Chapter 129: Chapter-129. (You Have Changed).
I caught her.
I wrapped a firm hand around her shoulders and, with a controlled, precise jerk, set her upright again. Her feet hit the floor hard.
She blinked, taken aback as if she did not expect me to help her.
Her knees were trembling slightly. The fire in her eyes didn’t fade, but she stood where I had placed her, forced to regain control.
"Control yourself," I said quietly. There was no softness, no apology. Just cold, calm authority, which I should set off from the beginning.
I paused for a second, leaving tension hanging in there, before I completed my sentence, "Or you will hurt yourself before you hurt anyone else."
She kept staring at me as if she was trying to solve a problem, but sad. I was a problem that neither solved. From now on, it will be the same for all of them.
On the other hand, Nicole and Dave both froze, processing the sudden shift in power. The room was quiet now, thick with tension.
I didn’t need to raise my voice. I didn’t need theatrics.
I let the silence do the work, let the weight of the place, the memories, and my presence settle on them.
This wasn’t reconciliation.
It wasn’t forgiveness.
It was reclaiming what had been lost.
I sat slowly, letting my eyes sweep over them, letting them take in the reality of me, which was now a persona carrying calm, strong, intact.
No hesitation.
No fragility.
Nothing left to break.
This room had held pain before. Tonight, it would hold something more true...more raw things which needed to be discussed straightforwardly.
Let them remember, feel it, and understand. This was my reckoning, and I was the one holding the scales.
Dave exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, what’s this about then?"
Elena’s gaze didn’t waver. "It’s about clarity, and setting things right," she said casually, as if it were a matter of fact.
Nicole’s question hung in the air, irritation evident on his face, "Don’t beat around the bush. Why did you call us here?"
For a moment, I didn’t answer.
Grace was still glaring daggers at me from across the table, arms folded so tight her knuckles had gone white.
She was trying to burn holes in me with her eyes, and maybe a few months ago, it would have worked. Now, it didn’t even graze me.
I leaned back in my chair, crossing one leg over the other. "You all already know what this is about. Let’s not waste time pretending," I said finally, my tone calm, almost casual.
Grace scoffed under her breath. Dave stayed silent, his jaw tense, while Nicole only narrowed his eyes slightly, studying me as if trying to see through me.
I let the silence linger more than a few seconds, then added, "Since you all managed to show up here together, I assume that means you’re still free enough to deal with... unfinished business."
Nicole’s brow furrowed. "Meaning?"
I tilted my head. "Meaning the fact that after all these months, you still haven’t found the one behind everything."
That landed exactly the way I wanted it to. A shift in the air.
Dave’s hand stilled on the table. Nicole’s expression darkened, a muscle in his jaw twitching.
And Grace, on the other hand, had her expression changed first. The anger drained just long enough for humiliation to take its place.
She looked down at the table, then back up again, eyes blazing, cheeks flushed pink.
For a moment, the silence grew sharp. No one said anything, but I could see the truth in their faces. They hadn’t found the culprit. They hadn’t even come close.
"Thought so," I said quietly, leaning forward, resting my elbows on the table.
"You couldn’t find the person who set everything in motion. Who made me the enemy? Who made my name dirty enough for even you," I glanced at Dave, "to believe it."
Their faces, already tense, turned red, but not from anger this time, but from embarrassment.
Grace slammed her palms on the table. "And what? You think you can?"
I met her gaze evenly. "I know I can."
She gave a short, sharp laugh that had no humor in it. "Oh, that’s rich. We had every contact, every resource, every possible connection pulling strings, and still we got nothing, but you..."
She gestured at me with a dramatic sweep of her hand, "You think you, with no backing, no family left to support you, can solve what we couldn’t?"
Her words came out laced with venom. I saw the satisfaction flicker in her expression, the cruelty she didn’t bother to hide.
For a heartbeat, I said nothing.
Then Dave shot her a cold, silent glare that froze her mid-sentence. Nicole’s expression wasn’t supportive either.
He didn’t even bother hiding his disappointment. Grace’s smugness faltered. Her mouth opened like she wanted to argue, but the weight of both their eyes made her close it again.
The silence that followed was almost painful.
She slumped back in her chair, arms crossed, still glaring at me every few seconds, like a cat that had been scolded but refused to back down.
I turned to her again, slowly, meeting her gaze with a flat, bored look. "Are you done?"
The room went still as the tension rose in the surrounding area again.
Her nostrils flared, lips parting in anger, but before she could spit anything else, I cut her off.
I said sharply, "Because whether you believe it or not, this..." I gestured between us, "Is my headache now. How I find that person, how I deal with them, how I clear this mess, and that’s on me. You just stay out of the way."
Her mouth snapped shut.
I leaned back again, calm, composed, as though we hadn’t just been on the edge of another explosion.
Then I turned to Nicole and Dave, my voice steady, "In the meantime, you both will do something for me."
Nicole’s eyes flicked toward me. Dave straightened slightly, suspicion in his posture.
"You," I nodded at Nicole, "will remove every single article, every post, every whisper that names me the betrayer. I don’t care what it takes. Use your power. Call in your favors. Clean my name."
He didn’t move for a moment, his expression unreadable. Then, after a slow breath, he gave a short nod. "Fine."
Grace looked shocked. "You’re just agreeing to this rubbish..."
Nicole didn’t even glance at her. "Just...shut up, Grace."
That made her shut up again. With this, then I turned to Dave.
He had been quiet the entire time, staring down at the glass in front of him. When my eyes met his, he looked up, confusion flickering across his face.
"And you," I said quietly, "will announce through your PR team that we don’t have any personal relationship. That whatever rumor was left of us..." I paused as I measured the words on my tongue and just spilled them out, "It ends now."
His face went pale. "Elena..."
I didn’t blink. "And then, you’ll proceed with the paperwork. Quietly. No drama, no leaks. The divorce will be filed within a week." The silence that fell then was almost suffocating.
Dave looked like the ground had just been pulled out from under him. For a long moment, he didn’t even breathe. His hand gripped the edge of the table, knuckles whitening.
"You’re serious," he finally said, his voice low, rough.
"Yes," I replied simply. Not having any second thoughts about complicating it.
Grace blinked rapidly, turning between us, clearly not expecting this.
Nicole’s calm slipped for the first time. His brow furrowed, his gaze flicking between me and Dave.
Dave swallowed hard. "Elena, that’s...
"
I cut in with firmness and utter determination, "Necessary."
He leaned back slowly, the color draining from his face. "You don’t have to do it like this. Not in front of them."
"Why not?" I asked evenly. "It’s only fair. Everything else that destroyed me happened in front of people, too. Consider this balance."
He stared at me like he didn’t recognize me anymore.
Maybe he didn’t. Maybe that was the point.
Grace shifted uncomfortably in her chair, fidgeting with her ring, her expression flickering between confusion and reluctant awe.
Nicole, still quiet, finally spoke. "You have changed."
I smiled faintly. "That’s what happens when you’re left to burn. You either turn to ash, or you become fire."
The words came out softer than I intended, but they hit the way I wanted them to. Nicole’s expression faltered; Grace looked away.
Dave only sat there, frozen, struggling for words that would not come.
I pushed my chair back slightly and stood, letting the legs scrape softly against the floor. The sound filled the silence like a final note in a song that was ending.
I said quietly, "I am not asking for your approval. Just your cooperation. You had your chance to protect me once. You didn’t. Now I’ll protect myself."
For a moment, I thought Dave would argue, but surprisingly, he didn’t. He just stared down, shoulders tight, eyes glassy with things he wasn’t ready to say. Now now. Not in front of them, especially.