Chapter 5

Alonso continued, "We did sign a settlement agreement in private. And that agreement is with me now."

I looked at his smug face and felt a wave of disgust.

Right in front of me, Alonso took out a lighter and burned the settlement agreement to ashes.

I was so furious that I lunged for it, but all I managed to grab were a few ashes.

All the pent-up anger from before finally boiled over, and I unleashed it with a slap right across Alonso's cheek.

Alonso was stunned, staring at me in total disbelief—he probably never thought I'd actually lay a hand on him.

He shot me a vicious glare, his eyes round with fury. "Even if my company goes under forever, I swear I won't let your brother walk away from this unscathed.

"Mandy, you had that exact same look on your face when your mom died. Now your brother's headed for prison, and you still haven't changed.

"I'm going to make sure you never get back on your feet."

Sydney, standing off to the side with her baby bump on full display, smirked. "Even if we hand over both the company and the foundation, we've still got over 3 million dollars in our pockets."

"That's enough to set us up for life—we'll never have to worry about money again. Mandy, you and your brother can go ahead and spend the rest of your lives scraping by in misery."

Thinking about the nightmare my mom went through before she died—and how they trapped my brother—I could feel anger boiling up inside me.

I couldn't hold back anymore; I knew it was time for payback.

I glared at them, my eyes burning cold, and said in a chilling tone, "Don't get too comfortable. Your good days? They're about to run out."

"Your reputation's trashed, and your brother's about to get locked up—what do you even have left?" The two of them kept gloating over my misery before strutting off.

I never intended to release that surveillance video I found while sorting through my mom's belongings. It captured everything she went through, right before she died—things no one should ever have to see.

My mom was always so graceful, but they forced her into someone else's bed.

I had planned to just run the company and eventually see them both locked up. Now, I can tell—the moment for payback has finally arrived.

I pulled out the original settlement agreement I'd signed. Alonso was so convinced that he'd snatched the real thing from my place, but was he really that naive?

I'd never put all my eggs in one basket—I always had a contingency plan.

The agreement he thought he stole? It was nothing but a forgery I made myself.

And the real paperwork? It only said my brother accidentally hurt Sydney Bailey—nothing about rape, nothing as twisted as that.

I uploaded the password-protected video straight to the web, along with the verified settlement agreement and the damning recording from a few days ago—everything out in the open for the world to see.

The internet lost its mind. No one ever thought Alonso, the poster boy for success, could turn out to be such a snake.

Meanwhile, Alonso was lounging in his office, waiting for me to come begging—completely sure I'd crack and crawl right back to him.

"Mr. Gilmore, trouble! You gotta see this—there's a video going viral online."

When the footage of what happened to my mom before she died got released online, public opinion did a total 180. To add fuel to the fire, I posted my divorce agreement, exposing that Alonso left the marriage with absolutely nothing.

Reporters, hungry for a scoop, started flooding in to interview me. I accepted every single one, and even held a press conference to publicly expose how Alonso and Sydney had humiliated my mom.

When Alonso saw the videos, he instantly fired off a cease and desist letter online, then barged into my house, threatening me.

"You really went and broadcast your mom's humiliation to the whole internet? Are you that shameless? Like you can actually hurt me," Alonso shouted.

I shot Alonso a cold, mocking smile and let my lawyer do all the talking.

"If you think you've got what it takes, I'll see you in court," my lawyer snapped back.

I'm not just taking back the charity foundation—his company is mine next. This was only the beginning.