Chapter 539:

🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙 🍙

Adam hadn’t sent her rumors. He had sent her a conviction. He had given her the cold, hard facts needed to nail her enemies to the cross.

Allison scrolled through the file, her mind cold and clear. Adam’s report was more than just information; it was a meticulously crafted weapon. For every piece of damning evidence against Cheyanne, there was a corresponding folder detailing multi-tiered legal and public relations strategies. It was an entire arsenal, ready to be deployed.

The final section was an updated security protocol for her. A new, fully armored sedan was now her designated transport. Two plainclothes bodyguards, former Secret Service agents, would be with her at all times.

She glanced out the window at the street below. A nondescript black Lincoln Navigator was parked across the street, blending in with the city traffic. She knew, with absolute certainty, that they were already in position. Adam’s protection was silent, invisible, and absolute. A strange warmth spread through her chest, a stark contrast to the icy resolve in her veins.

She closed the laptop, stood, and picked up her handbag. It was time for a cup of coffee. Time to show the vipers in this office that the queen was still on her throne.

She walked out of her office, her heels clicking softly on the marble floor. Instead of heading to the executive floor’s private kitchenette, she strode toward the main elevator bank. She would go to the public coffee bar in the lobby. Let them see her.

An elevator chimed, and the doors slid open. The woman standing inside made Allison freeze in her tracks.

Katharine Montgomery.

𝖸𝘰u𝗋 𝘯𝘦𝘹𝗍 fa𝘃𝗼r𝗂𝗍𝘦 𝗿еа𝗱 𝘪𝘀 on 𝗴a𝗅n𝗈vе𝘭𝘀.𝗰𝘰𝗆

Her aunt’s face, already pinched with stress, twisted into a mask of fury the moment she saw Allison. She stormed out of the elevator, blocking Allison’s path.

“You must be very proud of yourself,” Katharine hissed, her voice low and venomous, mindful of the junior analysts milling nearby. “Using such disgusting, gutter tactics to ruin your own cousin.”

Allison met her gaze with placid indifference. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I simply read what the news reported. Facts, I believe.”

“Facts?” Katharine’s voice rose, cracking with rage. “Don’t you dare lie to me. You think I don’t know you leaked that filth to TMZ?”

A small, cold smile touched Allison’s lips. “If you have evidence of that, Katharine, please have your lawyer contact mine. Otherwise, making baseless accusations like that is slander. And I can sue you for that, too.”

She tried to step around her aunt, the conversation finished.

“Don’t you walk away from me,” Katharine snarled, grabbing her arm. “Don’t think for a second that having Adam Kensington warming your bed makes you untouchable. You push us too far, Allison, and you’ll find out that even a cornered rat will bite.”

The threat, raw and explicit, hung in the air. Allison stopped.

Slowly, she turned back. She closed the distance between them until they were inches apart, so close she could smell the expensive, cloying perfume on Katharine’s skin.

The placid look in her eyes was gone. It was replaced by something sharp, cold, and utterly merciless.

.

.

.