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

Chapter 96

Richard

pov.

The anger hit me fast, followed by a wave of regret. "I should have known," I muttered, my jaw clenching as I dropped the paper onto the table. "I should've seen this coming." Sarah stepped closer, her hand resting on my arm. "Richard, you couldn't have known. You trusted him because... well, because he was family to you."

"Family," I echoed, the word tasting bitter. "Some family he turned out to be. He was there through everything, and now... now he's part of this mess, trying to tear us down."

I turned away, trying to calm myself. This betrayal cut deep. But standing there, feeling Sarah's gaze on my back, I felt something else-something that was stronger than anger or regret. Trust. She'd trusted me enough to tell me, to show me this evidence, even when it could have blown up in both our faces.

"Sarah," I said, my voice low, turning back to her. "Thank you. For telling me."

She looked surprised, like she hadn't expected me to say that. "I just... I knew I couldn't keep it from you, even if it hurt. We need to be honest with each other if we're going to get through this." I nodded, letting her words sink in. She was right. The only way out of this mess was together, and that meant I had to stop trying to protect her by keeping her in the dark.

She'd stood by me this whole time, trusted me when no one else would. It was time I trusted her as much as she trusted me.

"We're going to find out everything," I said firmly, looking into her eyes.

even if it means looking at people I

the corner

do. I don't want to do

her shoulders too. "Then let's

he's connected to the network, there has to be a trail. Something we can use to understand what we're really up

picking apart every line, and every detail. It felt strange, sitting there

to shield her from this side of my world, but now, with her beside me, it felt... right. Like I should've let her

glimpses of Sarah's expression-focused,

together, I realized how much I'd underestimated her. We were a team, and if

the web seemed to get. The network had their hands in everything, but there were still gaps, holes we could use. And every new piece of information we found made me feel like we were one step closer to finding a

Sarah said, pointing to a note scribbled in the margins. "It's a list of people connected to

she pieced it all together. "If we can connect any of these people back to the network, we'll have proof. Enough to clear our names and maybe even take down a few of their operations." She looked at me, her eyes shining with a mix of hope and determination. "Do you think he was... forced into this? Maybe he got in over his

And if he's willing to do that, then he's part of the problem.

us as we both absorbed the weight of what we were about

bigger than either of us, but we were doing it together. And somehow, that made all the

said quietly, reaching over to take her hand.