with Miguel, holding his hand, watching him breathe, and waiting for Adrien to come back. The doctor said Miguel would wake soon.That he'd be okay.But okay was relative when your face was swollen beyond recognition and the person who'd done it wore the face of someone you trusted.Except it wasn't Adrien.It couldn't be.Could it?How do you know I'm not the fake?His last words echoed in my mind. Poisonous. Deliberate. Planting seeds of doubt even as they took him away.Was that something real Adrien would say? Or was it what a deepfake programmed to destroy us would say?I didn't know anymore.At 2 AM, Adrien finally appeared in the doorway.He looked wrecked. Exhausted. His tie was gone, his shirt wrinkled, his hair disheveled. But it was his eyes that scared me. They were wild. Unfocused. Like he was looking at something I couldn't see."They let you go?" I asked quietly."For now. No charges yet. But

Elena's POVThe tranquilizer dart had been meant for Miguel's shoulder. Non-lethal. Victor had smiled when he said it."I told you, Elena. I'm not a monster. I don't kill people unless I have to."But Miguel had hit the concrete floor hard when he went down. Blood pooled beneath his head. And when the paramedics finally arrived after Victor had made his point, after he'd had his security photograph all of us in handcuffs for "evidence" they'd rushed Miguel to the hospital with possible skull fracture.Critical condition.That was twelve hours ago.Now I sat in a police interrogation room, hands cuffed to a table, watching two detectives pretend they didn't already know how this would end."Ms. Santos," the older one said. "You were found at an Apex Holdings data facility at 11:47 PM. Breaking and entering. Attempted theft of proprietary data. Conspiracy to commit corporate espionage." He slid photos across the table. "Do you deny these charges?"I looked at the photos. Me, Adrien, Mig

Elena's POVApex Collective headquarters occupied the top fifteen floors of a glass tower in Midtown. Modern. Sleek. The kind of building that screamed money and power without saying a word.I arrived Monday morning at 8:45 AM, fifteen minutes early. Dressed in a suit Victor's assistant had sent over tailored, expensive, exactly the kind of thing someone in my new position would wear.I barely recognized myself in the reflection of the lobby windows.Security waved me through without checking my ID. They already knew who I was. I already had my photo, my clearance, my entire profile loaded into their system.Victor met me at the elevator bank on the fortieth floor."Elena. Welcome." He looked genuinely pleased. "You look perfect. Professional. Exactly what Apex needs.""Let's just get this over with," I said."Eager to start. I like that." He gestured for me to follow. "The board is waiting. They're excited to meet you."We walked down a corridor lined with abstract art and floor-to-c

Elena's POVMiguel found Janet Price a week after Adrien learned the truth about his father.She was living in a small town in Vermont, under a different name. Eighty-two years old. Retired. Alone. And terrified when Miguel showed up asking about Sterling & Carmichael Technologies."I can't talk about that," she'd said, trying to close the door."Richard Sterling's son needs to know what happened to his father," Miguel had replied. "And you're the only one left who can tell him."So she'd let him in. And she'd talked. For six hours, Miguel recorded everything.Now we sat in the safe house with me, Adrien, and Miguel listening to Janet Price's testimony on Miguel's laptop.Her voice was shaky but clear:"I knew something was wrong the day before Richard died. He came to work early. Before Stephen even arrived. He asked me to make copies of files. Communications with foreign buyers. He said he'd discovered that Stephen was selling their defense technology to unauthorized parties. That h