---- Chapter 18 Alexandra Smith POV: The weeks leading up to Carla's birthday party were a blur of clandestine meetings and careful planning. Jamie fed me a steady stream of inside information from Cardenas Corp, detailing Dianne's systematic embezzlement and Edward's increasingly erraticand incompetent leadership. Gabriel's team worked tirelessly, gathering irrefutable evidence of Dianne and Frank Miller's conspiracy. |, in turn, began my own quiet assault. | used my knowledge of the tech world, my connections, my reputation, to begin poaching Cardenas Corp's top talent and luring away their biggest clients. It was a slow, methodical bleeding, a death by a thousand cuts. The day of the party, | chose my armor with care: a stunning, blood-red gown that was far more expensive and eye-catching than the pale pink confection | knew Carla would be wearing. | was not attending as a victim. | was attending as a harbinger of their doom. | arrived late, making a calculated entrance that drew every eye in the room. A murmur went through the crowd as they took in my defiant presence. | ignored them, my gaze fixed on the stage where Edward was already speaking. ---- He was a portrait of handsome, grieving nobility. He spoke of "irreconcilable differences," of "moving on from tragedy," of his "profound gratitude" for Carla, who had been his "rock" through this "difficult time." He then called a blushing, triumphant Carla to the stage. He got down on one knee, produced a gaudy diamond ring, and asked her to be his wife. The crowd erupted in applause. | stood at the edge of the room, a lone figure in a sea of celebration, my heart a cold, hard stone in my chest. The sight of them, so publicly celebrating on the ashes of my life, ignited the final, explosive charge of my rage. Just as the applause began to die down, Jamie, who was manning the audio-visual equipment, gave me a subtle nod. It was time. The massive screen behind the stage, which had been displaying a romantic slideshow of Edward and Carla, suddenly went black. The lights in the grand ballroom dimmed, plunging the room into an expectant hush. Then, a voice filled the silence. Carla's voice. Husky, conspiratorial, and dripping with venom It was a recording from a hidden microphone Jamie had planted in her office. "| hate him," her voice echoed through the ballroom. "| despise ---- him more than you ever could... He's a weak, spineless fool... I've been feeding him psychotropic drugs for months... He's my puppet." A collective gasp went through the crowd. Edward, who had been beaming at his new fiancée, slowly turned to look at her, his face a mask of horrified disbelief. Carla's face was ashen. She shook her head, her eyes wide with panic. "Eddie, no," she whispered. "It's not... that's not real." But the recording continued, her voice growing colder, more monstrous. "Killing his child with my own body... it's poetic, don't you think? The best part is, he'll always believe it was you.' The room was utterly silent. The air was thick with shock and revulsion. Edward stared at Carla, his face slowly draining of all color. The adoration in his eyes was replaced by a dawning horror, then a terrifying, murderous rage. "You," he whispered, his voice a strangled rasp. "It was you." He lunged at her, his hands closing around her throat. She screamed, a raw, terrified sound that was cut short as he began to squeeze. The party dissolved into chaos. People shouted, women screamed, but no one dared to intervene. They just watched, ---- mesmerized, as the perfect golden couple of the tech world imploded in a firestorm of violence and betrayal. And | watched too, my face a mask of cold, calm satisfaction. This was just the beginning. In "CEO, That Intern is Actually Your Wife" by CrushReel, delve into a captivating romance where a billionaire CEO becomes contractually linked to an unexpected partner. When faced with the urgent need to fund her grandmother's critical surgery, our protagonist finds herself in a unique situation—entering a one-year contract marriage with a stranger. As the story unfolds, themes of love, sacrifice, and the complexities of modern relationships come to light. The novel offers a fresh take on the familiar billionaire romance genre by exploring the dynamics of office relationships and the intricacies of contract lovers. Discover this modern tale of unexpected connections and heartfelt emotions, available to read at CrushReel.