THE GIRL THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE BROKEN

Cole didn't sleep that night.

She sat on her bedroom floor, Cole beside her, as messages kept flooding in, investors pulling out, bloggers writing trash, influencers distancing themselves.

Her boutique wasn't just under fire, it was being burned alive. But while everyone else saw ashes, Elena saw war paint.

"I'm not selling," she whispered.

Cole turned to her slowly. "Are you sure?"

She nodded, voice firmer. "If I lose this… I lose me. And I'm tired of losing. They picked the wrong girl."

She stood up, eyes blazing with something new. Fire. Rage. Revenge.

That morning, she called a press conference.

She didn't wait for her PR team. She stood in front of the cameras herself. No makeup. No designer clothes. Just her truth.

"Yes, my designs were leaked. But I didn't steal them.

The woman who accused me was my best friend. She was also the only one with access to my private sketchbook and passwords. I have security footage. I have timestamps. I have the truth. And I won't let this industry eat me alive for daring to dream loud."

Silence. Then questions. Flashes. Doubts. But her voice never shook.

Because for the first time, Elena wasn't the one being broken , she was the storm.

Meanwhile… Cole was digging deeper. He had contacts, skills, and old enemies. And one name kept popping up behind Marry's sudden rise and the media spin:

Johnson Smith.

Yes, that same business tycoon who once tried to ruin Cole's tech company, and nearly succeeded.

Now Johnson was trying again, but this time, through Elena.

"Why her?" Cole muttered as he read through leaked files. "Why not just come after me?"

Then the truth hit him. This wasn't just revenge. It was recruitment.

They wanted to crush Elena so they could own her brilliance. Turn her into a puppet. Use her designs for their fast-fashion empire. And Marry? Just another pawn in their game.

But Damian had one more problem.

His former best friend, David , the one who helped Johnson in the past, was back in New York. And he wanted a meeting.

That night, Cole met David at a rooftop bar. David smiled like nothing had changed.

"Still saving damsels?" he asked. Cole didn't laugh.

"I'm warning you," he said. "If you're working with Johnson again"

David cut in. "You think this is about you? No, Cole. You were just the test run. Elena is the real prize. She's fresh, clean, powerful… and too pure to survive this business unless she plays dirty."

Cole stood to leave.

"You tell Johnson," he said coldly, "the girl he thinks is soft, is fire wrapped in velvet. And she's not alone."

Back at the boutique, Elena got her own surprise.

Marry. Standing at her doorstep. No cameras. No fake tears. Just rage.

"You think you can beat them?" Marry hissed. "They own the banks, the lawyers, the magazines. You're just a local dream with expensive fabric."

Elena stepped forward.

"You were my sister," she said, voice shaking. "I gave you my world."

Marry's face twisted. "And it was never enough."

Then she dropped a file on the ground and walked away. Inside the file?

Photos of Cole with Johnson. From three years ago.

Elena's heart stopped.

She stared at them , blurry, old, but real. Cole Smiling. Shaking hands with Johnson Smith at some tech gala in Dubai. Her stomach twisted.

Was it real? Or just another trap?

Cole had told her pieces of his past…But what if there was more?

What if the man she was falling for… was once part of the same empire trying to destroy her now?

When Damian returned that night, she didn't say a word. Just held up the photos. His face went cold.

And in that moment , just for a second ,Elena saw something behind his eyes.

Regret.

Or maybe…

Guilt.