Love beyond the mask (Whitney) novel Chapter 1175

Otherwise, after Bryce was taken down the first time, he wouldn’t have bounced back so quickly from just a single photo of Parisa. That guy always lands on his feet—he’s a master at looking out for number one.

“My guess is, Bryce must have tipped off one of our board members,” Parisa said, thinking out loud. “Whoever that is, they’ve probably been waiting for a chance to turn on me for ages. And now, with me stuck here in Harmonia recovering from my injuries, it’s the perfect opportunity for them.”

Whitney frowned, not quite following. “Even if a board member wanted to betray you, why side with Bryce? News back home already broke that he’s a wanted man! What good is a broke, washed-up cripple to them? How’s he supposed to help their cause?”

Ludwik paused, considering, then shook his head with a cold little laugh. “That’s exactly where Bryce’s cunning comes in. When he reached out to that board member, who knows what kind of tall tales he spun? There’s always a lag between news at home and abroad. Maybe he exaggerated how he managed to get Ms. Tennyson out of the picture, or maybe he made up some story about having dirt on her—enough to make the board think he’s their secret weapon. They want every edge they can get.”

“Mr. Lippert’s right,” Parisa agreed, nodding. “Whitney, the fact that they went to such lengths to kidnap Bryce shows they still think he’s valuable. And Bryce, desperate to dodge Mr. Lippert’s people, was willing to lose a leg just to stay alive. Whether he makes it or not isn’t even the point. What matters is, those board members who want to oust me are willing to risk embarrassing the president of Harmonia just to get their hands on Bryce.

“I suspect they think my staying in Harmonia means I’m plotting something—maybe trying to cozy up to the president. That changes the whole game. Now, it’s not just a corporate power struggle, it’s an international mess. If they get Germinia’s intelligence agency involved and start accusing me of selling out the country, I could be stuck here for good—never able to get back to the company, never able to take control again.”

The idea hit Whitney like a brick. This was bigger than she’d thought. Bryce’s kidnapping was just one small piece of the puzzle.

Because her mother was stuck in Harmonia after being gravely injured, the old foxes back at headquarters might be playing a much bigger game—one designed to push Parisa out of power for good.