Ethan's words still echoed in Lara's ears as she stepped into her office. The door clicked shut behind her with a satisfying thud. She hadn't even made it two steps before Nina rushed in, shutting the door behind her.
Nina didn't say anything at first. She simply stood there, holding two coffee cups. Lara took one silently.
Nina broke the silence. "So... he waited?"
Lara raised a brow. "Like a dog in heat."
Nina coughed, nearly spilling her coffee. "Okay. Wasn't expecting that."
They both sat, the tension still there in the air, but Lara's red dress draped elegantly as she crossed her legs and sipped.
Nina leaned forward. "I saw how he looked at you. Like... like he remembered what it felt like to lose oxygen."
"Let him gasp," Lara said coolly.
Nina tilted her head. "You don't care?"
Lara didn't answer immediately. She looked out the window, her fingers tapping the porcelain mug.
"Care?" she repeated. "I cared when he left me standing in front of hundreds of people in a white dress. I cared when I couldn't sleep for weeks. I cared when my silence was the only thing keeping my dignity intact. But now?....."
She turned back to Nina, voice steady.
"Now, I'm simply remembering who I am."
Nina's gaze softened. "Still... it must be hard having him look at you like that.... longing.....regret."
"Regret doesn't fix betrayal," Lara whispered. "And longing won't unshatter what he broke."
There was a long pause. Nina's voice came gentler this time. "And Adrian?"
Lara chuckled. "A surprise."
"Do you trust him?"
"I don't even know him."
"Then why let him linger?"
Lara met her assistant's eyes with a gleam. "Because Ethan was watching."
Nina's eyes widened. "Lara...."
"I'm not saying I'll go out with Adrian," Lara added quickly. "But if entertaining his attention makes Ethan sweat, then maybe it's poetic justice."
Nina leaned back, impressed. "You're colder than a boardroom in December."
"I'm focused."
"And if Adrian turns out to be real?"
Lara didn't flinch. "Then Ethan will learn what it feels like to watch someone else hold what he threw away."
Later that evening, Lara exited the building. She needed the air, the city, the noise. Something to drown out what her heart wouldn't admit.
She didn't expect Adrian Stone to be waiting outside the building.
He stood beside a sleek charcoal-gray car, his arms folded, he showed no arrogance just calm confidence. When he saw her, he straightened.
"I figured if I waited long enough, the queen would descend," he said.
Lara didn't stop walking. "Careful, Mr. Stone. You're starting to sound like a groupie."
"I prefer 'respectful spectator,'" he replied, matching her pace. "Thought you might want dinner, Or a drink....Or silence. I'm good at any of the three."
She raised a brow. "You don't think it's too soon to be charming?"
"I think you've spent all day surrounded by people who wanted to diminish you. I'd rather be the one who notices you."
Lara stopped. Slowly, she looked at him.
"You know nothing about me."
"I know you looked them in the eye and made them blink first. That says enough."
She pause...Her lips pressed together.
Before she could answer, a voice broke in from behind.
"Lara."
She turned and it was Ethan.
He looked tired, Like he hadn't slept, eaten, or exhaled since the scandal broke.
"Can we talk?" he asked.
Adrian stepped back again, hands in pockets, clearly uninterested in a pissing contest but also not leaving.
Lara didn't move. "What do you want, Ethan?"
"To explain. To apologize. I know it doesn't fix anything, but....."
"You're right. It doesn't."
He looked down. "You said I didn't know her.... Maya. But I did know her, Lara. Just not who she became."
"And I didn't know you could walk away from someone you claimed to love," she snapped, voice sharp.
His jaw tensed. "I didn't want to lose you."
"You did. The moment you made that choice."
There was a long silence.
Adrian cleared his throat gently. "Lara, I'll be across the street. If you want to talk or not talk."
She nodded at him, grateful for the exit.
Ethan looked after him, then at her. "So that's what this is? You're running to the first guy who shows up with a smirk and a suit?"
"No," Lara said quietly. "I'm walking away from the last one who ran."
She turned before he could say anything else.
Back in her apartment that night, the city lights flickered through the windows. Lara sat curled on the couch, a wine glass in hand. She kicked off her heels, let her hair loose. Then her phone buzzed.
It was a message from Nina.
Just checking in. Proud of you. You deserve better than ghosts.
Lara stared at the words for a long time.
Then she opened a new message.
Adrian. Tomorrow. Coffee. Noon. Don't make it weird.
She hit send.
Her reflection in the window didn't smile. But her eyes looked steady, not healed but hungry for vengeance.
The next morning Group chats buzzed, Gossip blogs were refreshed, even Vale's legal department went quiet as people across the company stared at their phones, their jaws slack with disbelief thick in the air.
Maya vale nude was on video tangled with a faceless man whose voice moaned her name clearly. The kind of leak no amount of PR could polish. That was 5 years ago when she'd been dating someone else.
In Lara's office, silence reigned.
Nina walked in with eyes wide. "You saw it?"
Lara sipped her coffee without flinching. "Of course."
Nina lowered her voice. "Was it you?"
Lara finally looked up. Her gaze was calm, lethal.
"She wanted to ruin me. So I returned the favor.....tastefully."
Nina blinked. "Tastefully? Lara, that video's everywhere. She's going to be dragged."
Lara shrugged. "She thought she could weaponize shame. I simply reminded her she doesn't own the monopoly on secrets. I didn't film her. I didn't edit it. I just… guided the flame to where it wanted to burn."
Nina leaned in. "You planned this?"
"She set the tone," Lara said. "I just finished the song."
Downstairs in the mansion, Maya had locked herself in a supply room. Her phone was a blur of buzzing notifications, messages from friends, colleagues, even her mother.
She stared at the frozen frame. She was naked, tipsy, and giggling into the lens.
"How?" she whispered. "I deleted this…"
She knew exactly who did it.
Lara.
She'd underestimated her. Again.
Ethan immediately stormed in, he found Maya outside the side entrance of the building, trembling against a wall. She looked up with mascara-streaked eyes.
"I swear, I didn't know it would go public. I didn't..." she gasped. "Ethan, please. This isn't fair."
He held up his hand. "You tried to humiliate her last week."
"I didn't leak anything!"
"But you tried," he snapped. "And now you're crying because someone hit back harder. I warned you Maya"
Maya shook her head. "She's cruel, Ethan. You don't see it?"
"No," he said coldly. "I see someone who stopped letting people like you walk over her.". He said and turned to leave immediately.
"Wait," she said, desperate. "So what now? You're running back to her?"
Ethan stormed into her office fifteen minutes later.
"You leaked that video of Maya."
Lara didn't even blink. "Prove it."
"God, Lara.....this isn't who you used to be."
She stood slowly, heels clicking softly against the floor.
"No," she said. "But it's who you all made me. You left. She attacked. And I adapted."
"She's broken," he said.
"She should've thought of that when she tried to break me first."
Ethan looked at her, struggling with something that felt like guilt or maybe awe.
"You think this makes you strong?" he asked.
"No," she said, walking past him. "It makes me untouchable. It's a warning to let you all know you don't play with fire and not get burnt"
She stopped at the doorway, her voice like ice wrapped in velvet.
"I didn't start this war. But I'm sure as hell going to end it."
And with that, she walked out, leaving Ethan dumbfounded.