I stared at the name on the report for a long time.

Cressida Vane.

Four years.

Four years since I walked out of that house with my mother’s photograph pressed against my chest.

Four years since Declan chose another woman while I was still wearing a mourning ribbon.

I thought I had already buried that part of my life.

But apparently, some ghosts don’t disappear.

They wait until the moment you are strong enough to face them.

I closed the report and looked at Declan.

He was sitting across from me, trying to maintain his calm expression.

But I knew him too well.

The slight movement of his fingers.

The tension in his jaw.

The way he avoided looking directly at me.

He was afraid.

Not because of losing money.

Because he finally realized the person sitting in front of him was no longer the woman he left behind.

“Does Declan Fairfax know about this transfer?” I asked.

His face changed slightly.

“What do you mean?”

I pushed the document toward him.

“Larkspur Supply & Consulting.”

His eyes dropped to the page.

The color slowly disappeared from his face.

“I’ve never seen this company before.”

I leaned back.

“That’s interesting.”

“Because according to the financial records, this company has been receiving payments from Fairfax Industrial for three years.”

Eudora’s hands trembled.

“Impossible.”

I looked at her.

“Nothing is impossible when nobody checks.”

The room became silent.

Four years ago, they had all believed I was the weak one.

The woman who had no children.

The woman who couldn’t give the Fairfax family an heir.

The woman who needed them more than they needed her.

But they never understood something.

I wasn’t powerless.

I was simply loyal.

And loyalty had made me ignore things I should have seen.

Declan looked at me.

“Aurelia, can Greyhaven still invest?”

His voice was different now.

No arrogance.

No distance.

Only desperation.

I folded my hands.

“Before I answer that, I need to know something.”

He waited.

“Why did you never investigate Cressida?”

His expression froze.

“She was your secretary for years.”

“She had access to company information.”

“She knew the internal structure better than many executives.”

“You trusted her enough to destroy our marriage.”

My words hit harder than I expected.

Declan lowered his head.

For a moment, I almost saw the man I used to love.

Almost.

Then I remembered the bedroom door.

The pregnant woman in his arms.

My mother’s photograph against my chest.

And that feeling disappeared.

“I thought she loved me,” he finally said.

I smiled faintly.

“That’s what makes betrayal dangerous.”

“People rarely suspect the person they believe loves them.”

Eudora suddenly stood up.

“Aurelia, whatever happened between you and Declan, this company is innocent.”

I looked at her.

“No.”

She stopped.

“This company is the result of thousands of employees’ work.”

“Families depend on it.”

“But the people who managed it made their choices.”

My voice remained calm.

“And now they have to face the consequences.”

Declan looked at me carefully.

“You really changed.”

I lowered my eyes.

“No.”

“I just stopped waiting for someone else to value me.”

That night, I stayed late at the office.

The city lights reflected on the glass windows.

Four years ago, I thought leaving meant losing everything.

My marriage.

My family.

My future.

But standing there, I realized something.

Sometimes losing the wrong people is how you find yourself again.

At midnight, my assistant brought me another file.

“Mrs. Montrose, there’s something else.”

I opened it.

Inside was a series of emails.

The sender names had been hidden.

But one message immediately caught my attention.

It was from Cressida.

The date was two years ago.

The subject:

“Once Fairfax collapses, everything will belong to us.”

My fingers tightened around the paper.

Us.

Not her.

Not alone.

Someone else was involved.

I continued reading.

The next sentence made my expression change.

“Declan still believes he is the owner. He doesn’t understand that the company has been transferred piece by piece.”

Transferred.

I immediately called my investigation team.

“Trace every account connected to Larkspur Supply.”

“Find the real beneficiary.”

Ten minutes later, my phone rang.

The result came back.

And the name shocked me.

Because it wasn’t Cressida.

It wasn’t a business partner.

It was someone who had been sitting beside Declan for years.

Someone who had protected him.

Someone who had pretended to hate me for leaving.

Eudora Fairfax.

My former mother-in-law.

I stared at the report.

Suddenly, everything became clear.

The night I left…

She wasn’t surprised.

She wasn’t angry.

She already knew about Cressida.

Because maybe Cressida was never the person who destroyed the Fairfax family.

Maybe she was only the person Eudora chose to put in front of everyone.

The next morning, I asked Declan and Eudora to return to my office.

They arrived together.

The same way they had arrived four years ago.

Only this time…

I was the one behind the desk.

I placed the documents in front of them.

“Before Greyhaven makes any decision, there is something you need to know.”

Declan opened the file.

His eyes moved quickly.

Then slowly.

Then stopped.

His face became pale.

“No…”

Eudora remained silent.

Too silent.

I looked directly at her.

“You knew.”

Her fingers tightened.

“Aurelia…”

“You knew where the money was going.”

“You knew Cressida was involved.”

“And you still let everyone believe she was giving you an heir.”

Declan looked at his mother.

Confusion.

Shock.

Betrayal.

All the emotions I had felt four years ago were now appearing on his face.

Eudora finally spoke.

“You wouldn’t understand.”

I laughed quietly.

“You’re right.”

“I wouldn’t understand.”

“Because I never had the ability to destroy my own family and call it protection.”

The door suddenly opened.

A woman stood there.

Cressida.

But she was no longer confident.

No longer smiling.

She looked terrified.

Because she knew the truth was already exposed.

Declan turned toward her.

“Tell me.”

His voice was cold.

“How long?”

Cressida didn’t answer.

And that silence was enough.

Four years ago, they thought I was the woman who lost.

The abandoned wife.

The woman left with nothing.

But they forgot one thing.

I was the daughter of a woman who taught me never to depend on anyone who could take everything away.

I built myself again.

And now the people who destroyed my life were standing in front of me…

begging for the help of the woman they once threw away.

But what they still didn’t know was that the biggest secret had not been revealed yet.

Because hidden in the final pages of the investigation report…

was a document with my mother’s signature.

A document dated one month before she died.

And it proved that my mother had discovered the Fairfax family’s secret long before I did.