Matthew picked up on her hesitation right away. He reached out, offering to end the call for her. "You don''t have to answer. Or, if you want, I can take care of it."


    But Reese was quicker. She pulled her phone back, shaking her head. "Matt, there are things I''ve got to learn to deal with myself. I don''t want to rely on anyone else anymore. I want to stand on my own."


    Matthew heard the gentle strength in her voice, and something shifted inside him. She was turning down his help, putting up a boundary, insisting she didn''t want to depend on him. But for the first time, she called him Matt, a softer, more intimate name. That had to mean something, didn''t it?


    He shot her a thoughtful look, but Reese was already answering Hank''s call.


    Hank''s voice came through, full of anger. "Reese, why are you using Sofia of leakingpany information?


    "You need to call the Bureau right now and clear Sofia''s name. She had nothing to do with this."


    "That''s not for you or me to decide," Reese replied, her tone calm but steady. "The Bureau will do their own investigation."


    Her heart clenched. She never thought Hank woulde at her so harshly over Sofia, treating her like some viin trying to set Sofia up. The idea was ridiculous. She had never tried to involve Sofia, let alone frame her. She had no clue how Sofia got dragged into this.


    The usation that she set Sofia up? It was just absurd.


    "If she''s innocent, the investigation will prove it," Reese said, and ended the call.


    On the other end, Hank''s expression darkened. He hesitated for a moment, then grabbed his coat. "Let''s go. We''re heading to ckOak to find her."


    To Hank, this wasn''t just about Sofia. He saw this as Reese getting back at him for telling the Ratcliff family about her abortion. If things went south, the Bureau could really take Sofia away for questioning, and he wasn''t going to let that happen.


    Reese seemed to forget she hadn''t gotten her mother''s shares from the Meyer family yet. Half of those shares were his, and if he didn''t agree, she''d never get them.


    Sofia followed Hank out, her nerves melting away as she slipped closer to him, a small smile ying on her lips. She always knew her brother would stand up for her With Hank or her side, Reese couldnt touch her.


    Inside the ckOak R&Db, Reese was locked onto herputer, fingers flying over the keyboard. Lines of code shed by until a set of coordinates popped up on her screen.


    She looked up at the Bureau agents. "I''ve restored L''s call records and tracked her location. A bunch of messages came from Big X''s Bridger Lake office."


    The lead agent nodded. "Alright, we''ll split up. One team will bring L in for questioning, the other will check out Big X for more leads."


    Two agents started to escort a wailing L toward the elevators.


    They barely made it to the hallway before Sofia and Hank rushed in, out of breath.


    When L saw Sofia, she panicked, reaching out like she''d just seen ber lifeline. Sofia, please! Everything I did was for you, so you could keep your spot at DeepQuanta! You can''t just leave me here!"


    Sofia hadn''t expected her to blurt that out in front of the Bureau. She shot L a


    sharp re. "Shut up! Just wait for the investigation."


    With the Bureau agents watching,


    Sofia''s face tightened, but she forced herself to sound calm. "Of


    course help with the investigation. That''s what anyone should do if there''s evidence against me''ll deal with it."


    But inside, Sofia was rattled. She had no idea if L would really hand over those recordings. Her only hope was to get L out of this and keep herself safe.


    She shared a quick look with Hank, then they hurried into theb and found Reese.


    "Reese, L just made a dumb mistake," Sofia pleaded. “She didn''t mean to leak anything. She just panicked. Could you talk to the Bureau and let her go, just this once?"