Rosamond lifted her gaze to Bryce, searching his face as though she could see straight through to whatever was left of his conscience. Her eyes were bleak with despair, but her voice held steady, grief and resolve wound tight together.
"Absolutely not. I will never give up my career."
"If you won't help me clear my name, then I'll find the evidence myself."
Even if she had to leave, she would leave with her reputation intact.
She turned without waiting for his reaction and walked toward the door.
She didn't make it two steps past the threshold before she saw Olympia Galloway.
Olympia stood in the hallway holding a box of pastries, her gaze sliding over Rosamond with undisguised satisfaction, her tone bright with the kind of cheer designed to cut.
"Oh, Attorney Henson, you're still here? I came to see Bryce. I wanted to thank him personally for renewing the retainer with our firm this year."
The words drove into Rosamond's chest like a cluster of needles, each one small enough to ignore on its own, unbearable together. She turned to Bryce.
"You already signed a new contract with the firm? Why didn't I know about this?"
Olympia pressed a hand to her lips in exaggerated surprise.
"You really didn't know? It just happened. Delgado Group's secretary signed the renewal with the firm a few minutes ago."
"But it doesn't matter whether you knew or not. Bryce specifically requested that I replace you as their lead counsel. Delgado Group's affairs have nothing to do with you anymore."
Rosamond's heartbeat faltered. She stared at Bryce, unable to process what she was hearing.
"Is what she's saying true?"
Bryce pulled Olympia behind him, shielding her as though Rosamond were the threat.
"Rosa, Olympia isn't like you. She needs this retainer to establish herself at the firm."
"You have plenty of cases. You won't miss this one. Besides..."
His gaze flicked over her face, his tone flat, almost clinical.
"Your PR situation still isn't resolved. If the company keeps you on as counsel, it reflects poorly on us."
Rosamond studied his face and realized, for the first time, that the boy she remembered no longer existed behind those eyes.
Perhaps this had always been who he was. Perhaps the Bryce Delgado she thought she knew had never been real.
She still remembered the day they first met. She had been proud and solitary by nature, and her classmates had made her pay for it.
They spread rumors with gleeful abandon: her money came from a sugar daddy, her designer bags were gifts from a patron, even the awards she'd won in competitions were bought with her body.
She became the entire school's favorite target.
Back then, Rosamond believed the truth would speak for itself. She refused to dignify the lies with a response.
But the rumors only grew. Those people started showing up at her classroom door to hurl insults to her face.
Not a single classmate spoke up for her. Even her teachers believed the accusations and wanted to suspend her pending an investigation.
It was Bryce who stepped forward.
He didn't just vouch for her. He went out of his way to obtain a recording of the very people who had set her up.
In that moment, Bryce Delgado had been nothing short of a god in her eyes.
And now he was standing with the people smearing her name, helping them do it.
Worse, he knew she'd been framed, and he was using the frame-up as his excuse to hand everything she'd built to the woman who had orchestrated it.
Rosamond's breathing turned ragged. She felt as though the ground had been pulled from beneath her, her body swaying, barely upright. She dug her nails into her palms hard enough to leave marks, forcing herself not to show a shred of weakness in front of Olympia.
She was about to argue her case when her phone rang. It was the managing partner.
"Rosamond, what the hell did you do?!"
"Pinnacle Corp's confidential files have been leaked. All of them. Do you have any idea what this is going to do to the case?"
"Pinnacle says you were the only person who had access to that data. Their people are here at the office right now demanding answers. Get back here. Now."
The color drained from Rosamond's face. She didn't spare Bryce or Olympia another glance before rushing out.
Olympia watched her retreating figure, a mocking smile curling at the corner of her lips.
"Bryce, you promised you'd help me. Right?"
Bryce looked at the expectation shining on Olympia's face and nodded without thinking.
Rosamond barely made it through the firm's doors before Harold Lawrence, Pinnacle Corp's executive, was in her face, jabbing a finger at her.
"You still haven't explained those photos, and now our files have been leaked? Attorney Henson, are you trying to destroy Pinnacle Corp?!"
"We trusted you with that classified data because we believed in you. Is this how you repay our trust?!"
"Is this your idea of professional ethics? Did you cut a deal with opposing counsel to take us down?!"
"I'm telling you right now, if this isn't resolved, I will make sure you never work in this industry again!"
Rosamond swallowed everything churning inside her and kept her voice level.
"Mr. Lawrence, I give you my word. I will get to the bottom of this."
"But please believe me. I did not leak those files. Give me time, and I will find out who did..."
Before she could finish, a voice cut through the room.
"No need to investigate. I know exactly who leaked them."
Rosamond turned and found Olympia standing right behind her, a laptop cradled in her arms.
"Attorney Henson, I've always looked up to you as a role model in the profession. I never imagined you were this kind of person. Colluding with opposing counsel for personal gain, deliberately leaking Pinnacle's files."
"You don't deserve to call yourself a lawyer."
Rosamond locked eyes with her, her brow drawn tight.
"Olympia, if you're going to make accusations, you'd better have proof."
"I have never colluded with opposing counsel, and I have never leaked Pinnacle's files."
Olympia let out a cold scoff.
"Of course you'd deny it. But lucky for us, I have a witness."
The words had barely left her mouth when the door swung open and Bryce walked in, crossing the room to stand before everyone.
"I can testify. Pinnacle's files were leaked by Rosamond."
