On the way there, he was overwhelmed with anger, but underneath it all was a quiet, gnawing sense of panic and confusion.


    Liz had posted the evidence online. It was clear she wasn’t holding back anymore. She was burning the bridge between them


    without hesitation.


    Did this mean she had truly decided to end things? That it wasn’t some ploy to win him back?


    He had always believed that no matter how much he hurt her, Liz would never really leave.


    But now, for the first time, he wasn’t so sure.


    When he finally parked downstairs outside her building, Zac didn’t get out of the car.


    He couldn’t even exin what he was feeling anymore-rage, confusion, a dozen tangled emotions fighting for space inside


    him.


    He hade here ready to confront her, to demand why she would do something like this.


    But now that he was here, a part of him didn’t want to go upstairs at all.


    That was when his phone rang from the passenger seat.


    It was Xena.


    Zac’s jaw tightened. He picked up.


    “Mr. Lincoln, what am I supposed to do?” Xena’s voice was shaking. She sounded like she was about to cry. “People are tearing me apart online. Some of them are threatening to leak my address. Someone said they’re going to send dead rats to my house. I’m really scared. Can youe over?”


    Normally, Zac would have tried tofort her and driven straight there.


    But not tonight.


    Tonight, he had enough chaos of his own. He didn’t have the energy for her drama.


    “I can’t right now,” he said tly. “If you’re scared, check into a hotel. Or call Chase. He’ll find you another ce.’


    He ended the call without waiting for a response.


    Almost immediately, his phone started ringing again.


    It was Chase.


    Zac clenched his jaw as he picked up the call, trying to keep his temper under control. “What is it?”


    “Mr. Lincoln, things are spiraling online. Someone just exposed your ties to the Lincoln family. People from the Lincoln estate… they came to the house and took your mother away.”


    Zac’s expression shifted in an instant. “Understood. I’m heading over now.”


    He ended the call, looked up at Liz’s apartment building for a moment, his gaze dark and unreadable, then started the engine and drove straight to the Lincoln estate.


    The next morning, Liz had just arrived at the firm when Naomi walked up to her desk.


    “Damn, Liz. I didn’t think you had it in you. That post yesterday? Brutal. You dropped those receipts like a bomb. Zac and his


    mistress didn’t even have a chance to defend themselves.”


    Naomi had never liked Zac or Xena, but since Liz had never spoken up, she hadn’t felt it was her ce to intervene.


    After all, no matter how much others said or did, it wouldn’t make a difference unless the person involved chose to take a stand


    for themselves.


    Liz’s expression was calm. “I’m just donepromising myself.”


    Naomi nodded in full agreement. “You should’ve done this a long time ago. If you had, you wouldn’t have spent the past few years suffering in silence.”


    She had joined the firm two years before Liz and was the one who mentored her when she first arrived. At the time, Zac used to show up every single day to pick Liz up, no matter the weather. It really seemed like Liz had found someone she could count on for life.


    After Zac’s startup took off, Naomi even asked Liz when the wedding was. Liz had smiled and said they would start nning once things stabilized with his business.


    But instead of a wedding, what she got was betrayal.


    Naomi had watched the shift happen gradually. Liz, who was once so full of light, became more and more withdrawn. The smile that used to brighten every room began to fade, until it felt like she was just withering away, like a flower left too long without


    water.


    Thankfully, she had finally snapped out of it.


    X