Semua Bab When Love Turns into Betrayal : Bab 21 - Bab 30

Marcus's office was chaos.Papers everywhere. Jordan pacing. Richard on his phone, voice tight. And Marcus, normally composed, looked like he wanted to punch something."What happened?" I asked, setting down Evelyn's envelope."The evidence," Marcus said. "Someone got to it."My stomach dropped. "What do you mean, got to it?"Jordan stopped pacing. "The security footage I gave you. The files showing Ethan and Layla at the hotels. Someone hacked my cloud storage and corrupted them. Half the files are unreadable now.""How is that possible?""Professional job." Jordan's jaw was tight. "Not some amateur hacker. Someone with serious skills and serious resources. They got past military-grade encryption."Richard held up his phone. "The financial records I provided. The backup drives I kept in my office safe. Someone broke in last night. Took nothing else. Just the drives.""Jesus Christ." I sank into a chair. "They're destroying the evidence.""Trying to," Marcus corrected. "But we still h

Harper's fingers flew across the keyboard. "We go more nuclear. I'm sending everything I found to every journalist who covered Victoria's press conference. The emails about the company shares. The conspiracy recordings. Everything.""Marcus said not to respond.""I'm not you responding. This is an anonymous leak." Harper's smile was sharp. "If Victoria wants to play dirty, let's show her what dirty really looks like."My phone buzzed. Text from Evelyn.I saw Victoria's press conference. I'm sorry. She's worse than I thought. Be careful. She's not done yet. -EI showed it to Liam. He read it, expression darkening."She's right. This press conference was just the opening move." He stood, started pacing. "Victoria's going to escalate. She'll leak more information. Spin more stories. Try to destroy your credibility completely before trial.""Let her try." I felt something cold and clear settle over me. "I'm done being defensive. Done reacting to their moves. It's time to go on offense.""

The letter arrived at Harper's apartment at midnight.Slipped under the door. No postage. No return address. Just Harper's name written in block letters on the envelope.She called me immediately, voice shaking."Vi, someone was here. At my apartment. They got past security.""What?" I was already grabbing my keys. "Are you okay?""I'm fine. I'm... just come over. Please. And bring Marcus."Twenty minutes later, we were all in Harper's living room. Marcus, me, Jordan who'd been nearby, and two security guards Liam had insisted follow me everywhere now.Harper handed Marcus the letter. Her hands were trembling.The message was typed. Simple. Terrifying.Stop helping her. Stop investigating. Stop talking to lawyers. Or we'll make sure everyone knows what you did. The hacking. The illegal surveillance. The stolen emails. You could lose everything. Your career. Your freedom. Walk away now and we'll forget it happened. Keep fighting and we'll destroy you too. You have 48 hours to decide."

Harper caught my hands. "Hey. Look at me. He wants you doubting everything. Everyone. That's how he wins. By making you feel so paranoid you push away everyone trying to help.""What if he's right? What if I am bad at reading people?""You read me right. You read Marcus right. You read Jordan right." Harper squeezed my hands. "Maybe you made one mistake with Ethan. That doesn't mean you're doomed to repeat it forever.""But how do I know? How do I ever know for sure?""You don't. That's the thing about trust. It's always a risk." Harper pulled up an image on her laptop. "But look at this. This photo of Natasha's bruises? The metadata shows it was taken last week. Not five years ago during the divorce. It's recent, which means...""Which means she created it now. For this story.""Exactly. Staged evidence to support a lie." Harper showed me more. "And look at the timing of these articles. All published within an hour of each other by outlets known for accepting paid placements. This is

Liam moved behind my chair, hands on my shoulders. "You're nothing like them. You know that, right?""Some days." I leaned back against him. "Other days I wonder if surviving this has made me too cynical. Too harsh. If I'm projecting my own hurt onto everyone else.""You're being realistic. There's a difference." His hands moved, gently massaging the tension from my shoulders. "Vi, you've earned the right to demand real accountability. From your clients. From the people in your life. From yourself."I closed my eyes, let myself relax for the first time in hours."Thank you," I said quietly. "For everything. The investment. The office. The belief that I could do this.""You're welcome. But Vi?" His voice was close to my ear now. "I didn't do any of this because I'm charitable. I did it because you're exceptional. Because I believe in you. And because..." He paused. "Because I'm falling for you."The words hung in the air between us."Liam...""You don't have to say anything. I know th