The temptation was like a siren's song, calling Eva back to a life she thought was lost forever.
She sat across from Miles Rourke at a busy downtown café, the noise of the city buzzing around them. It felt like a secret rebellion a small act of defiance against the golden cage she now lived in.
Miles, once her colleague and something more for a brief moment, still had that spark in his eyes. Now an editor at a promising online media startup, he leaned forward, earnest and hopeful.
"E.L. Verity," he said, pushing a steaming mug of coffee toward her. "That's the name we want back. Your work was groundbreaking still is. We have an open spot. Full creative control, Eva. No corporate meddling."
Eva's throat tightened. Full creative control. No interference. Everything she'd once dreamed of. The chance to be E.L. Verity again free and unapologetic.
But then, just as quickly, Lucian's cold, unreadable face flashed in her mind.
She swallowed and said quietly, "I… I need to think about it, Miles."
He nodded, understanding but firm. "Take your time. The offer's open. The world still needs E.L. Verity."
The next morning, the gossip columns exploded.
A grainy photo appeared on the front page of a popular online tabloid Eva and Miles, caught in a private moment at the café, leaning in close with serious expressions.
The headline screamed: "Mrs. Thorne's Secret Rendezvous: Is Billionaire's New Wife Rekindling Old Flames?"
Lucian didn't say a word at first. But his behavior grew colder, more distant.
He canceled dinner plans, blamed late meetings, and rearranged his schedule to avoid being home in the evenings. Each change was like a silent accusation, a slow poison.
The penthouse felt suffocating.
One evening, after another day of his cold silence, Eva found him alone in his study.
"Lucian, we need to talk," she said, voice trembling despite her best effort to stay calm.
He looked up from his laptop, eyes icy and sharp.
"About what, Eva? Your clandestine meetings with former lovers?" he snapped.
"Miles isn't a lover," Eva said, hurt flashing in her voice. "He's a colleague. He offered me a job. I was just talking about my career."
Lucian scoffed. "Your career? You're Mrs. Lucian Thorne now. Your job is to keep up appearances, not flirt with journalists who still fancy you."
"Flirt?" Eva's voice cracked with frustration. "I'm trying to find purpose, Lucian! To reclaim myself something you and this marriage took away."
His eyes darkened. "You can't stay away from your past. The past that broke us. The past when you leaked corporate secrets."
The old wound ripped open.
"I never leaked anything!" Eva's voice rose. "Why did you always assume the worst?"
He said nothing, just stared coldly. The wall between them seemed unbreakable.
That night, Eva couldn't stay in her own room.
She went to Ari's room, seeking comfort in the child's peaceful sleep.
Ari stirred, reaching out her tiny hand. Eva lay beside her, tears falling quietly as the little girl held her hand like an anchor in a storm.
The tension with Lucian and the public scandal pushed Eva to dig deeper into her father's downfall.
She spent hours pouring over financial files, company records, anything connected to Langston Innovations.
The numbers blurred a web of loans, mysterious investments, falling profits.
Then she found it.
Tucked in an old box in her father's study were documents bearing Henry Langston's signature documents approving illegal transactions.
Shell companies, offshore accounts, huge sums of money.
And the dates.
Just days before Eva's exposé on the pharmaceutical scandal was shut down.
Days before she was blacklisted.
Days before her life, and her relationship with Lucian, fell apart.
Her hands shook as the truth hit her like a thunderbolt.
Her father knew about the scandal.
Worse, he helped cover it up.
Her so-called betrayal, the one Lucian believed wasn't real.
It was a setup.
And her own father might have been behind it.
A wave of nausea rose in her chest.
The man she'd come back to save the man whose desperation forced this marriage might have destroyed her instead.
Questions churned inside her.
Who gave Lucian those fake documents?
Why did he vanish without confronting her?
Why didn't Henry defend her?
Why did no one clear her name?
The echoes of betrayal rang louder than ever deep and painful threatening to shatter everything she thought she knew.