THE LIE THAT WORE A RING - Chapter 26: Chapter 26
You are reading THE LIE THAT WORE A RING, Chapter 26: Chapter 26. Read more chapters of THE LIE THAT WORE A RING.
Alina stared at her phone, jaw clenched, rage boiling just beneath the surface.
The podcast had gone viral.
Not hers.
Theirs.
Ava’s voice—clear, eloquent, raw. Ethan’s quiet truth. Nicholas’s calm admissions. No spin. No drama. Just brutal honesty.
It was everything Alina couldn’t control.
And that made it lethal.
Her carefully rebuilt image? Shattered. Sponsors that had begun returning calls disappeared again. A streaming deal she’d been negotiating—dead on arrival. The lawyer who’d taken her case pro bono? Gone. Vanished without even saying goodbye.
She had one card left to play.
And it wasn’t a legal one.
That morning, Nicholas’s driver noticed something strange.
The gate cameras had been tampered with. Not disabled—just rerouted. Subtle. Only visible to someone checking logs manually. Which their new head of security did religiously.
An alert was sent to Nicholas’s phone.
“Potential breach. Reviewing footage now.”
Then came the second alert.
Motion detected. Guest wing hallway.
Nicholas didn’t wait.
He ran.
Ethan had just stepped out of the shower when he heard the crash downstairs.
He threw on a shirt, grabbed the bat he kept beside his bed, and sprinted.
Ava was already in the hall, phone in hand.
“Security’s downstairs—”
“Dad’s there too,” Ethan interrupted, eyes narrowed. “Something’s wrong.”
The guest wing smelled of perfume.
Her perfume.
Sweet. Sharp. Familiar like a nightmare.
Nicholas burst into the hallway just in time to see her.
Alina. Dressed in black. Hair wild. Makeup smeared—not out of mess, but intent. She wasn’t trying to seduce.
She was trying to terrify.
“Alina,” he growled. “This is over. You’re trespassing. Walk out now or—”
She laughed.
A cold, broken sound.
“Over?” she spat. “You think a podcast ends me? You humiliated me.”
“You did that yourself.”
Her smile twitched.
“I gave you a new life. I played the role. The wife. The mother. I wore your perfect family's skin like a goddamn mask!”
Nicholas took a step closer, slow, steady. His security team was just outside the door, waiting for his signal.
“But you never belonged here,” he said. “Because everything you touched, you tried to poison.”
“Because it was never mine!” she screamed.
Suddenly, she pulled something from her coat.
A small box. A remote.
Nicholas froze.
“What is that?”
She pressed a button.
Nothing happened.
Then she laughed again—this time unhinged.
“Scared, aren’t you?” she whispered. “That’s how I lived in this house. Every day. Scared someone would look too closely. So I figured—let’s make you feel it, just once.”
Nicholas lunged.
He tackled her to the ground, wrestled the remote away, and pinned her down.
Security rushed in seconds later, guns drawn.
“Take her,” Nicholas said, panting. “Call the police. No more warnings.”
Alina didn’t struggle.
She just smiled up at him, blood on her lip, mascara streaking.
“You’ll never forget me,” she whispered.
“No,” he said coldly. “But I’ll never remember you with love.”
They took her away in handcuffs.
This time, it wasn’t a lawsuit.
It was criminal trespassing, harassment, and endangerment.
She was held without bail.
The remote was a bluff. No explosives. Just fear. Just theater.
Classic Alina.
But it was the last time she’d set foot in their lives.
Back in the living room, Nicholas hugged Ava and Ethan tighter than he ever had.
“She’s gone,” he said again. “This time, for good.”
Ava didn’t speak. She just rested her head against his chest.
Ethan looked over at the broken hallway mirror and smirked. “We need a new one of those.”
Nicholas nodded. “Yeah. Something stronger.”
The podcast had gone viral.
Not hers.
Theirs.
Ava’s voice—clear, eloquent, raw. Ethan’s quiet truth. Nicholas’s calm admissions. No spin. No drama. Just brutal honesty.
It was everything Alina couldn’t control.
And that made it lethal.
Her carefully rebuilt image? Shattered. Sponsors that had begun returning calls disappeared again. A streaming deal she’d been negotiating—dead on arrival. The lawyer who’d taken her case pro bono? Gone. Vanished without even saying goodbye.
She had one card left to play.
And it wasn’t a legal one.
That morning, Nicholas’s driver noticed something strange.
The gate cameras had been tampered with. Not disabled—just rerouted. Subtle. Only visible to someone checking logs manually. Which their new head of security did religiously.
An alert was sent to Nicholas’s phone.
“Potential breach. Reviewing footage now.”
Then came the second alert.
Motion detected. Guest wing hallway.
Nicholas didn’t wait.
He ran.
Ethan had just stepped out of the shower when he heard the crash downstairs.
He threw on a shirt, grabbed the bat he kept beside his bed, and sprinted.
Ava was already in the hall, phone in hand.
“Security’s downstairs—”
“Dad’s there too,” Ethan interrupted, eyes narrowed. “Something’s wrong.”
The guest wing smelled of perfume.
Her perfume.
Sweet. Sharp. Familiar like a nightmare.
Nicholas burst into the hallway just in time to see her.
Alina. Dressed in black. Hair wild. Makeup smeared—not out of mess, but intent. She wasn’t trying to seduce.
She was trying to terrify.
“Alina,” he growled. “This is over. You’re trespassing. Walk out now or—”
She laughed.
A cold, broken sound.
“Over?” she spat. “You think a podcast ends me? You humiliated me.”
“You did that yourself.”
Her smile twitched.
“I gave you a new life. I played the role. The wife. The mother. I wore your perfect family's skin like a goddamn mask!”
Nicholas took a step closer, slow, steady. His security team was just outside the door, waiting for his signal.
“But you never belonged here,” he said. “Because everything you touched, you tried to poison.”
“Because it was never mine!” she screamed.
Suddenly, she pulled something from her coat.
A small box. A remote.
Nicholas froze.
“What is that?”
She pressed a button.
Nothing happened.
Then she laughed again—this time unhinged.
“Scared, aren’t you?” she whispered. “That’s how I lived in this house. Every day. Scared someone would look too closely. So I figured—let’s make you feel it, just once.”
Nicholas lunged.
He tackled her to the ground, wrestled the remote away, and pinned her down.
Security rushed in seconds later, guns drawn.
“Take her,” Nicholas said, panting. “Call the police. No more warnings.”
Alina didn’t struggle.
She just smiled up at him, blood on her lip, mascara streaking.
“You’ll never forget me,” she whispered.
“No,” he said coldly. “But I’ll never remember you with love.”
They took her away in handcuffs.
This time, it wasn’t a lawsuit.
It was criminal trespassing, harassment, and endangerment.
She was held without bail.
The remote was a bluff. No explosives. Just fear. Just theater.
Classic Alina.
But it was the last time she’d set foot in their lives.
Back in the living room, Nicholas hugged Ava and Ethan tighter than he ever had.
“She’s gone,” he said again. “This time, for good.”
Ava didn’t speak. She just rested her head against his chest.
Ethan looked over at the broken hallway mirror and smirked. “We need a new one of those.”
Nicholas nodded. “Yeah. Something stronger.”
End of THE LIE THAT WORE A RING Chapter 26. Continue reading Chapter 27 or return to THE LIE THAT WORE A RING book page.