Chapter 183
Chapter 183
As if things couldn’t spiral further out of control, Annie’s darkest secret, the sex videos she had killed Jim to erase and confidently wiped from existence, somehow managed to resurface and find their way onto the internet. Public execution was humiliation. How? She had no idea.
A life, once so intricately built on lies, manipulation, and intimidation, was now spiraling out of control, beyond her ability even to pick up the pieces. It was as if every wrong move, each crime, every betrayal, somehow came back at once to stare her in the face. Decades of work, down the drain in a few days.
And the worst part? She couldn’t even step out to defend herself. Her life was ruined past reconciliation. Every avenue of escape, every shred of dignity, had been snatched from her. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go.
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Annie had been getting her own way since infancy. No project was too improbable, no plot too merciless. Things had simply always gone right for her–the world and all the people in it bent to her whim, and she expected to win, to have it all work out. But now? The tide had–turned. And it was merciless.
Her hands were trembling, she staring at her phone in an attempt to comprehend the torrent of hate and ridicule flooding her social media. The venom from those comments and the news anchors broadcasting her downfall so gladly was too much.
She bit her lip so hard, she tasted the metallic tang, her teeth sank into the tender flesh until her chin trickled with blood. Her fingers gripped her phone with an anger–and–despair–fueled intensity until her screen shattered within her hand, but she did not flinch. She did not even notice.
For the first time in years, no, for the first time in her life, Annie cried. Not crocodile tears or fake sobs to wring sympathy from someone, but real, heart–rending sobs that tore through her. She curled into herself, her shoulders trembling with the weight of everything she had done crushing her down.
She had been in hiding for days. Her once–so–glamorous life had de–escalated into spending every night in a rented car and driving from parking lot to parking lot, filled with fear of being found. She barely ate. She hadn’t showered. The Annie that the world feared and envied was unrecognizable. She felt suffocated in the car.
She despised herself for what she had become, but above all, she hated Emma. If only she had not pushed the wrong buttons that day at Emma’s welcome–back party, probably her life was still redeemable, and everything wouldn’t have spiraled out of control as quickly. But no, she’d done the one thing she did best. Now she paid the price.
And that stupid, bald–headed doctor. After all the money she had paid him, after all the threats, he still had the audacity to betray her–to spill the truth about her fake pregnancy, her destroyed womb. The image of his face on the news, tearfully confessing everything, seared her mind. She felt cheated. She had given him everything to keep her secrets buried, yet here they were, exposed to the world.
All she wanted was to be loved. To be cherished. To be someone who mattered.
Her lips had trembled while her breath was coming in ragged gaps. She wanted Alexander to look at her in the same passionate way he stared at Emma; she wanted the world to fall at her feet and worship her. And now? Well, the FBI followed her, searching for her everywhere like some runaway criminal. for the world, it simply was against her.
The same folk she had willingly supported her were now rising up against her, united in their hatred. Every bridge she’d burned, every person she’d stepped on had come back to haunt her.
For the first time in her life, Annie Black felt small. Powerless. And utterly, completely alone.
Two weeks past, Annie had been on the run, and damn it, she was surprisingly good at it.
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Chapter 183
She traveled from one dive motel to the next, dodging the long arm of the law, always planning, mapping routes of her getaway. Each knock on the door startled her; each shadow in the street felt like a closing in on her.
As Emma entered the town, she joined the skyscraper that house her company, with her heels loudly clacking against the polished floors. The once–shattered reputation of Blackthorn Holdings had not only been salvaged but had flown higher than ever before. Their stock was now at an all–time high, beyond even her wildest dreams. The press conference, public support, had turned the tide completely in their favor.
Her phone was blowing up with congratulatory texts from investors and partners alike on the company’s astonishing resurgence, but Emma couldn’t shake the weight that still lingered in her chest. Annie was still ko where to be found.
She had tried so hard to get Alexander to désist from releasing Annie’s sex videos. She had plead with him, argue that there were other ways to take Annie down without resorting to this level. But Alexander had been immovable, his anger like a storm that didn’t know how to be quelled.
And while a part of her despised how it all went down, she had to give it to the results. The videos had turned the public against Annie in a way no lawsuit or press conference ever could. With her lies stripped away, Annie was now the one drowning in mud and insults, while Emma and Alexander’s names were being restored.
Hours later, Emma boarded her private jet, exhaustion seeping into her bones.
The moment the plane landed, she stepped off to find Alexander Emily, and Ethan waiting for her at the terminal. They brought a small, genuine smile onto her face. Alexander stood tall, his expression calm but his eyes soft when they met hers. Ethan clutched Emily’s hand as the two children giggled at the sight of her.
They weren’t a couple yet, at least not publicly. The whispers had started: how Alexander hovered protectively near her, how his gaze lingered on her a little longer than necessary, and how their lives seemed to be intermingling once more. Emma wasn’t ready to define what they were, but she couldn’t deny the comfort and strength she felt with him by her side.
The instant she was upon them, Emily wriggled free from Ethan’s grasp and ran to her. Emma dropped to her knees, wrapping her arms tightly around the little girl, who giggled and hugged her back. Ethan joined a moment later, and Emma pulled him into the embrace as well, her heart full as she held them close.
Alexander came quietly, his presence anchoring her. “Welcome Home,” he whispered; the warmth in his voice was an uncomfortable tug in her chest.
“Thanks,” she said, standing to meet his gaze. For a moment, they just looked at each other, all the unsaid things passing‘ between them in weighted silence.
Together, they all went home for an evening get–together with both families.
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