Chapter 7 - Midnight Alleyway Reflections🔥 CLICKBAIT TITLE: I WATCHED THEM GET THROWN OUT INTO THE RAIN, AND THEN THE REAL SECRET OF WHAT HAPPENED 8 MONTHS AGO CAME TO LIGHT!

By midnight, the private dining room of L’Étoile was completely empty except for the waitstaff quietly clearing away untouched food and broken crystal.

I stood on the second-floor balcony, looking down through the glass panes at the street below.

A steady, cold drizzle had started to fall over the city.

Down on the pavement, lit by the harsh neon glow of the restaurant sign, stood Daniel, Margaret, and Claire.

Claire’s five-thousand-dollar handbag was ruined, her designer coat soaked through, and she was screaming bloody murder at Daniel, shoving his chest repeatedly while he stood there like a beaten dog, his head bowed against the rain. Margaret was frantically calling lawyers on her smartphone, her face twisted in hysterical rage as call after call went straight to voicemail.

They had nowhere to go. Their accounts were frozen pending corporate audits. The penthouse locks had been changed at precisely 11:59 PM.

As if sensing my gaze, Daniel slowly lifted his head. Through the rain-streaked glass, our eyes met across the wet street.

He looked so small. So utterly defeated.

It was at that exact moment that a sleek black town car pulled up beside me on the upper valet ramp. The rear door clicked open, and Arthur Sterling, my lead corporate attorney and trusted confidant, stepped out with an umbrella.

"Everything is secured, Mrs. Sterling," Arthur said smoothly, handing me a fresh leather folder. "The transition of assets is complete. Not a single legal loophole left for them to crawl back through."

"Good," I murmured, taking the folder. "And the background check I requested on Claire?"

Arthur gave a thin, knowing smile. "Ah. That’s the most interesting part of the puzzle, Emma. You were right to suspect her from day one. She wasn't just a random coworker Daniel picked up at the office."

I turned slowly from the window to look at him. "Go on."

"She was planted," Arthur said softly. "Sent by Apex Capital—our biggest corporate competitor. Her entire job for the past eight months was to seduce Daniel, infiltrate our executive tier, and feed us forged documents so Daniel would willingly sign away his voting blocks under the illusion of a 'secret offshore venture' with her."

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A cold shiver ran down my spine. Daniel hadn't just been cheating on me. He had been so blinded by his own arrogance and greed that he had willingly handed our company’s keys to our fiercest enemy—all while thinking he was the smartest man in the room.

And I had used their own trap to destroy them both.