Chapter 14
No.1
Jewel paced the room, her hands pulling at her hair."He used you. He literally used your face to launder his mistress's reputation. I'm going to hack their servers. I'll trace the bot payments right back to his personal accounts."
"You won't find it," Elisa said flatly. "Simon hides the money through three shell companies in the Caymans. It's airtight."
Elisa reached into her wet trench coat pocket. She pulled out a small, black, rectangular device. It looked like a vintage MP3 player.①
"But this isn't,"Elisa said.
Jewel stopped pacing. "What is that?"
"Five years ago, when I found out I was pregnant,I panicked," Elisa said, her eyes dark. "I was terrified August would find out. I convinced him our home network needed a security overhaul. I rewrote the firmware for the smart home hub in his study,burying a passive audio-recording backdoor in the code."
No.2
Elisa plugged the device into Jewel's encrypted laptop.
She clicked on an audio file time-stamped from two hours ago.
The progress bar moved. A burst of static cleared,revealing the crisp, unmistakable sound of August's voice.
"The PR team is executing the drop now," August's voice echoed from the laptop speakers.
Then,the voice of Meredith Hastings, August's aunt,filtered through the phone line he had on speaker."August, this is reckless. Dragging the family name into Page Six just to break Julian's engagement?Why use Elisa as the villain?"
August let out a cold, arrogant laugh.
No.3
"Because she's a convenient target," August said,his voice dripping with disdain. "If I make Elisa look like a cold,jealous bitch, the public will pity Allena.It washes the dirt off Allena so she can leave Julian cleanly."
"And what if Elisa fights back?" Meredith asked.
"She won't," August sneered. "She's completely dependent on my money. I'll throw an extra million into her trust fund. That always shuts her up."
Jewel's jaw dropped. She stared at the laptop in absolute horror. "He is a psychopath."
Elisa didn't blink. She dragged the audio file into three separate, heavily encrypted offshore cloud servers.
"He thinks he's playing chess," Elisa whispered."He doesn't realize I just flipped the board."
No.4
Jewel sat down next to her. "What about the divorce contract? The seven-year agreement. Did he sign it?"
Elisa's eyes darkened.①
Miles away, in the Manhattan penthouse, the morning sun pierced through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the study.
The stapled copy of the seven-year marriage contract sat exactly where Elisa had left it,perfectly centered on the mahogany desk. The bold words "Termination Clause" caught the light.
August walked into the study, wearing a fresh suit.He needed the quarterly merger reports.
He walked to the desk. His eyes landed on the contract.He frowned.
No.5
He reached his hand out. His fingertips brushed the edge of the paper.
Suddenly, his private cell phone vibrated in his jacket pocket. The custom ringtone played.
August stopped. He pulled the phone out. Allena's name flashed on the screen.
He answered it immediately. "Are you ready, baby?"
"The helicopter is so loud," Allena whimpered through the phone. "I'm scared to fly to Aspen without you. The doctor said the altitude might make me dizzy."
August's face softened entirely. "I'm on my way to the helipad right now. I'll hold your hand the whole way."
No.6
He turned away from the desk.
"Brenda!" August yelled toward the hallway.
The head housekeeper rushed in.
August pointed blindly at the desk. "Clear this clutter off my desk. Put it in the records room.I need the space for the merger files."
"Yes, Mr. Chambers," Brenda nodded.
August walked out of the room, his mind entirely on Aspen.
No.7
Brenda walked to the desk. She picked up the seven-year marriage contract. She didn't read it.
She walked over to the heavy-duty paper shredder in the corner. She fed the thick stack of papers into the slot.①
The machine let out a loud, grinding mechanical scream.
The legal document that dictated the end of August's marriage was chewed into a thousand meaningless white ribbons.