Betrayal.
It wasn’t a scream or a slap. It wasn’t loud.
It was quiet.
Subtle.
A knife slipping between the ribs when you least expect it.
Lisa stared at her phone, her pulse steady but her hands cold.
A new message blinked on the encrypted app she used for private communications.
Unknown Number:
“You should be careful who you trust, Lisa. Your best friend just sold you out.
—V”
Her throat tightened.
She clicked the attached file.
Security footage loaded.
Lisa’s heart cracked—not because of the betrayal, but because of who it was.
Alice.
Her best friend since college. The woman who once held her hair back during heartbreak, who cried with her during Tony’s divorce, who stood by her side when Young Enterprise launched.
Alice was sitting across from Valarie in a dark café, her
