Chapter 4

The cameras went into a frenzy.

Linda lay crumpled on the marble floor, her face twisting like a demon's as she screeched at the top of her lungs.

"Sue! You psycho! You're going to rot in hell!"

I stepped up to her and leaned down slightly.

"A psycho?"

"Compared to you, I'm practically a saint."

One of the detectives stepped forward.

"Ms. Wang, please calm down and cooperate with our investigation."

Linda lunged forward, grabbing the detective's trouser leg in desperation.

"I'm pregnant! You can't arrest me! The law protects pregnant women!"

I let out a soft laugh.

"The law protects pregnant women, Linda. It doesn't protect felons."

I straightened my back and looked past her, fixing my eyes on Richard, who was already slinking toward the exit.

"Leaving so soon, Richard?"

His entire body locked up. He turned around, forcing a stiff, pathetic smile onto his face.

"Sue, this is clearly a personal vendetta between the two of you. I'm... I'm just an invited guest."

"A guest?"

I paced slowly toward him.

"Fabricating internal financial metrics, orchestrating a predatory short-selling campaign against my company, directing Linda to forge legal seals and fake communications..."

With every charge I laid out, his face turned a shade paler.

"Your playbook was far more sophisticated than hers, Richard."

Cornered, he completely lost his composure. Pointing violently at Linda on the floor, his voice cracked in a panic.

"Don't listen to her! It was all Linda! This bitch seduced me and cooked up the whole damn scheme from start to finish!"

He threw her under the bus without a second thought.

Linda stared up at him in sheer disbelief, her lips trembling.

"Richard... what did you just say?"

What Richard spat out next sent a shockwave through the entire room.

"I don't even know if that bastard in your belly is actually mine! Don't you dare try to pin your mess on me!"

The last drop of color drained from her face.

Right then, the grand ballroom doors swung open once more.

Two more officers walked in, escorting a man in handcuffs with a buzz cut and a hollow, defeated stare.

He wore the standard gray inmate jumpsuit—the very same "volunteer" who had barged into my office and smashed my filing cabinets.

I turned back to Linda with a brilliant, radiant smile.

"Oh, by the way, Linda, I almost forgot to introduce you."

"An old friend of yours."

The moment Linda saw the man, her pupils contracted into pinpricks.

The man didn't dare meet her eyes, keeping his head hung low.

Richard looked totally bewildered.

Whispers broke out among the guests.

The livestream chat had become an unreadable blur of shocked reactions.

I reached into my bag and pulled out a second document.

Stepping up to Richard, I shoved it into his hands.

"Richard, weren't you just questioning whether that child belongs to you?"

"Let me give you a definitive answer."

With shaking hands, Richard looked down at the paper.

"Court-Admissible Paternity Test Results."

The conclusion was printed in bold, unambiguous text:

Subject 1: Unborn Child (Fetal DNA).

Subject 2: Mark Zhang.

Result: Biological Paternity Confirmed (99.99%).

Richard's face snapped instantly from chalk-white to a deep, furious crimson.

Like an idiot, he looked back and forth between Linda and Mark.

"Well played, Linda! You played me for a fool!"

The room erupted into absolute pandemonium.

I turned to the camera, addressing every single viewer watching.

"This gentleman, Mark Zhang, happens to be Linda's college sweetheart. He is also the founder of her so-called 'Women's Rights Defense Coalition.'"

"And their motive from day one was remarkably simple."