Chapter248 I Want Miranda Back
The next morning, Miranda woke, pressed her fingers to her temple, and reached for her phone.
Her inbox had a new email from Mia.
She opened the attachment. A full investigation report.
The report identified the accounts that had led the smear campaign against her company. The money behind them did not trace back to Celeste directly.
But follow the financial threads far enough back, and a pattern emerged. Whoever was behind those accounts had been moving money quietly to Celeste for years.
Celeste had used a middleman.
The missing piece now was finding that person. Mia's note at the bottom was clear: locate them, and there would be direct proof tying Celeste to the entire operation.
Miranda's expression sharpened.
She typed back to Mia: On it from my end too.
Then she forwarded the middleman's details to Lisa with instructions to pull every contact the company had and start searching.
After that, she pulled up the company's official social media account.
The legal team had posted a denial statement the night the story broke. It had done almost nothing. The comments were still wall-to-wall mockery.
This time was different.
Miranda pinned a new post at the top of the page. It contained screenshots of the payment records showing exactly which accounts had been paid to run the smear campaign, along with a formal legal notice.
Her phone rang a few minutes after it went up.
Governor Ava.
Miranda answered.
"I saw the letter you posted," Ava said. Her voice carried a trace of relief. "Good. Anyone running a smear operation for money should answer for it in court."
She paused.
"Spend the next couple of days managing the fallout. Get the narrative cleaned up." Then, more directly: "You can attend the project presentation the day after tomorrow as your company's representative."
Miranda's whole body loosened.
"Thank you, Governor. I'll be there."
The legal notice hit fast and hard.
Within the hour, every account that had been loudly pushing the plagiarism story had deleted their posts and published apologies.
Miranda had Lisa move immediately, pushing those apologies and the legal filing out across every channel they had.
The tide turned.
But Miranda did not relax.
The middleman was still out there. Until they were found, another hit on the company was a real possibility. And with the project presentation two days away, there was no room for another crisis.
--
Prescott Estate.
The heavy curtains were still drawn tight in one of the upstairs bedrooms.
Celeste had been asleep when her phone screamed at her.
She grabbed it and answered without looking, voice raw with annoyance.
"This better be important."
A man's voice came through.
Within seconds, Celeste was sitting straight up in bed, sleep gone, eyes burning.
"What do you mean you've been traced?"
Her knuckles went white around the phone. Her voice was shaking with anger.
"How did Miranda find you? I told you to make it clean. How does she even have people like that?"
The man said something else.
Celeste's face twisted.
"What do you mean she might trace it back to me? Useless. All of you are completely useless."
She hurled the phone at the wall.
It shattered on impact and went silent.
Celeste sat in the dark, breathing hard, both hands gripping her hair.
She had no idea how Miranda had gotten to her people this fast. And the possibility of being found out sent a cold, furious panic climbing up her chest.
Her grandfather could not find out. Neither could her cousin.
She was off the bed and out the door within minutes.
--
Lancaster Group. Chairman's Office.
Dominic had barely settled into his chair when a knock came at the door.
He called them in with a good mood, and Harrison walked in, suit pressed, expression composed and deliberate.
Dominic was still riding the high from last night. Evelyn was pregnant. He could barely keep the grin off his face.
"Harrison. What brings you here?"
Harrison didn't ease into it.
"Uncle Dominic, I'd like to ask for your help." He met his eyes directly. "I want to win Miranda back. I want us to remarry."
He had thought it through carefully over the past few weeks.
Going to Miranda directly wasn't working. She was a wall of ice. He had offered to help with the plagiarism situation and gotten a flat no for his trouble.
The only way in was through the people she actually cared about.
"I know I hurt her," Harrison said. His posture was deliberately humble. "I know she went through a lot because of me. But I'm asking for the chance to spend the rest of my life making it right."
Dominic's smile faded slightly.
A month ago, he would have jumped at this. Harrison was sharp, and the Whitmore family brought real value to Lancaster.
But things had changed.
His daughter was married to the Prescott heir.
Whitmore wasn't even in the same category anymore.
The calculations ran fast and quiet behind his eyes. His face arranged itself into something that looked like reluctance.
"Harrison, it's not that I don't want to help. You know Miranda. Right now her whole world is work. I don't think she's in any headspace for a relationship."
Harrison didn't take the hint. He stepped forward.
"That's exactly why I'm coming to you. I just need you to put in a good word. Say something on my behalf."
He let the real offer land plainly.
"If Miranda agrees to remarry me, I will send a new betrothal gift. Something that puts our first wedding to shame."
He made sure the last part registered.
Dominic's eyes lit up.
He was quiet for a moment. Then the warmth came back into his face.
"I can see how serious you are about this. As her father, I'll do what I can."
He walked Harrison out and shut the door.
Alone, he let himself smile as wide as he wanted.
He had never paid much attention to Miranda growing up, and yet here she was, pulling in men from two of the most powerful families in the city.
Either way it went, Lancaster came out ahead. Whether it was Clifton from Prescott or Harrison from Whitmore, the winner would still be him.
His phone chimed on the desk.
A bank notification.
He picked it up casually.
Three million. Outgoing.
Dominic frowned. He had no memory of authorizing anything close to that amount recently.
He scrolled up through the records.
Transaction after transaction. None of them under a million. Every single one charged to a Prescott private medical facility.
Dominic stood up slowly, phone in hand, the smile completely gone.