New beginning: Billionaire love story

Claire watched him leave, her gaze steady as the door clicked shut behind him. Once he was gone, she sighed, leaning back on the couch. She picked up a photo on her table, turning it over in her hands. The photo had been sent to Mr. Montgomery.

As she stared at the image, her mind raced. Who sent it? What was their goal? And more importantly, how had they known about her plans?

Then something clicks inside her mind.

A grin crossed her lips as Claire laughed out loud.

"I can't believe he went all this way just to ruin me," she muttered to herself.

Claire got to her feet and made her way over to her desk with the photo in hand. She slid the picture into the shelf and locked it carefully. With a deep breath, she turned her focus back to the task at hand-watching the video that Matthew had sent her.

She sat down in her chair and opened her laptop to play the footage. It wasn't of great quality, nowhere near as sharp as the first clip, but she wasn't about to let that stop her.

The video showed Abigail walking down the dark alley; she was followed by three men. Luckily, there were cameras at each end of the alley, but unfortunately, none were positioned inside the alley itself. The next thing Claire saw was Abigail running out of the darkness, heading right towards the street.

There was panic at every step as Claire winced in horror when the car slammed into her, sending Abigail flying across the street, her body lying dead on the ground. The three men darted away, leaving Abigail behind them.

Claire's hand hovered over her phone, frustration and determination swirling inside her. She dialed Matthew's number, bringing the phone to her ear.

"Claire?" Matthew answered, his voice calm but laced with curiosity. "You've seen the video?"

"I have," Claire replied, her eyes still stuck to the screen, replaying the moment of impact over and over. "But I watched the video. There's no footage from inside the alley, just the part where she runs out. Why is that?" Matthew sighed heavily on the other end of the line. "Yeah, unfortunately, there's no surveillance camera positioned in the alley itself. It's a blind spot."

Claire's face furrowed in a frown as her fingers drummed on the desk and her mind turned over. "This is weird," she said aloud to herself. "I talked to Alexander earlier at the hospital, and the police had handed him Abigail's stuff. They said that the driver who hit her was already at the police station."

That driver is just another victim of those three men," Matthew said; his voice conveyed frustration, but understanding. "They probably didn't anticipate her running out in front of traffic like that."

Claire frowned and played the moment Abigail rushed out into the street, again. "It doesn't look like the driver expected anyone to jump in front of the car, especially with rain. The visibility would have been terrible. But we need to make certain the driver had no connection with those three guys."

Matthew's voice was musing. "How do you plan to figure that out? They were all wearing masks and hoodies. Going to be quite hard to track them down."

Still watching the video, something finally caught Claire's eye. She leaned in closer to the screen, pausing the footage.

A light flickered in her mind as the beginnings of an idea formed. "I think I just saw something," she muttered, her brain racing quickly. "I'll call you later, Matthew. Stay at Cryptonic and keep your phone close."

"Wait, what?" Matthew's voice was filled with confusion, but Claire had already hung up.

Back at the police station, Alexander entered with Abigail's father. The two men exited the car as the feeling around them reached a solemn point, entering the building. Alexander didn't waste a second but went straight to the front desk.

"I was contacted earlier by the officers who visited the hospital," Alexander explained to the officer at the desk. "They said I could see the driver involved in the accident."

He nodded and escorted Alexander

to a room down the hall, while

Abigail's dad stayed behind to speak with the police handling the case. The minute Alexander entered the interrogation room, his demeanor

changed. His calm cove

expression turned to icy

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determination. He sat across from

the driver, his arms across his chest, his glare piercing.

Alexander didn't waste any time and said bluntly, "You killed Abigail." His voice was low, but he could hear the coldness in it.

The driver was a middle-aged man who shook visibly. "It...it wasn't on purpose," he stammered out, grasping the table in front of him tightly. "I didn't see her. It was raining so hard, and then she just was just there. I tried to stop. I swear I tried." Alexander narrowed his eyes, surveying the man. "So, you are saying it was an accident?"

The driver nodded quickly, haggardness in his eyes. "Yes, of course. I didn't know anybody would run into the street. I was just driving home."

Alexander sat opposite him, his eyes cold, hard, and unforgiving of any sympathy. "You're telling me you didn't notice anything? No sign of why she ran out like that?" He wasn't buying his excuses yet.

It all seemed so convenient, so perfectly timed.

The man shook his head vehemently, mopping the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. "No, sir, nothing. Just the rain. One second the road was clear and the next... she was right there. I swear it all happened so fast." Alexander's eyes narrowed further, blatant skepticism. "And you're sure you weren't distracted? Looking at your phone, maybe?"novelbin

He looked horrified at the insinuation. "No! I wasn't distracted at all. I was just trying to get home in one piece. It was coming down so hard I could barely see the lines on the road. Honest. I didn't mean to hit her."

Alexander leaned back in his chair,

crossing his arms. His cold, sharp

eyes didn't feave the driver while he sized him up, his mind trying to work out whether he was actually lying. From the stammer of his words to the way he acted in such a panicked state, he seemed to be telling the truth-or at least, part of it.

Finally, after a strained silence, the driver said again in barely a whisper, "Is she... is she going to make it? Is she... dead?"

Alexander's gaze didn't relent. He spoke ice-cold: "She's not dead. But she is in a coma. We don't know when-if-she'll wake up."

The driver gasped, his face as white as snow, as he slumped in his seat. "Oh my God. I didn't know. I swear, I didn't know. Please, you have got to believe me. I didn't mean this to happen."

Alexander stared at him a moment

longer, before blowing out a breath, the tension in his body releasing, the stiffness never leaving his frame, He still couldn't be certain he believed this man had nothing to do with her death, yet from his reaction, he knew the man hadn't expected Abigail to run onto the road that night.

Something wasn't quite adding up with this whole thing. Why would she run into the street without looking to see if the road was clear? It was almost as if she was running away from something or someone.