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Chapter Twelve: Whispers in the Dark

Aвтор: Jane James
last update Последнее обновление: 2025-04-28 19:37:00

Elena

Secrets rot from the inside out.

I knew that better than anyone now.

The photo on my phone burned into my mind—Sophie standing over a lifeless man. It wasn’t just scandal anymore. It was something far worse.

And somehow, Daniel was still tangled in her web.

I spent the next few days pretending.

Pretending I still trusted him. Pretending we were normal. Pretending I wasn’t one step away from detonating the world he thought he controlled.

The anonymous message came again.

“Meet me. Tonight. Park Lane Hotel. Room 914.”

No name. No voice. Just instructions.

Rachel thought it was a trap. Julian thought it was reckless.

I went anyway.

Because fear wasn’t enough to stop me anymore.

The hotel was old money—classic, elegant, the kind of place where secrets hid behind polished doors. Room 914 was at the end of the hall, dimly lit and silent.

I knocked once.

The door opened a fraction.

A woman stood inside, face hidden beneath a wide-brimmed hat, voice low and urgent.

“You’re Elena Hart?”

“Yes.”

She hesitated, then opened the door wider. “Come in. Quickly.”

Inside, the room smelled like stale perfume and panic. She locked the door behind me, checked the peephole twice before speaking.

“I don’t have much time. If Sophie finds out I talked to you—” she shuddered—“she’ll destroy me.”

I kept my voice calm. “Tell me everything.”

She pulled a flash drive from her pocket and shoved it into my hand. “That’s all the proof you’ll need.”

“What’s on it?”

“Bank transfers. Fake identities. Evidence she set up men—wealthy ones—drugged them, blackmailed them.”

My stomach turned. “Why are you giving this to me?”

“Because you’re the only one who doesn’t want to be her. You want to end her.”

She grabbed my wrist, nails digging into my skin. “Promise me—promise—you’ll make her pay.”

I nodded once. “I promise.”

She gave a broken smile, almost a sob, before slipping out the door and vanishing down the hallway like smoke.

I stood there for a long moment, pulse hammering in my ears.

This was it.

The final piece.

I had the power to bring Sophie Mitchell down—for good.

I returned home past midnight. Daniel was awake, pacing the living room like a trapped animal.

“Where were you?” he demanded, voice sharp.

“Out,” I said coolly, setting down my purse.

“With who?”

“Does it matter?” I tilted my head, studying him the way a hunter studies her prey. “Or are you worried I’ll do to you what you did to me?”

Guilt flickered across his face, quickly masked by anger.

“You’re different,” he muttered.

“I’m the same,” I lied. “You’re just finally seeing me without the rose-colored glasses.”

He didn’t respond.

He knew.

The balance of power had shifted—and this time, I wasn’t giving it back.

Later that night, I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling while the flash drive burned in my bedside drawer.

Sophie thought she could play me.

Use Daniel. Use everyone.

But she forgot one simple truth.

A woman betrayed is dangerous.

A woman who survives betrayal?

She’s unstoppable.

And I was just getting started.

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