They Forced Me to Take the Fall…Then a Billionaire Heir Chose Me!
Chapter 2
Ava didn’t sign the confession.
Instead, she walked out of the conference room with security following her.
By the time she reached the lobby, her employee badge had already been deactivated.
Her email stopped working.
Her phone began receiving calls from unknown numbers.
And before she reached the parking garage, a financial news website published a breaking story.
HAWTHORNE FINANCIAL EMPLOYEE SUSPECTED IN $28 MILLION FRAUD SCHEME.
Ava stared at the headline.
Her photograph was already attached.
Someone had prepared the story before she had even entered the conference room.
This wasn’t an investigation.
It was a planned destruction of her life.
She rushed to her car.
The same man from the hallway was standing beside it.
Ava stopped.
“Who are you?”
He looked at her.
“Someone trying to keep you alive.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“My name is Julian.”
“Julian what?”
He hesitated.
“Julian Blackwood.”
Ava’s expression changed.
Everyone knew that name.
The Blackwood family owned Blackwood International, one of the largest private investment empires in the country.
Julian was the youngest heir.
The billionaire family’s golden son.
Ava stepped backward.
“Why are you here?”
“Because you were framed.”
She stared at him.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Julian reached into his coat.
Ava tensed.
He handed her a flash drive.
“I expect you to look at this.”
She didn’t take it.
“What is it?”
“Proof that your credentials were duplicated.”
Ava finally accepted it.
Julian continued.
“Someone inside Hawthorne created a second authentication token using your identity.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“Then why help me?”
Julian looked at her.
“Because the person who did this tried to steal from my family too.”
Ava froze.
“What?”
“The twenty-eight million wasn’t the real target.”
Julian leaned closer.
“It was a diversion.”
“For what?”
“Something worth hundreds of millions.”
Ava stared at him.
Julian glanced toward the parking garage.
“We can’t talk here.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
He opened the passenger door of his car.
“But if you stay here, they’ll arrest you before tonight.”
Ava hesitated.
She hated the idea of getting into a stranger’s car.
Especially a billionaire heir.
But Julian knew something.
Something nobody else knew.
Ava got in.
As the car pulled away, her phone buzzed again.
A message from an unknown number appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE SIGNED THE CONFESSION.
Ava showed Julian.
He read it.
His jaw tightened.
“They know you’re with me.”
Ava looked at him.
“Who are they?”
Julian stared through the windshield.
“The people who are about to destroy both our families.”
