บททั้งหมดของ The Secret Billionaire Heiress Strikes Back : บทที่ 71 - บทที่ 80

Chapter 72She was standing her ground, refusing to show weakness, refusing to let them make her feel ashamed of a relationship that was actually a carefully constructed cover story designed to protect her real secrets.But she could see the frustration building in her parents' faces, the way Nathan and Jeremy were exchanging looks that promised this conversation wasn't over, that there would be consequences for her defiance."You're making a mistake," Garret said finally. "Dante Archer is not the man you think he is. He has his own problems, his own complications. Getting involved with him will only bring you more trouble."Ravyn wondered what her father knew. What information he'd gathered about Dante, what leverage he thought he could use to control this situation. Did he know about Miles's blackmail? About the photos? About the pressure Dante was under from his own family?"Everyone has complications," Ravyn said carefully. "That's life. I'm not looking for perfection. I'm looking

Chapter 74"You exist," Aspen said simply. "That's what you've done. You exist, and as long as you exist, I'll never be enough. Miles will always be comparing me to you. Our parents will always be wishing I was more like you—smarter, more capable, more independent. Everyone will always see me as the lesser sister. The one who only got what she has because you were removed from the equation."The admission hung in the air, brutal in its honesty. This wasn't about Miles. Not really. This was about Aspen's lifelong competition with Ravyn, her desperate need to be seen as equal or superior, her fury at the fact that even after five years in prison, even after a conviction for negligent homicide, Ravyn was still somehow winning."I'm sorry you feel that way," Ravyn said, meaning it. "But I can't fix that for you. I can't make myself less to make you feel like more. I can't sabotage my own life to make you more comfortable. And I certainly can't accept being accused of planning sexual assau

Chapter 76And now someone was claiming to have information about that night and who had attacked her.Either the person had found her on their own, knowing who she was from the beginning,or that her post that she had posted had made it possible for the person to put two and two together.Ravyn's hands trembled as she began typing, her hacker instincts taking over despite the emotional turmoil that she was currently in. She initiated trace programs, began analyzing the message origin, started deploying every tool in her arsenal to identify the sender.The message had been routed through at least fifty different servers. She could see the IP addresses bouncing from Russia to Singapore to Brazil to Morocco, each hop that was also encrypted with military-grade security protocols. Whoever had sent this understood operational security at the highest level.She deployed her most sophisticated tracking programs, the ones she'd developed specifically for situations where normal methods faile

Chapter 78Ravyn's fingers remained frozen above the keyboard, every muscle in her body locked in place by the impossible weight of the choice before her. Her rational mind screamed at her to refuse, to recognize this as manipulation at its most insidious, to understand that submitting to blackmail never ended with just one demand.But the desperate, traumatized part of her—the part that had spent five years reliving that bathroom assault in nightmares, the part that looked at Rhysand and wondered what features came from her and what came from the monster who'd violated her, the part that needed to know, needed to understand, needed to have some semblance of control over a situation where she'd had none—that part was already calculating whether she could complete this job successfully.She forced herself to breathe. To think strategically rather than emotionally. To evaluate this threat the way she would evaluate any other security problem.The facts were undeniable: Someone had found

Chapter 80Ravyn closed her laptop with more force than necessary, engaging all her security protocols and defensive measures before shutting down completely. Then she sat in the darkness of her room, listening to the silence of the Hawkins estate around her, trying to figure out how her life had become this complicated in less than a week of freedom.Her phone buzzed again—another text from Dante.*Seriously, are you okay? You're worrying me. Should I come over there? I can have Elena stay late with R if needed.*Ravyn looked at the message for a long moment, trying to decide how much she could tell him, how much she should burden him with when he had his own problems with Miles's blackmail and his family's pressure.*I'm okay*, she typed, the lie feeling heavy on her conscience. *Just dealing with Aspen drama. Nothing I can't handle. Give R a hug for me and tell him I'll see him tomorrow.**Will do*, Dante responded. *But I'm here if you need me. Any time. You know that, right?**I