Chapter 8 - The Aftermath
Noon came.
Across the country, phones buzzed, newsrooms went into a panic, and the names of the most powerful people in the state were plastered across every screen. The syndicate collapsed in a matter of hours. The politicians resigned, the CEOs were arrested, and the police chief was taken into custody by a task force from the federal capital that hadn't been compromised.
I walked into the center of the storm, surrounded by my own private security, as the cameras flashed. I didn't hide. I didn't look down.
I stood in front of the cameras, the ledger held firmly in my hands.
"My name is Claire Cole," I said, my voice projecting clearly to the millions watching. "I am not a victim. And I am not a pawn. The people who thought they could own my life, my family, and my city have just learned a very expensive lesson: never underestimate a woman with nothing left to lose."
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I saw the looks on their faces as they were dragged past the press—the powerful, the arrogant, the people who thought they were gods. They were just men. And they were terrified.
I had done it. I had cleared the rot.
