Christina’s POV
A slight smile curved Hudson’s lips when he spotted approaching his car. "You ca."
He quickly stepped out and walked toward . "Christina... you still trust enough to et."
"I don’t trust you. I just want to see what ga you’re playing," I replied. Akira rumbled uneasily inside my head.
"That’s fair. But you’ll believe I’m not playing gas this ti. You’ll see that eting was worth it. Where would you like to go?" His eyes softened, his tone gentle—too gentle for the Alpha who’d once slapped across the face.
"The restaurant across the street," I said firmly. I wasn’t here for reconciliation; I was here for the truth.
"Alright."
The lunch crowd had filled most tables. I requested a private booth.
Once we’d ordered, I cut straight to the chase. "Where’s this proof you ntioned?"
"Are you really in that much of a hurry?" Niall looked at with those wounded puppy eyes that once would have made apologize instantly. Now I felt nothing.
"Yes, I’m in a hurry to find out what you’re scheming. I don’t want to be here with you. You know that. If you hadn’t claid to have information about the attack, I would never have co."
Niall’s smile turned bitter. "Fine. I get it." He slid a folder across the table. "Soone gave this to . See for yourself. There are photos inside, too."
He pointed to a picture of a scruffy-looking man. "This guy’s a low-level hustler. He does nothing all day, but his computer skills are decent. He makes his living from shady jobs. Pay him enough, and he’ll do pretty much anything. He’s the one who hacked into your studio’s network and ssed with your database and job sheets."
I examined the photo. The man looked to be in his late twenties, with disheveled hair and tired eyes. I’d never seen him before in my life.
"This isn’t proof of anything," I said, pushing the folder back. "This could just be so random guy’s photo you pulled off the internet."
"Wait, there’s more." Niall tapped his phone. "I just sent you a video."
I reluctantly opened it on my phone. In the clip, the hacker confessed to altering my studio’s orders, his voice nervous, his eyes darting.
"How did you get this? And how can you prove this man wasn’t hired by Beatrice?" Akira growled inside , suspicious of everything coming from Niall.
"Look at these." Niall sent another file to my phone.
They were records of transactions. Paynts to the hacker, sent through a middleman, who received the money from...
"Genevieve," I muttered in disbelief.
Niall nodded. "That’s right. The hacker never t Genevieve face-to-face, but the money trail leads straight back to her."
My chest tightened, my heart pounding with anger and confusion.
"Are you claiming that the person who tried to hurt is Genevieve, not Beatrice? Then why did Beatrice confess?" I demanded, my eyes fixed on him.
Seeing my wavering certainty, Niall gave a humorless laugh. "For money. She’d do anything for cash." His smile was cynical. "Hudson paid her to take the bla."
"That’s impossible," I snapped.
Niall’s expression morphed into one of pained sympathy. "Do you care about him that much? You won’t even believe solid evidence right in front of you?"
"He’s my mate, my husband. Of course I care about him."
My heart ached. Why would Hudson protect Genevieve like this?
"Why should I believe you? You’re saying Hudson paid Beatrice and she just agreed? How would you even know that? And Hudson said he’d hand Beatrice over to the police. Would she really take money just to go to prison?" A desperate part of was still defending Hudson, praying Niall was lying.
"You think Hudson actually called the police?" Niall’s tone dripped with mockery. "Look at this. See who this is? Isn’t that Beatrice? She left Highrise City last night. This is her at the airport. Do you really think Hudson would hand her over? You’re so naive."
He continued. "He lied to you. He never called the police. He gave Beatrice ten million dollars. Pretty generous, right? Ten million, just like that. You know Beatrice as well as I do. She’s greedy. When we split, she fought for every penny because it was never enough for her. She doesn’t even have a job now. How long would it take her to earn ten million on her own? Of course she took the deal."
"Look, here’s the transfer record," he insisted. "It wasn’t Hudson himself who sent it, but if you trace this account, you’ll find that the guy works for Ryan Fenty."
I stared at him, stunned. "Ryan Fenty? What does that have to—"
"to do with Hudson? What if I told you Ryan transferred the money as a favor to Hudson? Don’t look so shocked. It’s standard practice in our world. People use proxies when a transaction is... inconvenient, or just plain illegal. If you don’t believe , ask Ryan yourself."
The blows kept coming. "And in these photos, this man is Hudson’s assistant, right? Harry, or whatever. He personally approached Beatrice. With all this evidence, how can you still not believe ?" Niall stared intently. "Christina, don’t be a fool."
"Maybe Harry eting Beatrice doesn’t prove anything by itself," he pressed on, "but all this evidence is more than enough to show that things aren’t what Hudson told you."
I bit my lower lip, my knuckles white as I gripped the folder. "How did you get all this? How do you have photos of Beatrice eting Harry? Or transaction records between Genevieve and the hacker?"
"I didn’t have the resources to get this myself," Niall admitted. "Soone gave it to . Soone who clearly doesn’t want you and Hudson to stay mated. But that’s not the important part, is it? What matters is that this is the truth."
"Who? Who doesn’t want with Hudson?" I demanded, my stomach churning.
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