Chapter 65

Then he turned to the laptop and hovered his fingers above the keyboard for a moment. His voice cracked just a little, and he didn’t hide it. “I always had a feeling, Emily. A deep one. That Cora was hiding something. That she could do this to me someday. I didn’t want to believe it. I didn’t even want to go this far. But I had to protect myself, so I made sure I had something—just in case p>

Emily stepped closer, slowly, her eyes searching his face for clarity. “What are you saying, James p>

James let out a long sigh. “I’m saying… I was right. She was hiding and planning something. And it’s bad. It’s really bad p>

There was a long silence between them. Only the soft hum of the laptop filled the room. Emily could feel her heart picking up pace. She wanted to ask more, but part of her was scared of the answer. “James,” she said gently, ” What you have on her, is it… really that bad p>

He finally turned to her again, this time locking eyes with her. His face had no smile, no pride—just pain, and a kind of tired anger. He shook his head slowly, his jaw clenched. “No… it is not really bad but you just need to see it for yourself and with this, Cora is going to be destroyed p>

At that moment, Emily didn’t care what James was about to show her. The truth was, she was already on fire from everything that had happened. Seeing them humiliated at the boardroom earlier had only whetted her appetite. Now, she wanted more. She wanted Cora completely finished, emotionally, socially, publicly.

She took a deep breath, walked over to James, and placed her hand on his arm.

“James,” she said firmly, “I don’t care what’s on that laptop. Even if it’s something disturbing or messy or personal—I really don’t care. I trust you. I know you’re doing this because you were left with no choice. And honestly, someone like Cora deserves it p>

James glanced at her, his eyes narrowing slightly. “You really mean that p>

Emily nodded. “Yes. Nobody can take what belongs to you and walk away like it means nothing. She didn’t just betray you, James… she tried to erase you p>

James’s lips tightened, but there was a bit of relief in his expression. He nodded slowly. “Good,” he muttered. “Then let’s do this p>

Without wasting another second, James spun back to the desk, pressed the power button on the laptop, and stared at the screen as it started to boot. The logo appeared, and for a moment, the room was dead silent. Emily stood just behind him, peering over his shoulder, anxious to see what he had.

Then the screen flickered, and what James saw made his heart drop.

There were no files. No folders. No desktop icons. It was empty.

The system loaded like it was brand new like someone had just bought the machine from a store and powered it on for the first time.

“What?” James blinked and immediately he clicked on the file explorer.

Nothing, he checked the backup drive.

Nothing.

He opened the recycling bin. It was completely clean.

And that was when it hit him, everything… was gone.

“Wait, wait, wait,” he muttered to himself, quickly opening system settings, scrolling, clicking through hidden folders desperate. But it was all the same. The laptop had been wiped clean.

At that moment his hands froze on the keyboard. His breathing got heavier, faster.

And then—

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? WHAT IS THIS?” he screamed, his voice echoing off the study walls like thunder.

Seeing what was happening, and the manner in which James suddenly screamed like a man who had just lost everything, Emily was stunned. She froze in place for a moment, her hands trembling a little as her eyes widened. She wasn’t expecting this she wasn’t expecting him to scream like that. Not James. Not the man who always kept his emotions tightly locked behind that calm and calculating face.

“James… what..what’s going on?” she asked carefully, her voice filled with both worry and confusion.

However James didn’t respond at first. He was still staring blankly at the screen like it had personally betrayed him. His breathing was heavy like something inside him had snapped and then he slowly raised his hand and pointed at the laptop, his finger shaking, his lips barely able to form the words.

“The file he said, voice quivering with fury and disbelief, “the file I was going to show you… everything… it’s all gone p>

Immediately Emily’s heart sank.

“Gone..what?” she asked, moving closer. “What do you mean gone? How can it be gone? Are you sure you’re looking in the right folder p>

“I’m not a fool, Emily!” James snapped, his tone sharp but broken, his face full of restrained rage. “It’s gone! The whole laptop has been wiped clean formatted like brand new. Everything I saved, everything I documented on her… vanished. Like it never even existed p>

Emily was speechless now, standing beside him as her mind raced. “But… but how? I mean, how does that even happen unless p>

“Unless someone did it on purpose,” James cut in, his eyes now turning cold. “Somebody came into this house p>

Emily blinked. “You’re saying someone broke in p>

Then James turned to her slowly, a dark expression on his face. “That flower I saw stepped on outside? I knew something was wrong. That flower wasn’t stepped on by you. The shape, the weight it was a man’s boot. And now this p>

He looked back at the laptop, clenching his jaw so tight it looked like he was about to shatter his own teeth.

“That can only explain the reason in which that little flower outside was stepped upon p>

Upon hearing what James just said, Emily eyes widened, and her mouth slowly parted in disbelief. She wasn’t expecting anybody to break into their house let alone delete everything inside James’ laptop. For a second, her mind went blank, unable to process how deep this situation had become.

She took a step back and placed both hands on her head. “This can’t be real she whispered. Then, her confusion quickly turned into fury.

“No—no, no, James, think about it,” she said, pacing slightly. “It’s her. It has to be her p>

James turned toward her slowly, his expression dark and unreadable, but his silence encouraged her to keep going.

“I believe it was Cora. I mean, who else would do this?” Emily said, her voice getting sharper with each word. “Cora must be the one that actually sent somebody to wipe everything that’s inside your laptop p>

James narrowed his eyes, processing her words as his mind began to put the pieces together.

Emily continued, “Maybe she has already gotten the information that you have something on her. She knows you, James. She knows how you think. And the moment she realized she was up against you, she made the first strike p>

She paused, her chest rising and falling faster now, her words rushing out in frustration and anger.

“Now think about it, Everything just happened too fast to be normal. Cora bought the company… Cora bought the shares, which prompted us to leave the house to go for that emergency meeting… and now coming back, someone broke into our house and deleted your laptop p>

She walked closer to James and pointed at the screen that now held nothing but emptiness.

“There is no coincidence here. This is Cora’s doing p>