Not a leaked video that made her look like a scheming mistress. Not during a press conference specifically designed to show his growth and accountability. Not when the entire country was watching.
She retrieved her phone from where it had landed, the screen cracked but was still functional, and tried calling Zeyan.
Straight to voicemail.
She tried again.
Voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
"Pick up!" she scread at the phone. "PICK UP!"
But he didn’t.
Of course, he didn’t.
Because right now, she wasn’t his priority. His company was his priority. His reputation was his priority. His precious public image was currently being torn apart in real-ti across every platform in the country.
She was just collateral damage.
A notification popped up, a news alert.
"Lu Corp Stock Drops 34% Following Scandal; Board Calls Ergency eting"
Lin Yueling stared at it, sothing cold settling in her chest.
Thirty-four percent.
That was billions of yuan. Billions. Gone in a matter of hours because soone had leaked a video that she hadn’t authorized, hadn’t even known existed.
Soone had been watching them. Had recorded them during what she’d thought was a private mont. Had waited months to release it at the exact worst possible mont.
Soone had done this deliberately.
Her phone buzzed again, this ti, a ssage from an unknown sender.
She almost didn’t open it. Almost blocked it like all the others.
But sothing made her tap on it.
The ssage was simple. Three words:
"You’re welco."
Lin Yueling’s blood turned to ice.
She stared at those words, her mind racing, her breath coming faster.
This wasn’t random. This wasn’t a reporter who’d gotten lucky. This wasn’t even soone from Lu Corp leaking information for revenge.
This was planned, calculated, and personal.
Soone had orchestrated this entire disaster. Had waited for exactly the right mont, after the press conference had started, after Shuyin had secured her assets, after Zeyan had made all his promises about accountability and growth, to detonate the bomb that would destroy everything.
"Who are you?" she whispered to the unknown number, even though she knew she wouldn’t get an answer.
Another ssage appeared:
"He made you a promise, didn’t he? That is when this ca out, it would be controlled. That you’d be protected. That the narrative would make him look like a man who found real love."
Her throat closed up.
"He lied. n like Lu Zeyan always lie. They promise you the world and then they feed you to the wolves the second it’s convenient."
"Stop," she whispered, but her thumb wouldn’t move to block the number.
"You’re pregnant with his child. You helped him fra an innocent woman. You stood by while she went to prison. And now you’re going to pay for it, not because I’m judging you, but because the world needs a villain, and you’re the easiest target."
Tears were streaming down her face now.
"But here’s what you need to understand: You were always going to be sacrificed. Zeyan was never going to protect you. The mont this beca inconvenient for him, you beca expendable. I just moved up the tiline."
"Who ARE you?!" Lin Yueling scread at the phone.
The response ca imdiately:
"Soone who understands how n like him operate. Soone who’s tired of watching won like you get used and discarded. Soone who decided that if you’re going to burn, you might as well take him down with you."
A pause, then:
"You should leave the country. Tonight, if possible. Because tomorrow, when the full story cos out, and it will co out, you won’t be safe here. The public is looking for blood, and you’re the easiest target."
"I have evidence. Docunts. Recordings. Things that prove you weren’t the mastermind behind the embezzlent fra-up, you were just following orders. Things that could protect you, if you’re smart about how you use them."
"Check your email. The password is your birthday. Use the information wisely. And get out while you still can."
The ssages stopped.
Lin Yueling sat there, shaking, staring at her phone like it might explode.
Then, with trembling fingers, she opened her email.
There was one new ssage from an encrypted address. No subject line.
She clicked it.
Inside were files. Dozens of them. Audio recordings. Email screenshots. Financial docunts. Text ssage logs.
All of it proved exactly what the unknown sender had said: that she’d been following orders. That Lu Zeyan had been the mastermind. That she’d been a pawn, just like Shuyin, manipulated by a man who’d promised her the world and delivered nothing but disaster.
Evidence that could save her.
Or destroy her even more completely, depending on how she used it.
Her phone rang, a number she recognized. Her mother.
She didn’t answer.
It rang again. Her brother...
She let it go to voicemail.
A text from her father: "What have you DONE?! The entire family is being harassed! Reporters are at the house! FIX THIS!"
She turned her phone off completely and sat in the sudden silence of her expensive apartnt, the apartnt Zeyan had paid for but never put in her na, the apartnt she could be evicted from the mont he decided she was too much trouble.
Lin Yueling pressed her hands over her mouth and finally let herself cry.
Not for Zeyan. Not even for herself, really.
But for the naive twenty-two-year-old woman who’d thought that sleeping with this man would lead to power and security and respect.
Who’d thought that helping him fra a rival would earn his loyalty?
Who’d thought that getting pregnant would secure her position in his life?
Who’d been so, so stupid.
Soone had just declared war, not on her specifically, but on the entire system that had used her and would now discard her.
And Lin Yueling was standing in the middle of the battlefield with no armor, no allies, and no idea how to survive what was coming.
But she had the files.
The evidence.
The ammunition that could either save her or ensure her complete destruction.
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