He Lost Me to His Best Friend novel Chapter 345

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Gunnar remained entirely expressionless. He didn't hand the phone over. "Just tell me the password. We will handle the rest."

Yardley had secretly been eyeing a fish tank in the corner of the room. He had harbored a desperate, fleeting hope that if he got his hands on the device, he could throw it into the water and destroy the evidence. But Gunnar was too sharp to fall for it.

Cornered, Yardley started rattling off the numbers. He barely got the third digit out when Corinne dug her nails brutally into his side, trembling violently.

She dropped her voice to a frantic whisper. "Yardley... you can't! That video doesn't just have me in it. The wife of one of the most powerful men in Bay City is there too! If they see it, we are all finished! You cannot afford to drag these people down with us!"

Yardley's pupils contracted. A suffocating wave of regret crashed over him, heavier than anything he had ever felt. But he was trapped. He knew the law. If he refused to cooperate now, it wouldn't just be his mother going down—he would join her behind bars.

"Mom," he whispered, his voice thick with defeat. "You only have yourself to blame. You were too cruel. If you had shown even an ounce of mercy back then, we wouldn't be standing here today. I'm sorry."

Closing his eyes against the sting of failure, Yardley dictated the rest of the password.

Gunnar unlocked the device and immediately handed it over to a technician to extract and secure the files. The videos and photos were undeniable, concrete proof of the brutal assault and humiliation Jacqueline Langley had suffered all those years ago.

Within minutes, Corinne was formally placed in handcuffs and detained. The authorities swiftly issued summons for every other elite society member identified in the footage.

It was late into the night by the time Scarlett and Jacqueline finally walked out of the precinct.

Scarlett held her mother's hand. It was ice-cold and slick with sweat. "Mom... it's over," she murmured softly. "No matter how dark the night gets, the sun always rises."