Chapter 109 Edge Of The Abyss

• Rachel POV
• The weight of the flash drive and documents in my bag was a lifeline, a promise of truth that anchored me as I stood in my apartment, the stale air thick with the ghost of Jeremy’s cologne—cedar and musk, a faint echo of his warmth, his laughter, the love I was fighting to save. My hands, steadier now after contacting Elena Marquez’s office, clutched the bag’s canvas strap, my knuckles white, my heart still racing from the call that had secured a meeting for tomorrow morning, a fragile step toward unraveling Celine’s lies, toward freeing Jeremy from the cage she’d built around him. The apartment was a frozen relic of that night—Jeremy’s arrest, the police’s boots thundering on the hardwood, my screams swallowed by their accusations—its dim light casting long, jagged shadows across the kitchen counter where he’d stood, chopping vegetables, his grin bright enough to banish the world’s cruelty, a world now torn apart by Celine’s venom.
• Bonnie’s words, her fierce belief in me, her arm in a sling a testament to Celine’s ruthlessness, and Jeremy’s voice from last night’s call, steady through the crackling jail line, fueled my resolve, a fire that burned through the fear of Celine’s reach, her web of spies, her lies that had branded our love a scandal, caged Jeremy, and nearly killed Bonnie in that twisted wreck of a crash, the screech of tires still haunting my dreams. Cody’s theft, the empty safe that had cracked my trust, was a distraction she’d exploited, a wound that still stung, while Nick and Scarlett’s disbelief, their pitying gazes, their refusal to see my love for Jeremy, were chains that isolated me in this fight, their voices a chorus of doubt I had to silence. The flash drive, its cold metal and the documents’ crisp edges tucked in my bag, held damning proof of Celine’s theft from the Morrows, her role in Bonnie’s accident—a weapon I’d wield to shatter her empire, but stepping into her arena meant facing a predator who’d stop at nothing, her cruelty a blade that had already cut too deep.