Crowned by the Man They Feared (Amelia and Jeremy) novel Chapter 658

[I always knew Gianna was trash. She can't act or sing, and she even lip-syncs.]

[She's useless and full of schemes. Of course she turned out to be ungrateful. You can't instill loyalty in someone like that.]

The backlash was so sharp and immediate that the trolls and paid commenters who had been stirring the pot suddenly went quiet. First, they didn't have a leg to stand on anymore. Second, if they kept pushing, they'd get doxxed and torn apart in public.

Meanwhile, Amelia didn't have time for any of it. She was buried in work, and when she finally had a moment to breathe, she thought straight back to Raymond's old phone.

She wasn't thinking about online rumors. She was thinking about who killed Raymond and who was pulling the strings—the real hand pulling the strings.

She didn't have the time or headspace to waste on whatever nonsense people were smearing her with online.

If Esmond and Regina weren't responsible, then someone else had to be.

Amelia leaned toward the latter possibility. The brutality of the crime felt bigger than Esmond and Regina. They were cruel but not bold enough to go that far on their own.

Her only lead right now was Raymond's phone. Maybe it held something. Maybe someone had missed a trace.

Everything at the scene had been wiped clean. No fingerprints. No trail. That was why the case had stalled for so long.

She couldn't rely on the police alone. If she wanted answers, she'd have to find them herself.

Amelia cradled the phone in her palm, turning it over and over again, checking every seam and edge, as if the cold metal might still remember what it had seen.

She tried connecting it to her computer and using her own methods to recover deleted data. She tried more than once.

Every attempt failed. Whoever did this had erased the traces thoroughly—clean enough to dim her hope a little.

Since she was still at the office, she forced herself to set it aside. She would take it home and examine it properly when she had time.

Meanwhile, Jeremy was on the move.

After a major meeting and giving instructions to his team, he drove straight to Amelia's office to pick her up.

Online, people loved saying that she was reaching for him, that she didn't deserve him, and that she was the one doing the chasing while he merely tolerated it.

Fine. He'd handle it directly. Starting today, he'd make a point of picking her up and dropping her off every day. Every day.

Amelia had been reviewing an annual summary report. She paused, set her pen down, and took her phone.

When she saw Jeremy's photo with that caption, her heart gave a hard, startled thump. Suddenly and uncontrollably, warmth rushed up her chest.

He always did this to her. He always found a way to make her feel safe, chosen, and like she didn't have to stand alone.

She stared at his eyes in the photo. They looked like they could reach through the screen. The corners of her mouth lifted without her permission.

"He's pretty good at selfies," she murmured.

"Pretty good?" Josie scoffed. "That's the raw camera. No filters. He's just that handsome. Like, he's unfairly handsome."

"Did he pay you?" Amelia arched her brow. Her voice sounded lighter than she realized.

Josie giggled as she started gathering Amelia's things. "No way. I'm not touching his money. He only gets that soft look with you. With everyone else, he's all cold edges. I'm staying far, far away from that."

She shoved the bag into Amelia's hand. "Go. Get off work. I'll handle the rest."