Chapter 4

The next thirteen days were the performance of my life.

I was the loving fiancée, the devoted daughter, the blushing bride-to-be. I smiled, I laughed, I discussed floral arrangements with my mother and honeymoon destinations with Cole. Every word was a lie, every touch a betrayal.

But underneath the placid surface, a storm was raging. The naive girl was well and truly dead, and in her place was a woman forged in fury. Every fake smile, every hollow "I love you" from Cole, every condescending piece of advice from my father-it was all fuel for the fire.

The hard drive was my secret. I kept it in a safety deposit box at a bank they would never think to check. I made multiple encrypted copies, storing them in the cloud under an anonymous account.

I chose my stage: the Stewart Dynamics Annual Shareholders' Meeting. It was the biggest event of the year, a spectacle of corporate power and success, live-streamed globally to investors, analysts, and the media. It was the very heart of my father's empire.

The perfect place to rip it out.

My preparations were meticulous and covert. I found a lawyer, not a flashy corporate shark, but a quiet, ruthless woman who specialized in complex financial fraud and high-stakes divorces. We met in dingy coffee shops, far from the polished world of the Stewarts. I paid her in cash from a new account I' d opened under a name that didn' t exist.

"You have enough here to not just ruin them, but to potentially send them to prison," she told me, her eyes scanning the documents on a heavily encrypted laptop. "Especially your father. This goes far beyond blackmail. This is evidence of corporate espionage, wire fraud, and conspiracy."

"Good," was all I said.

I also started moving my own money. Not the family trust I was entitled to-I wanted nothing from them-but the earnings from my own investments I'd made over the years. I funneled it into offshore accounts, creating a nest egg that would allow me to disappear.

The hardest part was enduring Cole. His touch now made my skin crawl. One evening, he pulled me close on the sofa, his hand tracing patterns on my back.

"What are you thinking about?" he murmured into my hair.

I was thinking about the picture of him and Juliette on that beach. I was thinking about how his hand had held hers, how his daughter had called him Daddy.

"Just the wedding," I lied, my voice soft. "So much to do."

"It's all going to be perfect," he said, kissing my forehead. "Our life is going to be perfect. Once the Nexus launch is fully rolled out and my position is solidified, we can finally start our real life."

The irony was so thick I could have choked on it. His "real life" was waiting for him in a house across the bay.

I needed more. The digital evidence was damning, but I wanted something physical. Something visceral.

My chance came a week before the meeting. Cole announced he had a two-day "business trip" to Chicago. I knew exactly where he was going. Aspen. To see his family.

"I'll miss you," I said, kissing him goodbye at the door.

The moment he was gone, I set my own plan in motion. I told my mother I was going on a spa retreat for the day to de-stress before the big meeting.

Then I got in my car and drove.

The drive to the address from the utility bills was surreal. My hands gripped the steering wheel, my knuckles white. The quiet, tree-lined streets were a world away from the cold glass and steel of my downtown penthouse.

I found the house. It was a beautiful modern craftsman, with a sprawling lawn and a pink bicycle parked near the front door. It was a family home. My prison had been a penthouse; their paradise was here.

I parked down the street and waited. An hour later, Juliette emerged, holding Kiarra's hand. She looked like any other suburban mom, dressed in yoga pants and a sweatshirt. They got into her SUV and drove off, likely to a park or a playdate.

This was my window.

I walked up the stone path, my heart hammering. I pulled on a pair of thin leather gloves. In my pocket was a lock-picking set I'd ordered online and practiced with for hours in my closet. My past self, the charity founder, would have been horrified. The new me was calm and focused.

The lock clicked open on the third try. I slid inside, closing the door silently behind me.

The house smelled of cinnamon and coffee. Toys were scattered in the living room. A child's drawing of a stick-figure family-a man, a woman, a little girl-was taped to the refrigerator. Cole, Juliette, Kiarra.

It was a home filled with love. And every inch of it was a testament to his betrayal.

I went straight for the master bedroom. It was messy in a lived-in way. Clothes draped over a chair, a book left open on the nightstand. And on the wall, a large framed photo.

It was a wedding picture. Cole and Juliette, on a beach, her in a simple white dress, him in a linen shirt. They were laughing, looking at each other with pure, unadulterated joy. Engraved on the frame was a date from four and a half years ago.

He was already married. All this time.

I took out my phone and started taking pictures of everything.

On Juliette's nightstand, I found a velvet ring box. Inside was a stunning diamond engagement ring. Not the one I was wearing. A different one. Bigger. I realized with a jolt of sickness that he was planning to propose to her again, publicly, after he was done with me. After our sham marriage served its purpose and ended in a quiet, mutually agreed-upon divorce.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a car pulling into the driveway.

Panic seized me. Juliette was back.

I scrambled, looking for a place to hide. The closet. I dove inside, pulling the door almost shut, leaving just a crack to see through. My heart was a frantic drum against my ribs.

I heard the front door open and Juliette's voice, sharp and annoyed. She was on the phone.

"I don't care what the market is doing, Uncle Gabe," she snapped. "The payment is late. You know the terms of our arrangement."

I froze. She was talking to my father.

There was a pause. I could faintly hear my father's muffled voice on the other end.

"Don't you dare threaten me," Juliette's voice was ice. "I took the fall for you. I sat in exile while you rebuilt your precious company on my sacrifice. But we both know who really orchestrated the Seraphim data theft. We both know you were the one who sold the intel to our competitor, and when the breach went public, you needed a scapegoat."

The world tilted on its axis. The data breach wasn't Juliette's mistake. It was my father's crime. An act of corporate espionage. He had framed her.

"The money is my silence, Uncle," she continued, her voice dangerously low. "It's the price you pay for your freedom. And the price for Cole's future. You want him as CEO? Then you keep paying. Make the transfer by the end of the day, or I forward a very interesting email to the SEC. Is that clear?"

She hung up.

I stayed hidden in the darkness of the closet, the smell of her perfume choking me. I waited, not daring to breathe, until I heard her leave the room and her car pull away again.

I had it all. The affair, the secret family, the house, the fake exile, the blackmail, and now, the original crime.

I had the truth. And the truth was a weapon of mass destruction.