Chapter 3 - Sophie’s Perfect Little Story
Sophie became a public figure overnight.
Not officially.
She simply appeared everywhere.
Business lunches.
Charity events.
Photographs leaving restaurants with Damien.
Interviews about Blackwood Holdings.
Stories appeared claiming Damien's marriage had been broken for years.
Anonymous sources described me as unstable.
Jealous.
Obsessive.
Controlling.
One article suggested I had attacked Sophie more than once.
Another claimed I had been responsible for the university incident.
I read all of them.
Then I stopped reading.
Because David had already found something better.
Proof.
The university incident had occurred on a Tuesday.
The claim was that I had followed Sophie to Northwestern University.
But my passport showed I had been overseas.
My credit card records showed I was in Paris.
Security footage showed me entering a hotel there.
And the university's own access logs showed someone using an administrator's credential.
The credential belonged to a man who had left the university two months earlier.
Who had hired him?
A consulting company connected to Damien's former legal adviser.
We traced the shell company.
It led to Sophie.
Then to Daniel Blackwood.
Damien's cousin.
The same man who had opposed our marriage.
The same man who had repeatedly told Damien that I was not a "Blackwood woman."
I sat in David's office.
“Daniel and Sophie know each other?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since before your wedding.”
I stared at the evidence.
“What are they planning?”
David didn't answer immediately.
He placed another folder on the table.
“Something much bigger than a divorce.”
Inside were financial transfers.
Millions moving through companies connected to Blackwood Holdings.
Some went to accounts controlled by Daniel.
Some went to Sophie.
Some went offshore.
And some went to a private security company.
My stomach tightened.
“They were stealing.”
“Possibly.”
“Then why make Damien blame me?”
“Because if the company collapses, someone needs to be responsible.”
“Me.”
“Yes.”
I leaned back.
Suddenly the balcony made sense.
The divorce made sense.
The witnesses made sense.
They weren't simply trying to remove me from Damien's life.
They were trying to create a narrative.
A wife becomes unstable.
A husband divorces her.
The assistant becomes innocent.
Then financial losses are blamed on the wife.
And if the authorities investigate, Damien becomes the victim too.
Sophie would walk away clean.
Daniel would control the remains.
I said, “Where is Damien in all of this?”
David looked at me.
“We don't know.”
That worried me more than anything.
Because Damien was arrogant.
But he wasn't stupid.
Unless someone had spent years convincing him that his enemy was sitting beside him.
That evening, I received a message.
Unknown number.
You think you're winning.
I deleted it.
Another message came.
Ask your husband what happened the night your father saved Blackwood.
I froze.
My father had always refused to discuss that night.
I called him.
“Dad.”
“Yes?”
“Did Damien know I was the beneficiary of the Blackwood rescue funds?”
“No.”
“Did you ever tell him what you really did?”
“No.”
“What happened that night?”
Silence.
Then my father said, “Come home.”
I did.
He opened a locked cabinet.
Inside was an old ledger.
And a handwritten letter.
From Damien's father.
The letter thanked my father for saving Blackwood Holdings.
Then came a sentence that made my hands shake.
If anything happens to my son, protect Emily. She is the only reason he still has a future.
I looked at my father.
“What does this mean?”
He sighed.
“Your husband's father knew the company would collapse.”
“Did he know about the criminal assets?”
“Yes.”
“Did Damien?”
“Some.”
I read the letter again.
“Then Damien didn't inherit a clean empire.”
“No.”
“He inherited a trap.”
“Yes.”
And suddenly I understood why Daniel wanted control.
The criminal side of Blackwood Holdings wasn't just dangerous.
It was vulnerable.
If the hidden accounts were exposed, legitimate assets could be dragged into the scandal.
And the people closest to Damien would be blamed.
Including me.
I looked at my father.
“Then I need to know everything.”
He handed me another folder.
“Your mother wanted you to have this if your marriage ever ended.”
I opened it.
Inside were photographs.
My mother.
Me.
Damien.
Our wedding.
And one photograph I had never seen.
Damien standing beside his father.
Behind them was a warehouse.
In the background, barely visible, was Daniel.
My father's handwriting appeared beneath it.
He was there the night the first illegal accounts were created.
Daniel knew.
And Sophie had known him long before she ever became Damien's assistant.
The next morning, we found Sophie at the Blackwood headquarters.
I went there myself.
She looked startled when I entered.
Then she smiled.
“Emily.”
“Not Mrs. Blackwood?”
She laughed.
“I suppose we're both moving on.”
I walked toward her.
“You locked me on the balcony.”
Her smile disappeared.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“I have footage.”
She went pale.
Then she whispered, “Damien won't believe you.”
I smiled.
“That used to scare me.”
She looked at me.
“It still doesn't.”
I left her standing there.
Behind me, she made one phone call.
May you like
The moment she hung up, she knew.
The game had changed.
