Chapter 4
The comments froze for a moment, then erupted into a heated discussion.
"Why is she still living in a basement? Could there be more to this story?"
"What more could there be? Everyone saw her sleeping around!"
"She's probably planning to use that dirty money to bribe her way up the ladder. I've seen plenty of women like her."
"Look at all those envelopes. She must have a lot of clients!"
"Oh my God… How many terrible things did Lara do?" Ellie turned her face away as though she couldn't bear to watch anymore. She wiped at her tears in silence.
Brody pulled her into his arms, about to comfort her. But suddenly, a face appeared on the giant screen.
It was Ellie.
"Ellie!"
The moment she appeared in the footage, I jumped up and hurriedly gathered all the envelopes from the table. Then I pulled a USB drive from the drawer and handed it to her, my expression grave.
"Ellie, this has all the original evidence of their falsified pollution data, plus the ledgers showing bribes to senior officials. You have to give this to Brody yourself and get him to report it anonymously!"
I gripped her hand tightly, my voice desperate and pleading. "Remember, don't tell him it came from me. They're already watching me!
"If they find out I stole this evidence, they'll kill me!"
Ellie took the USB drive. Something complicated flickered in her eyes. "Lara, why are you doing this? Brody hates you now."
I smiled bitterly and shook my head. "If he finds out, knowing him, he'll report it without thinking twice. Then we'll both die.
"At least… at least this way, he gets to live."
The image cut off abruptly. The spectators frowned, struggling to believe what they'd just seen. The entire narrative had just flipped.
Panic flashed across Brody's eyes for a split second. He grabbed Ellie's wrist instinctively and demanded an answer.
"That evidence came from Lara? Why didn't you ever tell me?"
Ellie's eyes immediately reddened at his words. Her voice broke as she spoke, looking pitiful and fragile.
"When Lara broke up with you, it was so ugly, and she was hooking up with all those executives. I was just afraid that if I told you, you wouldn't want it…"
Upon seeing her cry so pitifully, Brody's heart softened immediately. He pulled Ellie into his arms and murmured soothing words.
The courtroom crowd saw this and fired off more comments.
"It's just a USB drive. Who knows what that woman Lara actually put on it?"
"Seriously? Are there really people dumb enough to believe a criminal would collect evidence?"
"So what if Ellie kept it secret? Don't forget that the explosion case was solved because she voluntarily handed over the key evidence!"
Seeing countless people defend Ellie, Brody said nothing more. Only his slightly furrowed brow remained.
I watched Brody still holding Ellie in his arms. I pressed my hand against the space where my heart used to be. It felt terrifyingly empty.
Just then, a technician let out a shocked cry.
"Mr. Pierce, something's wrong! Lara Quinn's soul particles are fluctuating violently! She… she has another memory segment with multiple layers of encryption! It's being forcibly decrypted now!"
Every eye turned back to the screen, while panic seized Brody's chest.
Then, an elderly voice rang out from the giant screen.
"Lara Quinn, from today forward, your code name is Clarity. You're our only chance to cut out the cancer that is Apex Industries."
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