Chapter 3
The dingy motel room reeked of stale cigarettes and regret.
I perched on the edge of the lumpy bed, fingers curling around a thin stack of stolen documents – the only thing I had managed to steal before I’d been tossed out of Benedict Holdings.
They weren’t enough.
Not nearly enough.
I had spent days going through them, looking for something, anything that could somehow validate what I already knew that Desmond had set me up.
But the numbers on the pages blurred together, and all I could think about was how he had looked at me before he turned his back.
Cold. Indifferent.
Like I was some ghost he was seeing.
I swallowed hard, glancing to the cracked mirror hanging on the wall.
I no longer recognized the woman who stared back at me.
Dark circles beneath my eyes. My silk blouse, perfect at one time, now wrinkled. In the course of one week my entire life went up in smoke.
But Desmond had done one thing wrong.
He hadn’t destroyed me.
Not yet.
I took my phone, hands shaking.
But there was one person I could call. Someone who can perhaps get me back in the doors of Benedict Holdings.
I browsed my contacts until I saw the name.
Walter Greene,
An old security officer. Someone I’d once defended when Desmond had wanted to fire him for a small error.
I took a breath and hit call.
Walter immediately agreed to meet with me.
As soon as I spotted him outside the motel standing in the shadows, I barely managed to stay upright, I was so relieved.
“You got real quiet after they put you in court,” he said gruffly, his eyes running over me up and down. “Didn’t think I’d ever hear you again.”
I exhaled. “I never thought I’d have to call.”
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3:01 pm
Chapter &
His gaze darkened. “I knew something was off, I don’t trust Benedict. Never did. You like to get back in, don’t your
I nodded
Walter rubbed at his jaw, considering, “I can get you in. But you have only one shot?
One shot was all I needed.
By midnight, I was back inside Benedict Holdings, slipping through its vacant corridors.
Walter had turned off the security cameras for ten minutes. Enough for me to slip into Desmond’s office and yet what I need
I darted in the door, flicking on the desk lamp, my hands already rummaging through the drawers.
Nothing
But then I saw it. Under his desk.
My pulse quickened,
I reached in and pulled out a thin black folder.
And that’s when my breath seized.
Bank records.
Transactions.
Every single forged document.
All under my name.
All signed in exact replicas of my handwriting
My fist tightened around the paper.
This was it.
This was the proof.
And then I saw the USB.
A silver, pocket–size device stored near the records,
I took it and plugged it into Desmond’s laptop, my heart racing as I clicked open the one and only file within.
A CCTV recording
I hit play.
And when the screen lit up, my breath ceased.
Desmond leaned back in his office chair, lips twisted with amusement.
And there across from him was Vanessa.
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3:01 pm
Chapter 3
I bit down hard when the audio came to life.
Desmond laughed. “You should have seen her face when they pulled her out.”
Vanessa smirked. “I almost feel bad for her.”
Desmond propped himself forward, reaching to take her wrist. “Almost?”
She laughed, sliding onto his lap. “Not really.”
The camera captured the moment he kissed her.
The specific moment he mumbled, “It’s all ours now.
My blood ran cold.
It was never about my career.
This whole time, Desmond planned for this.
The money. The betrayal. Everything.
The woman in the video the one he had substituted me with giggled against his lips. “And she still doesn’t know?”
Desmond smirked. “She’s probably still waiting for me to save her.”
Vanessa let out a soft sigh. “It’s sad, really.”
Desmond’s hand was sliding down her back. “No. It’s pathetic.”
I slammed the laptop shut.
I was reading the silence deafening in the office.
I looked down at my shaking hands and gasped heavily, jaggedly.
I had been broken for days. Confused.
I had thought maybe Desmond had gotten roped into this. That a little, somehow, he had still cared.
But now I knew the truth.
He hadn’t just betrayed me.
He had enjoyed it.
I breathed out slowly, my fist around the USB drive.
This stopped being only about clearing my name.
This was about war.
I gripped the USB tighter in my fingers, no louder than a murmur.
“I will not only clear my name, Desmond.”
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3:01 pm DDD
Chapter 3
My nails dug into my palm.
“I’ll destroy you.”
And then I got out my phone.
It was time to make a phone call I should have made years ago.
My hands trembled as I dialed the number.
The line rang once.
Twice.
Then-
A voice, sharp and familiar.
“Who is this?”
I swallowed hard. “It’s me.”
Silence.
I squeezed my eyes shut, gripping the phone harder.
“I need your help, Elijah.”
My brother inhaled sharply. “Fiona?”
+28)
A lump formed in my throat. It had been years since I’d heard from him. Years since I had departed from my family, intent on living my own life.
A life that had just been reduced to ash.
“What the hell happened, what happened to you? he demanded. “Do you know how long I’ve searched for your number?”
I blinked quickly and fought against the sudden welling of feelings. “I didn’t think—”
“You never thought you’d need me,” he ended bitterly. “And now you do.”
I winced. “Yes.”
He took a long time to respond.
Then, his voice hardened.
“Tell me everything.”
So I took a deep breath and let the words come.
The setup. The trial. Desmond’s betrayal. Yesterday I’d just revealed that evidence.
By the end, my hands were shaking.
Elijah was silent.
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3:01 pm D
Chapter 3
Next, his voice emerged deadly.
“I should kill him.”
I let out a choked laugh. “Get in line.”
He exhaled sharply. “Come home, Fiona.”
I went still.
“I can solve this,” he continued. “You’re not on your own with this. Just come home, and we’ll—”
“No.” I swallowed. “Not yet.”
I couldn’t.
Not when I was their first sitcom.
Elijah muttered a curse under his breath. “Damn it, Fiona-”
“I need help,” I interrupted. “But not to run. I need someone who’s going to help me take Desmond out.”
A long pause.
Then, Elijah exhaled.
“There’s one person,” he said after a moment.
My pulse jumped. “Who?”
His voice darkened.
“You’re not going to like it.”
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