"Who sent the email?" James demanded, his voice shaking with rage.
No one answered him.
"The screenshots are fabricated!" James insisted desperately, standing up. "I am being set up! My ex-wife and Leo Maddox are trying to ruin me!"
No one in the room looked even slightly convinced.
That cold, indifferent disbelief destroyed him more than if they had argued with him.
James lost control. "You cannot do this to me!" he roared, grabbing the dossier and throwing it violently across the room. The papers scattered like snow. He knocked his chair backward, taking a furious, aggressive step toward the CHRO.
The security guard stepped forward, placing a heavy, restraining hand on James’s chest.
James stopped, breathing heavily. He looked around the room and realized, entirely too late, that every single person had just watched him prove he was utterly incapable of controlling himself.
"You need to leave the building, Mr. Williams," the security guard said firmly.
"I'm not going anywhere," James spat.
The guard moved closer, his hand dropping toward his radio.
"You are being escorted out, James," the attorney said calmly, gathering his own files. "Any further disruption will be documented and used in the termination proceedings. Walk out, or you will be removed."
James had no choice.
The walk to the elevators was the most humiliating experience of his entire life. The security guard walked half a step behind him, treating him like a hostile threat.
Employees watched through the glass walls of their offices. People turned away from their desks. A young analyst he had brutally berated last month looked at him with barely hidden, triumphant disgust. A secretary looked afraid. Several of the executives he considered friends simply looked away, suddenly fascinated by their phones.
No one helped him. No one spoke up. No one rushed forward to demand answers or defend his honor.
The exact same people who used to laugh at his terrible jokes, eagerly flatter his ego, and treat him like a man destined for the top now watched him being removed from the premises like a toxic liability.
No one moved to protect him. No one believed his desperate excuses. James knew that no one was coming to save him.
Chapter 29
Leo
Leo stood perfectly still in the humid warmth of his greenhouse, staring at the manila envelope resting on his potting bench.
Inside was a flash drive and a stack of glossy photographs. It was the final delivery from Nash. The ultimate, definitive proof of Amanda and James’s complete, catastrophic collapse.
The photos laid out the wreckage of Amanda’s arrest. She had finally snapped, attempting to run James over with her car in the parking garage of his new place. The images captured the flashing blue and red police lights illuminating the concrete pillars. They showed Amanda being restrained over the hood of a cruiser, her face contorted in a wild, screaming fury. They showed James standing a few feet away, visibly shaken, his face bloodless, desperately trying to put distance between himself and the woman he had destroyed his marriage for.
It was the definitive end of whatever twisted, opportunistic loyalty they thought they had shared.
Nash had included a brief, typed note.Job is done. The trail is secure. They are doing the rest to themselves.
This was Leo’s final contact with Nash regarding Olivia’s case. As he stared at the photos, Leo felt a profound relief, though it wasn't exactly joy. He did not regret a single thinghe had done to fight for Olivia, but he was ready for this dark chapter of vengeance, surveillance, dossiers, and ruthless strategy to finally end.
The greenhouse door clicked open.
Leo turned, hastily sliding the photos back into the envelope.
Olivia stood in the doorway, catching her breath, an excited, almost breathless smile on her face. "I got it," she announced, her eyes bright with creative energy. "I finally found the perfect flavor notes. And the consistency for the frosting is exactly right."
Leo looked at her standing among the lush green herbs and blooming edible flowers. She looked so beautifully alive.
