Chapter 136

Chapter 136

Sabrina scrambled to grab a handful of tissues and shoved them toward her, voice frantic. "Don't cry, don't cry. Pregnant women can't get worked up—it's bad for the baby. And if you wake up those two little troublemakers, I'm not dealing with them."

Vivienne took the tissues and dabbed at the corners of her eyes, laughing through her tears. "I'm not crying."

"Right, right, you're not crying. The humidity in this room just happened to condense right around your eyes." Sabrina deadpanned the ridiculous excuse, then couldn't help but laugh herself.

She reached over and brushed aside the stray hair falling across Vivienne's forehead, her voice softening. "Vivi, this isn't sadness. It's happiness."

Vivienne nodded, tossed the tissue aside, and took a deep breath. "Yeah. Happy. Just... embarrassingly happy."

Sabrina didn't tease her anymore. She scooted her chair closer until their shoulders touched.

Side by side, they sat at the desk, watching the numbers on the computer screen continue to climb.

The follower count was closing in on two million. The trending topic had jumped from third place to first, the 'Explosive' tag beside it now a dark, burnt red—like it had been scorched by relentless heat.

Meanwhile, Gavin's car had been parked on the shoulder of the elevated highway for quite some time.

He stared at his phone screen, scrolling page after page.

With every swipe, the corner of his mouth sank a little lower.

The top two trending news stories were about Vivienne revealing her identity and releasing all the evidence in the plagiarism case.

Third place? Allegra's name.

He clicked into that topic. A tidal wave of condemnation flooded his screen.

People had done frame-by-frame comparisons of her designs and Vivienne's. They'd dug up old lawsuits from overseas where she'd been accused of plagiarism. Someone had even pulled up the police report about her failed attempt to have Vivienne kidnapped.

Gavin scrolled through dozens of top comments, expression blank. Then he flipped his phone face-down on his knee, closed his eyes, and went silent for a few seconds.

"Mr. Coleman." His assistant in the passenger seat turned around, looking deeply uncomfortable as he waved his phone. "The estate called. They say Ms. Mellon is causing a scene again. She's demanding to see you. Says if they don't let her, she'll come back to the city herself. She's emotionally unstable. Security's worried she might do something reckless. They want to know how you'd like to handle it."

Gavin opened his eyes and met his assistant's gaze.

A moment later, he picked up his phone and made a call.

The second it connected, Gavin spoke without hesitation. "Allegra's hiding at 19 Aspen Avenue in the neighboring city. Private security team on-site."

He hung up immediately.

Tossing his phone onto the seat beside him, he jerked his chin at the assistant. "Let's go."

"Back to the estate?"

"Back to the office." Gavin raised the window. "Don't contact the estate again."

The assistant's expression froze for a split second, but he didn't ask any questions.

He'd worked for Gavin long enough to know him inside and out.

Every time Gavin abandoned a chess piece, he used exactly that tone.

Like tossing out an expired membership card. Not worth a second glance.

Half an hour later, 19 Aspen Avenue in the neighboring city was swarmed with police cars.

Allegra had worn herself out throwing a tantrum and had fallen into a heavy sleep. She was jolted awake by the sudden thunder of footsteps.

Before she could even make sense of what was happening outside, her bedroom door was kicked open from the outside.

Several SWAT officers stormed in.

"Allegra, you are under arrest for multiple charges including plagiarism, false accusation and framing, solicitation of assault, and major liability incidents. This is your arrest warrant."

They didn't give her time to react.

Before she could say a word, her wrists were yanked behind her back. The cold metal cuffs snapped shut with a click.

Barefoot, Allegra was dragged off the bed, gripped by the arms, and shoved out of the room.

She was too shocked to speak. Her mind went blank.

All she registered were footsteps and chaotic voices echoing through the hallway. Someone was loudly counting the number of people being taken from the estate. Others were searching every room, item by item.

She was pushed and jostled through the hallway she'd lived in for nearly a month. Then cold wind hit her hard, and she shivered violently.

Allegra jerked her head up and saw several police cars parked at the estate entrance.

It finally hit her.

She was finished.

"Let go of me! I didn't do anything! Let me go!"

No one listened. She was shoved head-first into the back of a police car.

Panicking, she looked out the window—and was stunned to see that even the assistant Gavin had left here was being arrested.

He kept his head down, obediently handing over his phone.

He'd resigned himself to it. Didn't even look surprised.

And that's when Allegra understood.

Gavin had sold her out.

The man she'd once knelt before, begging him to save her life—he'd decided she was no longer useful. He hadn't even bothered to see her one last time.

Gavin had handed over her hiding place like a loyalty pledge to the police.

And all those days and nights she'd spent in this estate, waiting for her chance to rise again? They were just the countdown he'd calculated for when to discard his useless pawn.

By the time Allegra was brought into the interrogation room, she looked haggard. Her eyes were swollen from crying.

But when faced with the officers' questions, she became strangely calm.

"I admit I was involved in managing the construction of the East Suburb project. But every key decision was signed off by Archibald. I was just the executor. He said what materials to use, I used them. He said which contractor to hire, I hired them. I just ran errands for him. If you think there's a problem with the materials or the construction, that's his signature. Go find him."

"As for Vivienne's case? Yeah, I plagiarized her. I admit it. But Gavin made me do it! He said if I took Vivienne down, Archibald would be mine! He had someone destroy Novagraph's servers. He arranged for Vivienne to be drugged. Even those online accounts trashing Vivienne—he paid for all of them. I was just a pawn in his hand. He told me what to do, and I did it. I had no choice!"

"And the East Suburb project—you want to know why it collapsed? Because Gavin's people tampered with the materials. He had his eyes on the Carnegie Group from the start. He got me to convince Archibald to invest, then had the suppliers swap out the steel rebar and inflated the budget by thirty percent. He pocketed the profits, and when things went south, he pinned it all on Archibald. From beginning to end, he was the one pulling the strings. I was just his dog!"

At this, Allegra suddenly let out a near-hysterical laugh. "You think I'm afraid of prison? I'm not. I can't even have children anymore. What do I have to be afraid of? I just want them to go down with me. Archibald, Gavin—neither of them gets to walk away."

The interrogating officer recorded her statement line by line, expression unchanged.

Meanwhile, Sawyer had just received an internal briefing from the police.

He immediately called Vivienne. "Allegra's been arrested. But she's pushing all the blame onto Gavin and Archibald, claiming she was just following orders. As for Gavin... no sign of him yet. Ms. Branpia, do we keep digging?"

Vivienne suddenly let out a cold laugh. "I finally know what Gavin's real goal is."