New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 210 No Longer Secrets

Kayla chuckled, the sound almost evil. "Oh, you know exactly why. That's what you get for lying," she said, her tone dripping with satisfaction. Lisa's eyes widened, but she quickly tried to play dumb, her mind racing. How much did Kayla know? She couldn't possibly have figured it all out, right?

Kayla crossed her arms and gave Lisa a look that screamed, "You can stop the act." With a smirk plastered on her face, she leaned in a bit closer, her voice dripping with accusation. "Everyone knows, Lisa. You're the woman who attempted suicide." Lisa froze. The words hit her like a ton of bricks. How did they know? She had gone over that blurry picture a hundred times, and it was barely recognizable. Her pulse quickened as she slowly got to her feet, her anger bubbling up through the humiliation. "Why did you trip me?" Lisa demanded, her voice shaking slightly with rage.

Kayla shrugged, the picture of nonchalance. "Because you lied to me."

"What lie?" Lisa asked, even though her heart was thumping hard in her chest. She was pretty sure she knew where this was going.

Kayla scoffed, clearly losing patience. She stepped closer, so close Lisa could feel her breath on her ear as she whispered, "You lied about Alex and Claire."

A shiver ran down Lisa's spine. How in the world did Kayla find out? Just two days ago, Kayla had been eating up everything she said. Now this? Lisa stammered, trying to find the right words. "H-how did you...?"

Kayla raised an eyebrow, her smirk deepening. "Oh, so you are confirming it?" She then added in a mocking tone, "Don't worry, everyone here just thinks you're the one who tried to jump off Metacortex, not your relationship with Alex." Kayla's smirk turned into a wicked grin. "Claire Peterson told me everything."

Of course, it was Claire. She could feel the cafeteria walls closing in as the shame washed over her. Without another word, she stormed out of the cafeteria, her fists clenched so tight her knuckles were white. Claire had sabotaged her wedding, and now she was going after her career, too? Unbelievable!

Lisa dashed into the bathroom to clean herself up from the food earlier. She scrubbed her dress, but the stain wasn't going anywhere, much like the sense of humiliation that was eating her alive. Her appetite gone, she headed back to her desk, simmering with anger. Just as she sat down, her manager's voice crackled over the intercom. "Lisa, my office. Now."

Great. Just what she needed.

She dragged herself to his office, hoping against hope that this wasn't going to be as bad as she thought. But as soon as she stepped in, his eyes immediately went to the giant stain on her dress. He frowned. "What happened to you?" "I, uh... tripped," Lisa mumbled, her eyes avoiding his.

The manager didn't seem convinced, but he moved on. "There's something I need to discuss with you. I've been hearing some rumors."

Lisa's heart plummeted. She could feel beads of sweat forming on her forehead despite the cool blast from the air conditioner. "Rumors?" she repeated, trying to keep her voice steady.

"Yes, Lisa. Rumors about you... and some incidents at Metacortex. Something about an attempted suicide."

Lisa felt her breath hitch. Her mind was racing, desperately trying to think of a way out of this mess, but she came up blank. The manager raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for an explanation, but she had nothing. Nothing but panic. "The other employees seem pretty sure it's you," he continued. "They say they got their information from a reliable source."

mind immediately went to Claire. Of course, it was her. Who else would do this? The manager sighed, breaking Lisa out of her thoughts. "Listen, Lisa. I've always admired your work, but we can't have this kind of thing in the company." Lisa's eyes

sighed again, this time looking genuinely sorry. "I'm afraid we're going to have to let you

the floor had dropped out from under her. Lisa stood there, numb from head to

at her sides. She couldn't feel anything except a red-hot fury building up inside her. This was it. Claire had ruined her love life, and

swirling with thoughts of revenge. Claire had gone too far this time. There was only one

kill Claire for sure this

since the robot design competition ended,

by heaps of paper, each

was starting to get cross-eyed from staring at them. Each design had something special, and choosing a winner felt like trying to pick her favorite star in the night sky-pretty

impossible.

she was squinting at yet another design, the door to her office creaked open, and Matthew strolled in. He paused, blinking at the sight of Claire amidst what looked like a paper explosion. "What in the world are you doing down there?" he asked, half-amused, half- concerned. Without looking up, Claire waved a dismissive

watching her with a

her eyes still glued to the design in front of her as if it held

tilting his head, "you could do all this on your

easier," she declared, waving at the mess around her. "I

chuckled and shook his head before pushing himself off the desk and squatting down next to her. He peered

hand hovered above a

for a moment before

up. ll

in truth, she really didn't want to work too closely with Alex

nov

had

figured it was

her distance-strictly business.

an eyebrow, catching the undertone of her words.

sudden idea. "Oh, by the way, you're going to the final meeting for Cortex 2.0

Claire said, rolling her eyes with a grin. "Of

important one," Matthew protested, a bit