The revelations from the flash drive burned in Bella's mind like wildfire. Jason hadn't betrayed her. He had been a victim drugged, framed. The memory of that night, once seared into her as a wound, now played differently in her mind, with a sinister clarity. Veronica hadn't just manipulated a moment she had engineered an illusion that stole five years of love, trust, and family.
By morning, Bella felt changed. Not lighter, but sharpened. No longer a woman paralyzed by fear or heartbreak she was a mother, a fighter, and she needed answers. She needed justice.
She walked into Reed International with purpose, bypassing the suspicious glances and underhand whispers that had followed her for weeks. When she reached Jason's office, she didn't pause. She knocked once firm and clear.
Jason's voice came from inside, clipped and wary. "Come in."
He was seated behind his desk, reading over a thick file, but looked up as she entered. The guarded tension in his eyes hadn't eased since their last confrontation, but now, Bella saw the exhaustion beneath it the burden of too many questions, too many half-truths.
Without a word, she walked to his desk and placed the flash drive down between them. "You need to watch the file labeled August 14th."
Jason's eyes narrowed. "Where did you get this?"
"That doesn't matter," she said, her voice tight. "Just watch it."
He hesitated, his fingers hovering over the drive. "Bella, if this is another—"
"Jason," she interrupted. "Please. Just watch."
He plugged the drive into his laptop and opened the folder. As the video began, silence filled the room, thick and unnerving. Bella watched his face more than the footage. Watched as suspicion shifted to confusion, then disbelief, and finally to a stunned, shaking fury.
When Veronica's smirk flashed across the screen, when her fingers subtly wiped Jason's mouth, when Bella's own face appeared at the edge of the footage—her horror frozen in grainy pixels—it all came crashing down. The illusion shattered.
Jason's shoulders slumped back into his chair, the air knocked out of him. "She drugged me…" he whispered, barely audible. "She... she planned all of this."
He looked at Bella, eyes wide, disbelieving then full of regret. "I didn't know. Bella, I swear I didn't know."
Her breath caught. This wasn't the Jason she had warred with for months this was the man she once knew. The man she had loved. "I know," she whispered. "I know now."
A silence passed between them. Not tense, not hostile but raw. The kind that only truth can bring.
Then Bella reached into her bag and pulled out the photo. The one she had kept hidden. She slid it across the table. "There's more. Someone's watching Lila."
Jason picked up the photo, his eyes locking on the image of the little girl. Something in his expression shifted something quiet, reverent, and gut-deep protective.
His voice was soft, stunned. "She's mine."
Bella flinched. But she nodded. "Yes."
He didn't speak for a long moment. The war in his eyes was evident shock, hurt, wonder. But it faded into something sharper. Purpose.
"She's using this," Bella said. "Veronica. She knows about Lila. And she's using her to get to me or maybe to you."
Jason's hands clenched around the photo. "She's not going near her."
"There's more," Bella continued, pushing forward before emotion could derail her. "Veronica's framing me for embezzlement. There are documents I never signed, approvals I never made. My digital footprint is being manipulated."
Jason nodded slowly, piecing it all together. "She's been pushing through false security contracts—Ryan flagged it. Inflated figures, shadow invoices. She's building a case, probably against you and by extension, against me."
"And you think she's working alone?" Bella asked.
Jason shook his head. "No. But Veronica's the spider. Everyone else is just caught in her web."
Silence settled again. But this one was different. It was the moment before strategy. Before retaliation.
Bella took a breath. "We need to expose her. But we can't do it separately. Not anymore."
Jason leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk, fingers steepled. "You're right. This is bigger than both of us now."
Their eyes met, not as ex-lovers or enemies, but as allies bound by the same enemy and the same daughter.
"We protect Lila," Jason said, voice low and firm. "First and always."
"And then we burn Veronica's empire to the ground," Bella added.
Jason's lips curved into something between a smirk and a snarl. "Together."
For the first time in a long time, Bella didn't feel alone. She felt dangerous. And for once, that was a good thing.