He Betrayed Me, I’ll Expose His Crimes

Chapter 4

Three o'clock in the afternoon. The nationwide live-streamed clarification press conference. They forced me down into a beat-up old wheelchair someone had scrounged up last minute.

A crumpled, oversized coat hung loose over my shoulders, barely covering the blood caked all over my body. Up on that gleaming high stage, though?

Damian stood tall in a crisp, tailored black suit. Julia glowed in a custom-made white tulle gown. They looked like a match made in heaven, the perfect power couple.

The contrast was painful. Standing next to her, I felt like I didn't belong in the same world.

The host jammed the microphone roughly into my hand.

"Ms. Carter, tell the entire nation your criminal confession!"

I stared out at the sea of cameras packed below the stage, and the veins on the back of my hand bulged and strained.

"I'm guilty... I was jealous of Ms. Bennett's talent. I was jealous she got to be the chief mechanic. My love turned to bitter hate, I planted a destructive virus in the race car system, and I forged the team's money laundering records...."

An earth-shattering roar of boos and curses erupted from the crowd instantly.

"Shameless old hag!"

"You're already disabled and still this vicious! Why don't you just die!"

Among all the chaos, Julia's eyes glistened red. She walked down from the stage like a saint showing mercy. "Stop attacking Ms. Carter everyone. Ms. Carter just lost her head for a moment."

She stepped right in front of me, bent down soft and gentle, like she was going to wrap me in a hug. But that hand with the perfect, polished manicure? It latched straight onto my festering open wound.

"Hsss!" Agony wracked my whole body, muscles locking up in spasms, cold sweat pouring down my back.

She leaned in close to my ear, and her voice came out as a cold. "Emma, how does it feel to lose to me? So what if you were by his side for three whole years? I just have to wiggle my finger, and you'll grovel in the dirt like a dog, taking the fall for me."

The second she finished speaking, she slammed the sharp stiletto heel of her shoe right into the rusted support axle of my wheelchair. "Oh no!" Julia gasped dramatically, pretending I'd shoved her, and stumbled backward two wobbly steps.

Right on cue, the wheelchair under me fell apart instantly. I crashed hard, my whole body slamming into the unforgiving edge of the stage.

Damian's face dropped. He practically flew off the stage and dragged Julia tight into his protective arms. "Julia, are you okay? Did that crazy woman hurt you?"

He turned his head, and his gaze landed on me, sprawled on the ground like a pile of broken mud. There wasn't a single trace of the disgust he tried to hide before, and it burned clear in his eyes.

He pulled out a check and flicked it straight into my face, like he was tossing a scrap of bread to a beggar on the street.

"This is hush money. Take the money and get out of this city for good. If I ever catch you anywhere near Julia again, I promise you'll wish you were dead."

I stared down at the massive check floating in the pool of my own blood. I didn't cry. I didn't throw a screaming fit.

After the searing, overwhelming pain, my mind clicked into sharper focus than it had ever been before. Right there, in front of every camera streaming live to the entire internet, I lifted my blood-caked, filthy hands.

And I ripped that check into a thousand tiny pieces! Then, through the endless roar of insults raining down on me, I dragged myself inch by inch out of the conference hall doors.

Outside, a torrential downpour was hammering down from the sky.

A security guard kicked me out into the storm like I was nothing but a piece of trash. Ice-cold rain washed the grime and blood off my broken body. I just sat there in the pooling water, staring up at the big screen.

Damian and Julia were locked in a passionate kiss, right there for the whole world to see. I fished a cheap necklace out from under my collar, the one I'd never taken off, not even once.

I bit down hard on the pendant's shell, and I shattered the casing open. Tucked inside was a tiny waterproof USB drive.

Damian wiped all the data from the domestic servers, so the FIA couldn't find a trace of the evidence. But I'd made an offline physical backup, just in case.

A black Maybach sliced through the curtain of pouring rain and glided to a smooth stop right in front of me.

"You rejected me three times for that guy? This is the thanks you get for picking him over me, huh? You want revenge? Agree to my terms."