Chương 8
“She left after the first acquisition.”
“Why?”
“I made a mistake.”
“What kind of mistake?”
He was quiet for so long that I thought he might refuse.
Then he said, “I chose the company over her.”
The answer was simple.
Almost too simple.
“What does that mean?”
“We were supposed to start a new division together.”
“And?”
“The board wanted me to take full control.”
“And you agreed.”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“You replaced her.”
His eyes lowered.
“She felt like I used her.”
“Did you?”
“I didn’t mean to.”
That was different from saying no.
I noticed.
“Why does this matter now?”
Julian hesitated.
“Because Evelyn was the person who introduced me to some of the investors who helped Apex survive.”
“Including the people involved in the current acquisition?”
“Yes.”
My phone sat between us.
The unknown messages.
The documents.
The warnings.
“Is Evelyn the one sending these?”
Julian looked surprised.
“I don’t know.”
“You sound like you do.”
“I haven’t spoken to her in years.”
“Why?”
His jaw tightened.
“Because the last time we spoke, she told me I would eventually become exactly like the people I hated.”
The words stayed between us.
I looked at him carefully.
“Did you?”
Julian did not answer.
That silence was more honest than anything else.
Outside the window, people moved through the street.
A delivery driver carried boxes into a restaurant.
A couple laughed beside the entrance.
Someone dropped a paper cup and apologized to a stranger.
Life continued.
It always did.
Even when someone’s world was collapsing.
“I need to ask you something else,” I said.
Julian nodded.
“Was Chloe connected to Evelyn?”
His expression changed.
“How do you know that?”
“You didn’t answer.”
He looked uncomfortable.
“Yes.”
My heart sank.
“How?”
“Chloe worked for a consulting firm that Evelyn founded.”
“Before she came to Apex?”
“Yes.”
I leaned back.
“So Chloe knew about your past.”
“Yes.”
“And she still pursued you.”
Julian looked away.
“I thought she understood me.”
The sentence hurt.
Not because I wanted him back.
Because I finally understood the pattern.
Julian kept choosing people who admired the version of himself he wanted to become.
And I had spent three years loving the version of him I hoped was still there.
“Did Chloe know about the acquisition problems?”
“Yes.”
“Did she know about the altered document?”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Again.
Too quickly.
I watched him.
“Are you protecting her?”
“No.”
“Then who are you protecting?”
Julian said nothing.
The silence stretched.
Then his phone rang.
He glanced at the screen.
His expression changed.
“What?”
I watched his face.
The color disappeared.
“What happened?”
He stood slowly.
“Someone leaked the board investigation.”
“To who?”
He looked at me.
“The media.”
My chest tightened.
“Julian.”
His voice dropped.
“They found Evelyn Hart.”
The coffee shop suddenly felt too small.
“What does that mean?”
He grabbed his coat.
“It means the person who wants Apex destroyed is not trying to hide anymore.”
He looked at me.
“And they’re about to make sure everyone knows what I did.”
And they’re about to make sure everyone knows what I did.
I watched Julian walk away from the table.
For a moment, I almost followed him.
The old version of me would have.
The woman who spent years fixing problems before anyone asked.
The woman who believed love meant standing beside someone even when they were the reason she was hurting.
But I stayed seated.
Because something had changed.
I no longer wanted to save Julian from the consequences of choices he made without me.
I wanted the truth.
And there was a difference.
A few minutes later, my phone rang.
Arthur.
I answered immediately.
“Are you with Julian?”
His question surprised me.
“Yes.”
“Leave.”
I frowned.
“What happened?”
“The board investigation details are online.”
I stood from the table.
“How bad?”
A pause.
That was never a good sign.
“Bad enough that people are already choosing sides.”
I grabbed my coat.
“What was leaked?”
“Documents.”
“Real documents?”
“Some are.”
The answer stopped me.
“Some?”
“Someone mixed legitimate records with altered information.”
I walked toward the door.
“Who?”
“We don’t know.”
I stepped outside into the cold air.
Cars moved past the street.
People walked by carrying coffee and talking about ordinary things.
Meanwhile, Julian Cross was becoming the center of a corporate scandal.
And somehow, I was standing in the middle of it.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“Why does everyone keep acting like I’m involved?”
Arthur was quiet.
Then he said, “Because you are.”
The honesty caught me off guard.
“I’m not part of Apex.”
“No.”
“You just said I’m involved.”
“You are involved because you know the person at the center of it.”
I looked back through the coffee shop window.
Julian was still inside, standing with his phone pressed to his ear.
He looked alone.
For a second, I felt sympathy.
Then I remembered the photo Chloe sent me.
The way he had looked at me.
The way he had allowed another person to humiliate me.
Sympathy and pain existed together.
That was the part nobody talked about.
You could care about someone and still know they had hurt you.
“I’m coming back,” I told my father.
“Good.”
“But I need to do something first.”
“What?”
I looked at Julian.
“I need to talk to Evelyn Hart.”
Arthur became silent.
“Clarissa.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know who she is anymore.”
“Neither does Julian.”
“That is exactly why you should be careful.”
I ended the call after promising I would not meet her alone.
It was a promise I made because my father needed to hear it.
Not because I was certain I would keep it.
By the time I reached Vance International, the atmosphere had changed.
People were moving faster.
Phones were ringing.
Employees were speaking in lower voices.
The kind of silence that appears when everyone knows something important but nobody knows how much they are allowed to say.
May you like
Arthur was waiting near the elevator.
“You look like you already made a decision.”
