Alle Kapitel von The Wife He Used as a Scapegoat : Kapitel 81 – Kapitel 88

~ Isabella ~I stared at the wall of monitors in the Vanguard war room, the cool blue light burning against my tired eyes. It was three in the morning. Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows, the Manhattan skyline was a silent grid of muted yellow squares.On the center screen, the internal Vanguard files Richard Sterling had leaked before vanishing were highlighted in harsh yellow. They were pieces of private communications, completely stripped of context—drafted strategy notes, old internal emails from my first days post-prison, and heavily edited audio logs. Cole’s media operatives had packaged them flawlessly. To any outsider reading the morning headlines, I didn't look like a disciplined CEO executing a defense. I looked like a ruthless, unstable woman driven by wild, unhinged vengeance.It was the exact same script from three years ago. The exact same public execution.Maya stood beside my desk, her tailored jacket thrown over the back of a chair, her dark hair pulled into a messy

~ Isabella ~The cold white floor of the hospital waiting room was so clean I could see my own shoes in it.I paced back and forth, counting my steps to keep my mind off the heavy smell of rubbing alcohol and old bleach. Ten steps to the water cooler. Ten steps back to the door. Every time I turned around, my knees felt weak.Leo’s surgery was in less than three days. My younger brother had waited so long for this transplant, his body beaten down by years of delayed treatments ever since Nathan cut off his funding while I was locked away. Now, everything was finally ready. The doctors were ready. The organ was secured. The Vanguard medical team had checked every single detail twice.Then my phone buzzed in my coat pocket.I pulled it out, expecting a message from Maya about Vanguard's stock status. Instead, it was an encrypted video file sent from an unlisted number.My fingers felt cold as I tapped the screen. The video opened to a low-resolution security feed of the hospital’s under

~ Nathan ~I leaned my back against the cold tile wall of the pre-op waiting room and closed my eyes. Every second felt like a heavy weight pressing down on my chest.Inside the operating room down the hall, doctors were getting Leo ready for his surgery. Isabella sat on a hard vinyl chair a few feet away Her face was pale, and her dark eyes were wide with a deep, silent fear.I hated seeing her like this."Nathan," Isabella whispered, her voice trembling slightly.I snapped my eyes open and stepped over to her, dropping down on one knee so I was at eye level with her. "I'm right here, Bella.""The security guards..." She swallowed hard, her eyes darting toward the heavy double doors at the end of the hallway. "Are you sure they are watching the main floor? What if Damian Cole tries something? He sent that message to my phone. He knows Leo is in this building."I reached out and placed my hand gently over her frozen fingers. She didn't pull away. That tiny bit of trust meant more to m

~ Isabella ~"The monitor is green, Isabella," the doctor said, pointing to the tall plastic machine beside the bed. "His body accepted the new organ. The rejection phase is over."I dropped into the hard plastic chair by the bed. My knees were shaking so badly they felt like soft jelly. "He is really going to be okay?""Yes," the doctor said. He smiled and tapped his chart with a black pen. "Your brother is very strong. He just needs rest now."The heavy wooden door clicked shut behind the doctor. The room went quiet, except for the steady *beep, beep, beep* of the heart monitor.I leaned my elbows on the edge of the mattress and pulled my knees up to my chest. The tight knot in my stomach finally let go. I didn't mean to cry, but hot tears spilled over my eyelashes anyway. Sitting in this small white room, watching Leo’s chest rise and fall under the clean blanket, I could not stop the water from falling.A soft step sounded on the cold tile floor behind me.Nathan didn't say a word