In the car, Yves couldn''t stop praising her. "My team has been working on this for ages, and you solved it in a day. Hannah, you''re full of surprises."


    Hannah blushed. "It was nothing."


    "But how did you do it? Hans is a tough nut to crack."


    "I sold someone out."


    Yves looked at her, confused. Hannah exined the situation with Sandra, and he listened, stunned.


    "What a coincidence." He had always thought of Hannah as a gentle, defenselessmb. Now he realized she was more like a kitten with very sharp ws.


    "I bet you think I''m not as innocent as I look, don''t you, Mr. Lancaster?" Hannah said, reading his expression. "If I couldn''t stand up for myself, I would have been eaten alive at the orphanage."


    The memory made her tense up. She was lucky to have escaped that ce.


    "Well, the case is wrapped up. Looks like we can head back in a day or two. But running away here didn''t seem to solve much. What are you going to do when you get back?" Yves asked as he stopped at a red light.


    "I don''t know. I''ll take it one step at a time." She gazed out the window. She never would have imagined Lionel would follow her all this way just to appease his grandmother. In the past, he had always ignored Lily''s pleas for him to join her on business trips. A part of her might have been moved by the gesture once, but now, it just disgusted her. And who was to say he was even here for her? Maybe he was just here for Sandra.


    When Hannah got to the office, her colleagues were buzzing with excitement.


    "Hannah, have you seen the news?"


    She shook her head and pulled out her phone. The top headline made herugh out loud. There, for all the world to see, were pictures of Lionel and Sandra''s intimate moment at the hotel that morning.


    "Is she trying to be a celebrity or something? Wasn''t she all over the news a few weeks ago?"


    "She''s pretty, but she''d never make it in Hollywood. This has to be a publicity stunt."


    "I agree. It''s like when celebrities trot out their kids for a photo op to get them noticed."


    "Great. So now we get to watch a rich socialite pretend to act, buy her mer and stay up all night trying to


    get tickets to her fan meets. What


    do they think we are?"


    Hannah nced at the photos. They were perfectly framed, almost as if they had


    been posed. She put her phone away and got to work.


    At the Rosenberg Group, Lionel and Sandra walked into the office together.


    “Lionel,” Sandra said, "don''t you think people are looking at us funny?"


    "No." Lionel''s face was grim as he stared at the elevator doors.


    Seeing his indifference, Sandra pulled out her phone and pretended to check her messages. "What''s thishe mumbled, then hereyes widened in feigned shock.