Chapter 11

<p>In the end, Stephen did make his move.</p><p>On the third day after the report came out, Foster Group held an emergency press conference. Stephen attended in person, dressed in a dark gray suit with every hair in place, standing on stage like a carved statue.</p><p>He said the report was "seriously inaccurate." He said Foster Group's acquisition deal could "withstand any investigation." He said they would "pursue legal responsibility against those spreading falsehoods." As he spoke, his expression was cold, his eyes hard, like iron frozen solid.</p><p>During the Q and A, a reporter asked, "Mr. Foster, what do you have to say about the relationship between your ex-wife, Ms. Lane, and your secretary, Claire Sinclair?"</p><p>Stephen paused.</p><p>Cameras flashed nonstop below the stage. Every eye in the room was fixed on him.</p><p>"Claire Sinclair and I have a purely professional working relationship," he said. "As for my marriage to Victoria Lane, it ended by mutual consent. There was no third party involved."</p><p>Every media outlet quoted that sentence word for word.</p><p>When Victoria saw the clip in her office, she was eating takeout. She put down her chopsticks, stared at Stephen's face on the screen for a few seconds, then laughed.</p><p>A purely professional relationship.</p><p>No third party involved.</p><p>He really made it sound nice. Nice enough that she almost believed him.</p><p>Her phone rang. It was a message from Claire. Not an invitation for coffee this time, but a voice message. Victoria tapped it open, and Claire's tearful voice came through. "Vicky, I don't understand why you had to drag me into this. I'm just a secretary. I didn't do anything wrong. Can you please let me go?"</p><p>After listening, Victoria replied with four words: [Nice acting.]</p><p>Claire sent another voice message, this one even more tearful. "Vicky, you really did misunderstand me. You heard what Stephen said at the press conference. There really is nothing between us. If you still don't believe me, I can quit. I can leave Foster Group. As long as you stop doing this to me..."</p><p>Victoria didn't reply again.</p><p>She opened her laptop and logged into a cloud drive account. It stored a lot of materials she'd gathered in her last life. One folder was named Claire Sinclair. She clicked it open. Inside were dozens of photos and more than ten audio recordings.</p><p>The photos covered a long stretch of time, from three years ago to right before the divorce. Some showed Stephen and Claire entering and leaving hotels together. Some showed them alone in the office late at night. Some showed Claire walking out of a private club with her arm looped through Stephen's. Every photo had a timestamp and location marked down to the minute.</p><p>The recordings were even juicier. In one of them, Claire bragged to a friend on the phone: "Stephen said once he divorces that woman, he'll take me to Europe for a while. She still thinks she's that important, but honestly, he's been sick of her for ages." In another, Claire acted cute in Stephen's office. "Stephen, when are you finally going to come clean with her? I've been waiting so long."</p><p>Victoria had gotten all of these materials in her last life too. She just hadn't used them, because back then she still loved Stephen and couldn't bear to ruin him.</p><p>This time, there was nothing she couldn't bear to do.</p><p>Victoria organized the materials, picked out a few of the most representative photos and the two strongest recordings, and sent them to Woods.</p><p>The next day, Metro Times ran another story: [Recordings and Photos Confirm Improper Relationship Between Foster Group CEO and Secretary]. The article laid out a full timeline in detail, from the first solo business trip Stephen and Claire took together three years ago, all the way to the line Claire said on the phone a month before the divorce. It was complete, clear, and impossible to explain away.</p><p>That same morning, Foster Group's stock plunged again, this time by nine percent.</p><p>That afternoon, Stephen's lawyer called, saying they planned to sue Victoria for invasion of privacy and defamation.</p><p>Victoria had her legal team send back a simple reply. All photos and recordings were obtained lawfully or in public settings. All content was true. They were welcome to sue.</p><p>Stephen's lawyer never responded again.</p><p>That evening, Stephen showed up at Victoria's company in person.</p><p>No appointment. He came straight up to the fifteenth floor and shoved open the door to her office. The girl at the front desk couldn't stop him and was so anxious she nearly stamped her foot raw.</p><p>Victoria was reading documents when she looked up and saw Stephen standing in the doorway.</p><p>He looked awful. His suit was wrinkled, his tie crooked, dark circles hung under his eyes, and stubble shadowed his jaw. Victoria had never seen him like this before. In her last life, Stephen had always been polished, controlled, flawless, like some carefully crafted display piece.</p><p>"Victoria, what the hell do you want?" he demanded as he walked in, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping glass.</p><p>Victoria set down the papers and leaned back in her chair. "Mr. Foster, you came to my company uninvited and barged in without even knocking. Is this your new style now?"</p><p>"I'm asking you, what do you want?" Stephen strode up to her desk, braced both hands on it, and bent down to stare at her. "Money? I gave you everything you asked for. Reputation? Haven't you ruined mine and Claire's enough already? What more do you want?"</p><p>Victoria stood up too, facing him with the desk between them.</p><p>"You want to know what I want?" Her voice wasn't loud, but every word drove into the air like a nail. "I want you to know what betrayal feels like. I want you to know what it feels like to be turned into a joke. I want you to understand that what you did to me can't be erased with one cheap line about us being incompatible."</p><p>Stephen's eyes reddened. Not from tears. From fury.</p>