News of the witness's death exploded like dynamite. The tabloids fed. Victor called it tragic coincidence and demanded a full investigation that would—conveniently—drag the entire scandal into public forums that would harm Mei's privacy.
Adrian stood in front of microphones and said nothing of Hannah. Instead, he did the unexpected: he put his hands up and told the truth about the slap, about his pride, about the choices he had made to protect a company at the cost of people. The admission did not absolve him; it only complicated the narrative.
Mei watched on a small, badly tuned television in Renée's temporary conference room. The world seemed to tilt—some people cheered honesty; others called it a PR ploy. Victor used the opening to smear Adrian's judgment and suggested that the man who admitted to striking his wife was unfit to speak on lineage or law.
At the hearing's margins, a powder keg simmered—investigative journalists smelled blood and began piecing together inconsistencies in Victor's timeline. Renée's group posted the ledger scans in bursts to sympathetic bloggers, creating a counter-narrative that forced the legal system to slow.
In private, Adrian met with an independent prosecutor and handed them his carefully obtained evidence. He agreed to put his name on affidavits that would open family archives under court supervision. It was risky—he would expose his mother, his family, and himself to scrutiny. But the law would be an impartial blade.
Mei sat on a bench outside the courthouse and signed a paper relinquishing any immediate legal claim to the Liao name, choosing instead to demand the right to transparency and privacy. "I will not be your weapon," she wrote. "But I will not let anyone use my child as a pawn."
The room outside the courtroom filled with camera flashes. A line of protesters marched for privacy rights and against corporate manipulation. Victor watched from the wings and, with the patience of predators, smiled.
Cliffhanger: An envelope is handed to Mei by a courier with no return address. Inside: a photograph of a hospital room from the night she was born, with one figure standing in the doorway—Eleanor—and an inscription in a child's hand: "If you read this, I hid the truth." The photograph's timestamp is three nights before the night Elena claimed she signed the transfer.