Liana barely slept that night. Even after she returned to her apartment, even after she washed her face and changed into her softest old shirt, her mind refused to quiet.
The moment she turned off the lights, Ethan's name filled the darkness. Ethan in the hospital. Ethan collapsing. Ethan alone. She tried to bury the thought under anger, under every wound he had left on her, under every reason she should hate him, but emotion didn't obey logic. It rose stubbornly, twisting into tight knots inside her chest until sleep finally took her sometime near dawn.
When she woke, her eyes stung faintly. She blamed the dry air.
The office felt different that morning. People whispered in corners. Hushed conversations drifted through the halls like wind carrying secrets. Even the employees who normally laughed loudly near the break room stood quieter than usual.
The news had begun spreading across industries, Ethan Cole, the unstoppable CEO of Cole Industries, had collapsed from exhaustion and was undergoing emergency observation. Some articles called it burnout. Others called it stress-related illness. A few speculated worse.
Liana kept her face calm and unreadable. She walked straight to her desk, ignoring the curious glances. She focused on her computer screen, but every few minutes she found herself staring at her blank reflection on the monitor, mind drifting back to the same name.
"Liana?"
She blinked out of her thoughts. Adrian stood beside her desk, holding a folder in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.
"You look pale," he said quietly. "Long night?"
She forced a small smile. "Just tired."
He hesitated, then placed the tea on her desk. "You don't have to pretend with me."
"I'm not pretending," she replied gently, though deep down she knew she was.
Adrian studied her for a moment with those perceptive, patient eyes of his, but he didn't push further. He handed her the folder, briefed her on the tasks for the morning, and left her to work. Liana exhaled slowly, grateful for the reprieve.
She needed distraction.
She buried herself in spreadsheets, reports, schedules, anything that could keep her mind occupied. It worked, for a while. But by noon, as she walked to the printer, she sensed a shift in the air, like a cold shadow moving through the building.
The receptionist rushed past her, flustered, murmuring something about unexpected visitors. Liana paid little attention until she turned a corner and froze.
Because standing in the middle of the lobby, dressed in a fitted beige coat, hair curled to perfection, lips glossed to a shine, was a woman she thought she would never see again.
Camille.
Camille Laurent. The woman who had kissed Ethan in his office. The woman who had walked out of his bedroom half-dressed the night everything shattered. The woman who had smiled when Liana's world fell apart.
Her heels clicked sharply as she turned, and her eyes landed directly on Liana.
The smile that stretched across Camille's lips was slow, deliberate, and poisonous.
"So," she said, voice sweet as venom, "you're still alive."
Liana's grip tightened around her files. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, relax." Camille stepped forward gracefully, as if she were gliding rather than walking. "I heard Ethan collapsed. I came to visit him."
Liana's chest tightened, but she kept her expression cold. "Why would you visit him?"
Camille tilted her head, feigning innocence. "Because he and I have unfinished business."
"Your business with him is over."
Camille laughed lightly. "You think so? How adorable."
Her gaze sharpened, and her next words came out in a whisper meant only for Liana.
"Ethan always comes back to me. Always."
Liana felt something hot pulse beneath her skin, a mix of anger and disgust and something she didn't want to name. "Leave," she said quietly. "He doesn't need you."
"Oh, but he does," Camille murmured, stepping closer. "You really don't understand men like him, do you? His collapse, his guilt, his broken heart… all of it started because of you. You think you've become stronger?" She smiled cruelly. "You don't even realize how easily you can still be ruined."
Liana's fingers curled into fists, but she kept her voice steady. "You don't scare me."
"Not yet," Camille said, brushing past her. "But you will."
Liana wanted to walk away, to throw Camille out of her mind like the trash she was. But then she heard her speak again, this time to the receptionist, loud enough to echo through the hallway.
"I'm here to see Ethan Cole. Tell the hospital he'll want to see me immediately."
A cold shiver ran through Liana.
Something felt wrong, terribly wrong.
She didn't have proof, but she had lived enough of life by now to know one thing with certainty: when Camille returned, she never came empty-handed. She came with destruction.
Hours passed. Work blurred into background noise. Liana tried to focus, but her mind kept replaying Camille's smirk, her confidence, her threat. She told herself Ethan wasn't her responsibility anymore. She told herself she shouldn't care if Camille visited him. She told herself she shouldn't feel the twist in her stomach when she imagined Camille standing beside his hospital bed, whispering something poisonous into his ear.
By late afternoon, her frustrations had built into a simmering restlessness she couldn't ignore.
She went to the break room, splashed cold water on her face, and stared at her reflection. She looked like someone standing on the edge of a cliff, unsure whether to step back or let the wind push her forward.
That was when she heard the voices outside the doorway.
"-big scandal brewing, I'm telling you."
"What scandal?"
"Someone leaked internal documents. Something about unethical practices. And they're saying the leak came from inside our company."
Liana stiffened.
Inside… their company.
A sudden dread began to form.
Before she could exit, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw multiple notifications, social media tags, headline alerts, workplace chatter.
Her pulse quickened.
She opened the first article.
BREAKING: Regional Design Firm Employee Linked to Corporate Sabotage Incident
Her breath caught. She scrolled.
Her name appeared. Her actual name.
Liana Rivera.
Her photo, her workplace. A fabricated story claiming she leaked documents, documents she'd never even seen.
Her vision tunneled. Her heart pounded violently in her ears.
This was targeted. Planned. Hunted.
Camille.
Her phone buzzed again. Adrian this time. She answered instantly, voice shaking. "Adrian?"
"Liana, listen to me. Don't say anything to anyone. We're handling it internally, but you need to come to my office right now."
"What happened?" she whispered, already knowing.
"You've been named as the source of the leak," Adrian said, voice grim. "And someone submitted an anonymous complaint to HR. This could ruin your career if we don't get ahead of it."
Her knees wobbled. Her world tilted.
"But I didn't do anything," she managed.
"I know," Adrian said. "But someone wants you destroyed."
The truth hit her like an iron blow.
Camille hadn't come back for Ethan. She had come for her.
Liana forced herself to move, walking down the hallway with numb legs. People stared at her as she passed, some with pity, others with curiosity. A few whispered behind their hands.
Her reputation, something she had rebuilt from ashes, was already cracking.
And she knew Camille was somewhere out there watching, smiling as everything began to crumble.
Just as she reached Adrian's door, her phone buzzed again.
One new message. No name. No number.
Just a single sentence:
Did you really think you could beat me?
Liana froze.
Her breath stopped.
Because now she understood, Camille wasn't just back.
She was declaring war.
And Liana Rivera was standing in the center of the battlefield with her career hanging by a thread.