Winning Back His Ex's Wife's Broken Heart by Hayley

Chapter 90

Sarah's

Pov.

The air was tense as Richard and I sat across from each other, planning our next move. The betrayal had stung, and we were still reeling from it, but there was a spark of determination in Richard's eyes that hadn't been there before. It was like he'd woken up and remembered he had something-someone-worth fighting for.

"Sarah," he said quietly, "I think we need to confront James. There has to be something he's hiding, for some reason he's working with the network. If we can find it, maybe we can turn him."

I nodded, but doubt clawed at me. I wasn't exactly keen on seeing James again after his threats. But if there was even a chance he'd fold under pressure, we needed to take it.

"How do we get to him?" I asked. "He's always so... guarded. I mean, we've tried before."

Richard leaned forward, his voice low. "Martins did some digging. James has been in a bad spot financially-nothing obvious, but his businesses are tied up in a lot of debt. If we can use that against him..." The pieces clicked. "We find his weakness, put pressure where it hurts."

Richard nodded. "Exactly."

The next morning, we set up the meeting. I couldn't help feeling that strange mixture of dread and anticipation.

James had tried to intimidate me before, and now we were flipping the tables. But as much as I tried to focus on the plan, my mind kept drifting to Richard.

hadn't seen before-a fierceness that made me feel like, maybe we'd come out of this whole mess

in front of James in his sterile,

saw us, but I could see a flicker of something else in his

do we have here?" he drawled, leaning back in his chair, trying to

flinch, meeting his gaze head-on. "We know about your debts, James. The network must

his face faltered just slightly, but he covered it up with a laugh. "You think a few debts are enough to make me flip sides? You clearly

You've always been in this for yourself, haven't you? And now, they've got you under their thumb. How long do you think you can keep

turning on his allies. It was

his voice a bit

about your family, James? The people you're trying

mask dropped. His hands clenched into fists on the desk. "Leave them out of this,"

to ruin us," I shot back. "This doesn't have to end with everyone getting hurt. We all want out of this

silence as he looked between the two of us, weighing his options. I could

he was just as trapped as we were. For a moment, I almost felt a pang of

voice softer than I'd ever heard it. "They

think you can just walk away from something like this? They don't care about the debts or the threats-they care about

we can find a way to

done for. You said it yourself-they won't let anyone go. But

did, but he was afraid-afraid of what the network might do to him, or maybe even what they might already