Chapter 3 The Lies Beneath

Nora didn't speak for a long time.

She sat at the edge of the bed, her laptop still glowing, the damning video paused mid-frame. The image of Cal-wild-eyed, shouting-burned itself into her thoughts.

Behind her, he stood like a man being sentenced, waiting for a verdict he knew he might not survive.

"You said she tried to ruin you," Nora said finally. Her voice was too calm, too quiet. "You didn't mention she ended up unconscious on the floor."

"She wasn't dead," he said quickly. She slipped. I didn't touch her. I swear to you, Nora-I didn't lay a hand on her.

She turned. "Then why does it look like you did?"

He exhaled. "Because that's what they want it to look like." I kept the original footage. The full version. But someone cut it, trimmed the audio. Do you really think I'd be that careless with you-knowing I had everything to lose?

Nora stared at him.

"You should've told me," she whispered. Before all this. Before I trusted you with my body, with my future-

"With our child."

That silenced her.

She looked away, swallowing hard.

"This is what they want, Nora. Doubt. Distance. They couldn't break me from the outside, so now they're coming for us. From the inside."

"And it's working," she snapped.

He flinched. Just slightly. But enough.

Nora stood up, brushing past him, grabbing her coat. "I need air."

Cal blocked the door. "Not alone."

She glared at him. "You don't get to decide that right now."

He didn't budge.

But before she could argue, her phone vibrated.

A new text. Unknown number.

> "He's not the only one lying to you. Ask Celia who really signed your promotion letter."

Her blood ran cold.

She slowly turned to Cal.

"Who actually pushed my promotion through, Cal? Was it you? Or Celia?"

He stared at her.

Too long.

Then he finally said, "You earned it, Nora. That should've been enough."

Which meant...

He hadn't.

Later That Night

Celia sat in her luxury suite, sipping from a glass of champagne when her phone buzzed.

A photo.

Nora, alone on a street corner.

Then another.

A black car pulled up behind her.

Then a message:

> "Time to collect what you promised, Celia. Or she pays for both of you."

Celia's face drained of color.

She knew that car.

Meanwhile...

Nora pulled her coat tighter around herself as the wind cut through the night.

Her thoughts were spinning-her entire life unraveling thread by thread.

A man she thought she loved... full of shadows.

A promotion possibly built on lies.

A pregnancy that had made her a target.

And now, a black car parked across the street-no lights, no movement, just... watching.

Her phone buzzed again.

Blocked Number.

> "Still think you're the storm, Nora? You were just the bait."

She backed away slowly.

Then the car door opened.

A figure stepped out, face hidden in shadow.

And that's when Nora realized-

She wasn't alone.

And whoever had come...

Wasn't here to talk.

Nora woke up to the taste of blood and the stench of gasoline.

Her hands were tied-rough rope biting into her wrists-and the air was thick with heat, like they were underground. A dim, swinging bulb cast shadows on the concrete walls.

She tried to move, but pain launched through her side.

She remembered the black car. The shadowed figure. The way her phone had slipped from her fingers as she screamed-

Nothing after that.

A door creaked.

Boots on concrete.

Then a voice she hadn't heard in years.

"You were always stubborn, Nora."

She froze.

"... Jackson?"

He stepped into the light, older than she remembered, face hardened by time. Her ex. The one who'd nearly broken her once before. The one Cal had warned her about.

"You're not supposed to be here," she said hoarsely.

He smirked. "And yet here you are. Pregnant. Powerful. And in my way."

Her heart pounded. "You're working with Celia?"

A dark laugh. "Celia thinks she's in control. But sweetheart-she was just the first domino."

Meanwhile, at Prescott Industries

Cal's jaw clenched as Celia slammed the door behind her.

"You said she'd be safe!" she hissed.

"I said she'd be watched," Cal snapped. "Not abducted."

Celia threw a file on his desk.

He opened it-and his stomach turned.

Photos. Nora. Bound. Tracked.

A note written in red ink:

> "Tick tock, Prescott. One wrong move, and the scandal will be the least of your problems."

"Where is she?" he growled.

"I don't know," Celia whispered. Jackson's unhinged. He wants revenge. Not just on you-but on her. You left him to rot, Cal.

Cal stood slowly, eyes cold.

"He made his choices. Now I'll make mine."

Back in the basement

Nora stared Jackson down. "If you wanted revenge, you should've come for me directly."

"Oh, I am," he said, pulling out her phone. "But I want Cal to watch you burn."

He hit the record.

And then he turned the camera toward her.

"Say goodbye, Nora."

She narrowed her eyes. "I hope he kills you."

Somewhere above

Cal's voice was deadly calm. "Put every private investigator, hacker, and off-the-record mercenary we've got on this. I want Jackson found."

"But sir-legal-"

"I said off-the-record."

He turned to Celia.

"You're going to help me get her back."

She swallowed. "And if I don't?"

He leaned in close.

"Then I'll make sure you lose everything you ever tried to steal from her."

Nora spat blood onto the concrete floor.

Jackson paced in front of her, recording her pain like it was performance art. "You should've stayed the assistant, Nora. Quiet. Obedient. Invisible."

Her smile was a slash of defiance. "You should've stayed irrelevant."

His expression darkened.

"You think Cal's going to come for you? That billionaire prince of yours? The minute you become a scandal, you become expendable. I'm doing him a favor."

She didn't flinch.

"You really don't know him," she said.

Jackson turned the camera off.

"You should be scared."

"I am," Nora said. "But not of you."

At Prescott's Private Estate – Underground Command Room

Cal stood in front of a screen filled with satellite footage and digital overlays.

"She's somewhere in the West Industrial District. The signal on her burner phone pinged once an hour ago-long enough for Jackson to taunt us."

Beside him, Celia hovered, pale and shaking. "He's not working alone. Someone gave him your internal security codes. I think it was someone in our legal team."

"Names," Cal said.

"I'm working on it," she replied.

He slammed a fist on the table. "Work faster."

Then he turned to the man waiting by the door-an old contact from his dirtier days in international acquisition.

"Get the van. We're going in."

Back in the basement

Nora counted every breath. Every blink of that swinging bulb. Every creak of Jackson's footsteps.

And then...

Her fingers brushed something near the leg of the chair. A shard of metal. Rusted. Sharp enough.

She moved slowly. Quietly.

Jackson sat in the corner, sipping from a flask and smiling like he'd already won.

"You know what the best part is?" he mused. I've got footage. Evidence. I send this to the press, and Cal's empire collapses before the cops even get here.

Nora saw red.

She tightened her grip on the shard.

"You want to break me?" she said, her voice icy. "You should've tried harder."

Then she lunged.

The rope was cut free.

The metal sliced skin.

Jackson shouted, staggering back as she slammed into him, elbow to throat, knees to ribs.

"You think I'm weak because I'm pregnant?" she growled. "You should be scared because I'm not."

She grabbed the camera.

Smashed it.

Then he kicked him hard enough he hit the wall.

She was out the door before he could crawl upright.

Meanwhile, -Outside

Cal's SUV screeched to a halt in front of the abandoned warehouse.

"Thermal scan shows three bodies," his men said.

"One of them's her."

He was out before they finished the sentence.

Gun drawn.

Heart racing.

Inside, Jackson was limping down the corridor, blood trailing from his jaw. "She's gone-she got out-lock the goddamn exits!"

Too late.

Nora appeared at the far end of the hall, breathing hard, one hand on the wall for balance.

Cal froze.

Their eyes met.

She gave a small, defiant nod.

Then a gunshot split the air.

Jackson had pulled a weapon aimed at her back.

Cal didn't think.

He fired first.

Jackson dropped.

Blood pooling.

Silence.

Then-

Nora collapsed.

Sirens wailed in the distance, but all Cal could hear was the pounding of his heart.

Nora was unconscious in his arms-blood at her temple, breath shallow, one hand curled protectively around her stomach. He didn't dare speak. Didn't dare break the fragile silence that wrapped around them like a curse.

"She's stable," the medic confirmed at the ambulance. No internal bleeding. But we'll monitor the baby.

Baby.

The words cut through him like a blade.

He'd almost lost both of them.

And someone inside his own company had made sure of it.

Three hours later - Private Hospital Wing

Nora stirred to the soft beep of machines.

Her lashes fluttered. Her throat ached.

But she was alive.

And the baby... a soft kick reminded her, so was that tiny heartbeat she'd vowed to protect.

Cal sat by her side, jaw tight, shirt stained with dried blood.

"You came," she whispered.

His eyes met hers. "Always."

She tried to sit up-winced. "Jackson-"

"He's gone," Cal said, his voice raw. "I made sure of it."

She stared at the ceiling for a long moment. "He said someone helped him... someone inside."

Cal's gaze hardened. "I know. And I know who."

Prescott Industries - 2 AM

Celia strode into her office, unaware of the silent security camera now aimed directly at her desk.

She turned on her laptop, inserted a small encrypted flash drive, and typed a password.

Lines of code began to erase files.

Documents vanished.

One final message pinged onto her screen:

> Nice try. We were watching.

She barely had time to blink before the door burst open.

Two security officers. Cal behind them.

She didn't fight it. Just smiled.

"Took you long enough."

Back at the Hospital

Nora sat upright now, painkillers dulling the worst of it.

Cal entered quietly.

"They arrested her?" she asked.

He nodded. "She planted a bug in your office. Sell your schedules to Jackson. Even forged documents to make it look like you misused company funds."

Nora let out a breath. "Why?"

He hesitated. Then she sat beside her.

"Jealousy. And fear. Celia thought you were a phase. A risk. She couldn't stand that you weren't."

She hated that I mattered, Nora said bitterly.

He looked at her, softer now. "You do. More than anyone."

Their eyes met.

For a moment, the world quieted.

Then she spoke again-calm but dangerous.

"I want her name ruined."

Cal raised a brow.

"I don't want her in jail," she said. I want her to be unemployable. I want every hiring manager in New York to associate her name with betrayal.

He nodded slowly. We can do that.

"And Jackson?" she asked.

"Dead. Officially ruled as self-defense."

She leaned back, eyes closed. "Then let's make sure none of them are ever remembered as anything but a warning.