It had been three days since Alistair received those investigation reports. Three days since he discovered the truth about the brooch, the project leak, everything.
I knew he'd been calling Seraphina. I knew she'd been avoiding him.
I was reviewing a contract when my assistant's voice came through the intercom, panicked. "Ms. Lin, I'm so sorry, Miss Ross is here and she's very upset—"
I had one second to make a decision.
I picked up my phone and dialed Alistair's number. When he answered, I muted my side and set it face-down on the desk.
The door slammed against the wall with a dull thud.
Seraphina burst in.
"Evelyn... Lin!" She spat my name like it was poison. Her hair was a mess, her eyeliner smeared. The elegant mask she usually wore had finally cracked.
I looked up at her, took in the wreckage of her face, and calmly closed the folder on my desk. My assistant caught my eye and quietly slipped out, closing the door behind her.
"What do you want, Seraphina?" I leaned back in my chair.
"What do I want?" She lunged forward, slamming her hands onto my desk. Her body was trembling. "You've got Julian now. Why won't you leave Alistair alone? Why are you making him dig into me?!"
I interlaced my fingers, resting them calmly on my lap.
"Seraphina, whatever he chooses to investigate has nothing to do with me. As for the reason..." I paused, watching her face twist with fear and rage. "Maybe you should ask yourself."
"Ask myself? Ha!" She let out a jagged, ugly laugh. "If it weren't for you—lurking around like some vengeful ghost! If you hadn't gotten in his head, he never would've doubted me. He believed everything I told him!"
She was spiraling now. Years of carefully kept secrets and rising panic were tearing a hole in her composure. Her words turned sharp and reckless.
"When I told him you stole that project to buy his mother's favor, he believed me! He trusted me completely! He loved me!"
Her voice rose higher, more frantic. "And the night you lost the baby..." She lowered her voice, a sick, frantic excitement flickering in her eyes. "I paid the nurse to put something extra in your IV. Don't bother looking for proof—she's long gone, back to the Philippines. Do you know where Alistair was that night? He was in my bed. He said he was glad the house was finally quiet."
She was panting now, her face burning with a mix of jealousy and madness. "You think you can win? He never loved you. Even if you died, he wouldn't have spared you a second glance!"
The office went dead silent. Just the sound of her heavy, ragged breathing. Her expensive perfume was mixing with the smell of sweat. It was nauseating.
I watched her finish her performance, making sure she had nothing left to confess.
Then, I reached out and picked up my phone from the desk. The screen was lit. It showed a call in progress. A name: Alistair. Duration: 02:54.
I tapped the speakerphone icon.
"Mr. Vanguard," I said into the silence. "Did you catch all of that?"
There was a long, hollow silence. Ten seconds of nothing but the faint hiss of the line. Then, I heard a sound—the ragged, suffocating gasp of a man who had just watched his entire world burn down.
"...Seraphina?" Alistair's voice was dry, cracked. He sounded like he was shaking. "Everything you just said... was it true?"
The blood drained from Seraphina's face so fast it was like she'd turned to stone.
She stumbled backward, her legs giving out, and knocked into the small side table by the wall. The crystal vase on it crashed to the floor, water and glass spreading across the carpet.
"No! Alistair, I didn't mean it! I was angry, I was lying! She provoked me!" She was babbling now, scrambling toward the desk to grab the phone. I shoved her back. She hit the floor, her body going limp. "You know I would never—she set this up! You have to believe me!"
I ended the call.
I pressed the intercom button. "Security to my office. Now."
Within seconds, two guards pushed open the door.
"Miss Ross is a bit unstable," I said, looking down at my paperwork. "Please escort her out."
The guards grabbed her arms. She didn't fight them. She just stared at me like I was a stranger, her mouth opening and closing soundlessly. She didn't say another word as they led her out, her designer heels dragging against the carpet.
The door closed.
Silence returned. Just the broken glass on the floor and that lingering, unpleasant smell in the air.
I let go of my pen. It rolled across the desk.
I looked down at my hands. My knuckles were white from how hard I'd been clenching them.
I took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly.
Then, I picked up the pen again. I signed the last page of the contract. The sound of the nib scratching against the paper was steady and clear.
The evening sun hit the signature just right.
Evelyn Lin. The name was sharp in the light.
This was what I was supposed to be doing.
As for the world falling apart on the other end of that phone line? That wasn't my problem anymore.