Chapter 1774

No.1

——

"Chief Editor, you have fans!" Iris Cooper waved her phone excitedly. "They made a fanpage!"

Evelyn glanced at it.

A dozen active followers. Touching.

"If they saw your face," Iris gushed, "they'd petition for you to debut overnight!"

Evelyn: "..."

She preferred letting her work speak for itself.

No.2

Her looks only brought trouble—like making Alexander despise her yet refuse to let go.

A sharp knock interrupted them.

Iris bounded to the door—then froze.

Alexander stood there, his gaze glacial.

"You altered the footage?"

Iris stammered, "N-no! When we retrieved it, it was already—"

He ignored her.

No.3

His eyes locked onto Evelyn, sharp as blades.

"What if I did?" She met his stare unflinchingly. "What then?"

He seized her wrist.

Iris choked back a gasp.

"What then?" Fury darkened his voice. "With Grandfather's banquet days away? For your pathetic job, you'd stoop this low?"

She'd threatened him with the banquet that morning.

Now she released a fake video of him and Isabella?

No.4

After he'd told Nathan to assure her she needn't worry about work—that any position at Kingsley Group was hers for the asking!

"Evelyn," each word dripped venom, "how can you be this vile?"

Patriarch Kingsley treated her like family.

How could she sabotage his celebration?

"So," Evelyn's voice was eerily calm, unmoved by his rage, "your demand for evidence was just a joke."

Alexander stiffened.

"In your eyes, I'll always be guilty."

No.5

She was forever the villain—Isabella, forever the saint.

He hadn't even considered who truly benefited. His first instinct was to blame her.

When it came to Isabella, Alexander's famed intellect short-circuited.

—That was love.

Blind, irrational love.

Just like his hatred for her—where her very breath was a crime.

Alexander faltered.

No.6

Something in Evelyn's eyes pierced him.

In the silence, Nathan rushed in.

"Lord Alex, we've traced the footage tampering to—"

The air froze the moment Alexander Kingsley released Evelyn Sinclair.

Nathan Carter stood at the doorway, instantly sensing the tension.

"Lord Alex," he ventured cautiously, "the hotel's surveillance logs have been restored."

Alexander turned, his gaze sharp as a blade.

No.7

"Speak."

Nathan delivered his report swiftly. "After you left last night, only one person accessed the security system."

"Who?"

"A maintenance technician." Nathan hesitated. "He's currently missing. We're tracking—"

Iris Cooper suddenly raised her hand.

"I know where he is." She glanced at Evelyn. "He's in the next room."