THE HEIRESS AND THE RUTHLESS REPORTER

By day, Evelyn Moore was Toronto’s perfect daughter. Daughter of Councilman Richard Moore. The girl who smiled at charity galas, cut ribbons, and never missed a family photo. The girl who wore pearls and kept her head down. By night? She was someone else entirely. The clock struck 11:47pm. Evelyn slipped out the back door of the Moore estate, heels in her hand, a hoodie thrown over her red gala dress. The city air was cold, but her heart was racing. She wasn’t running away. She was running to something. To the one thing her father called “trash.” To the one newspaper he banned from their house. The Toronto Truth. The newsstand on King Street was closing, but Mr. Patel always saved one copy for her. Tucked under the counter. No questions asked. “Long night, Miss Moore?” he asked, sliding it to her. “Longer days,” she whispered, clutching the paper to her chest. The front page hit her like ice water. SCANDAL AT CITY HALL: COUNCILMAN MOORE ACCUSED OF COVER-UP BY DAMIAN COLE Damian Cole. The city’s most ruthless reporter. The man her father called “a parasite with a pen.” Evelyn had never met him. But his words had torn through her family for months. Exposing secrets. Ruining reputations. Telling truths no one wanted printed. And yet... she couldn’t stop reading him. She ducked into the alley, leaning against the brick wall. The streetlights flickered above her as she read every word. His writing was sharp. Dangerous. Honest. For the first time, she wondered: What if her father was hiding something? What if the ruthless reporter was right? Her phone buzzed. DAD: Where are you? Curfew was 11. Evelyn closed her eyes. She could go home. Be the perfect daughter again. Or she could keep reading. She folded the paper, tucked it into her bag, and smiled. Tomorrow, she’d find out who Damian Cole really was.