Chapter 170
No.1
Three days later, the lobby of Aethel Intelligence was a hive of morning activity. Employees swiped their badges at the turnstiles, holding coffees and chatting about the upcoming beta launch.
Elisa stood near the security desk, waiting for a guest pass for a JHU technician. She wore a dark,structured blazer that hid her back brace, her posture rigid and perfect.
Near the floor-to-ceiling windows, Allena was holding court. The documentary crew was back, filming her as she graciously accepted a bouquet of flowers from a sycophantic junior developer. Allena was glowing, riding the high of August's public declaration of love at the restaurant.
Suddenly, the heavy revolving doors at the front entrance spun violently.
Meredith Hastings marched into the lobby.
August's aunt looked like a hurricane in a Chanel suit.
No.2
Her face was a terrifying mask of pure, unadulterated rage. Her eyes were locked onto Allena with the intensity of a predator spotting prey. Two massive private security guards flanked her, pushing past the startled Aethel receptionists.
Allena saw Meredith approaching. The gracious smile froze on her face. A flicker of genuine panic crossed her eyes. She took a step back, raising a hand in a hesitant greeting.
"Meredith, what a surprise-"
Meredith didn't slow down. She closed the distance .in a second. She didn't speak.
She raised her hand and delivered a slap so vicious and powerful that the sound cracked through the massive lobby like a bullwhip.
The force of the blow lifted Allena off her feet. She crashed hard onto the polished granite floor, her bouquet of flowers scattering everywhere. A sharp cry of pain escaped her lips as blood instantly welled up in the corner of her mouth.
No.3
The entire lobby froze. The documentary cameraman instinctively swung his lens toward the violence.
"You filthy, disgusting whore!" Meredith shrieked, her voice echoing off the high ceilings.
Meredith reached into her designer handbag. She pulled out a thick stack of glossy 8x10 photographs and hurled them violently at Allena's face.
The photos fluttered down like toxic snow, landing on Allena's chest and spreading across the floor for everyone to see.
They were high-resolution screenshots from the suppressed security video. They clearly showed Allena, naked and entangled in a hotel bed wvith Julian Hastings-Meredith's son, and Allena's former fiancé.
"You ruined my son!" Meredith screamed, pointing a shaking finger at the photos. "Because of your filthy little secret, August stripped Julian-my son, your own fiancé-of his trust fund! He threw my boy out of the family to protect you! But Julian wasn't a fool. He left me an insurance policy, you bitch. A nice little video file with a timed release."
No.4
The whispers in the lobby erupted into a deafening buzz. Employees stretched their necks to look at the
photos. The pristine, saintly image Allena had cultivated for the cameras was being shredded in real-time.
Allena scrambled backward on the floor, her hands desperately trying to gather the photos, smearing her own blood across the glossy paper. She was hyperventilating, her eyes wide with absolute terror and humiliation.
"No, no, it's a lie!" Allena sobbed, looking wildly around the room.
Her frantic gaze swept past the cameras, past the disgusted faces of the researchers, and locked onto Elisa standing calmly by the security desk.
In that moment of total destruction, Allena's panic curdled into desperate malice. She needed a scapegoat. She needed a lifeline.
No.5
Meredith's gaze shifted, cutting through her rage like a shard of ice as she spotted Elisa standing calmly by the desk. The catalyst. In Meredith's mind, if August hadn't been so obsessed with protecting this architect's interests lately, he never would have scrutinized Julian's failings so harshly. The older
woman's eyes narrowed, a calculating, dangerous light replacing the blind rage. Meredith didn't care about the truth; she cared about leverage. She gave a sharp nod to her guards, who stepped aside.
Alleńa scrambled to her feet. Seizing the opportunity,she stumbled past Meredith's guards, who let her go,and rushed toward Elisa.
Elisa didn't move. She watched Allena approach with cold,dead eyes.
Allena stopped inches from Elisa. Her face was a mess of tears, makeup, and blood. She leaned in,dropping her voice to a frantic, venomous whisper that only Elisa could hear.
"Ainsworth Antique Gallery," Allena hissed, her breath hot against Elisa's face. "My mother sits on their board, Elisa. We found your little hiding hole. A sentimental mistake for someone so 'brilliant'."
No.6
A cold chill settled in Elisa's chest-not of fear, but of a calculated risk gone wrong. She had secured the legal assets, but these were Phineas's personal journals, the only soul of her family left.①
The Ainsworth Gallery was an independent, high-
security vault. Elisa had thought it was the one place August's influence couldn't reach. But she had underestimated the Sinclair family's reach-Allena's mother sat on the gallery's board of directors. It was where Elisa had secretly transferred the few remaining artifacts that belonged to her grandfather,Phineas, to keep them safe from August.
"You are going to step forward and tell the cameras these photos are Al-generated fakes you created to frame me," Allena hissed. "Deny their authenticity, or I'll ensure your grandfather's legacy is reduced to ash before the police even arrive."
Elisa stared into the eyes of the woman who had tried to dismantle her life piece by piece. The physical pain in her spine was a dull hum compared to the sharp realization that Allena was desperate enough to burn everything down.
The entire lobby was watching, waiting for her response.